Jun Kunimura

  • Naomi Kawase – Moe no suzaku AKA The God Suzaku (1997)

    Naomi Kawase1991-2000ArthouseAsianJapanJapanese Female Directors
    Moe no suzaku (1997)
    Moe no suzaku (1997)

    Quote:
    Set in the mountains of rural Nara prefecture, the film centers on the Tahara family who eke out a living from the local ancient cedar forests. The head of the family, Kyozo, becomes fixated by plans to build a tunnel to improve the accessibility of the area. Construction begins, but is halted halfway through. Fifteen years later building has still not restarted, and the family is destitute. Against this backdrop, some family affairs develop. Kyozo’s daughter, Michiru, starts to fall in love with Eisuke, her cousin. Eisuke, meanwhile, finds himself attracted to his aunt.Read More »

  • Peng Fei Song – You jian Nai Liang AKA Tracing Her Shadow (2020)

    2011-2020AsianChinaDramaPeng Fei Song

    After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1945, a large number of Japanese orphans were adopted by families in Northeast China. With the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries in the 1970s and 1980s, many orphans returned to China, including Lihua, the adopted daughter of Grandma Chen (played by Wu Yanshu). In 2005, Grandma Chen, who hadn’t received a reply from her adopted daughter for a long time, couldn’t help but miss her. She went to Nara, Japan. People journey. In a foreign country, they met many returned orphans. Their lives showed another side-section of war trauma. Under cultural differences and conflicts, the journey of tracing people became turbulent. Where did the adopted daughter become the biggest in everyone’s hearts Mystery.Read More »

  • Hitoshi Matsumoto – Saya zamurai aka Scabbard Samurai (2010)

    2001-2010ComedyHitoshi MatsumotoJapan

    Recently widowed samurai Kanjūrō (Nomi Takaaki) puts down his sword and abandons his master, with nine-year-old daughter Tae (Kumada Sea) in tow. Now wanted for desertion, Kanjūrō is captured by a rival lord (Kunimura Jun), who makes an unusual offer. Kanjūrō will be released if he can bring a grin to the lord’s son (Shimizu Shūma), who hasn’t smiled since his mother’s death. If Kanjūrō can’t succeed within thirty days, he must commit seppuku. With the help of his jailers — and some harsh reinforcement from his daughter — the humorless Kanjūrō devises comically desperate (or desperately comic) methods to save his skin and crack the son’s stony exterior. Though more sentimental than writer/director Matsumoto Hitoshi’s previous films (Big Man Japan, Symbol), Scabbard Samurai is unmistakably in the same spirit, with deadpan absurdism and bizarre stunts recalling the variety shows that made his name.)Read More »

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