Michiyo Yasuda

A complete documentary about the secret of the birth of Ponyo. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was a cultural phenomenon that swept Japan in the summer of 2008. The film asks, ‘How did Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of the character, come up with the character Ponyo?’

For about two and a half years from the preparation period of the work to the completion of the storyboard, a single camera remained in close contact with Hayao Miyazaki. The films follows Miyazaki’s travels and extended periods of isolation in order to find inspiration. No moments is left undocumented, particularly as Miyazaki expresses frustration, cynicism and anger at the creative process. In the end, nearly 200 hours of video footage had been recorded. This documentary distills the entire process in roughly 12 hours and 30 minutes.Read More »

Ogin is a concubine of a powerful feudal lord (Tayu). The evil woman Ogin tries to gain power by killing all the people who disturb her.Read More »

In the early part of the 13th Century in Japan, warring clans turned the country into a bloody playing field. Ritual execution was the order of the day, and expulsion to the far reaches of the empire–to endure extremes of weather on barely fertile land–was the height of mercy.Read More »

Based on a polemic novel by Amy Yamada, Bedtime Eyes is about the intense love relationship between a second rate Japanese jazz singer and a black American GI on the margins of the law.Read More »

Quote:
Ogata’s first leading role was in Masumura’s Sex Check — the Second Sex (1968). Here, Ogata plays Shiro Miyagi, a sprinter with Olympic aspirations whose dreams were shattered by WWII. A broken man, he leads the dissolute life of a gigolo until a chance meeting with a fiery young athlete named Hiroko (Michiyo Yasuda, who also plays Naomi in A Fool’s Love). Realizing that she has talent as a sprinter, Miyagi sees a second chance at Olympic glory in becoming her coach. Following Miyagi’s unconventional, military-style training, Hiroko sets a record for the 100-meter dash, but her greatest hurdle proves to be a “sex check” which all professional athletes must pass. The Second Sex shows the love-hate relationship between athlete and coach as a means to explore a hypothesis about gender, androgyny, and human potential. This is, simply put, an unclassifiable film.Read More »

Suzume moved in Tokyo where she will live in aunt’s house, basically a geisha house. She have no interest in any social activity, nor any friendship with classmates. She’s not into geisha life style too. When school is up to celebrate it’s 100 year anniversary class have to prepare something for culture fest and, after chain of misfortune events, she decides to made it on stage with old dance, somewhat of her mothers legacy.Read More »

Synopsis:
Based on the best-selling manga series, the six intensely kinetic Lone Wolf and Cub films elevated chanbara to bloody new heights. The shogun’s executioner, Itto Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama), takes to wandering the countryside as an assassin—along with his infant son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) and a seemingly infinitely weaponized perambulator—helping those he encounters while seeking vengeance for his murdered wife. Delivering stylish thrills and a body count that defies belief, Lone Wolf and Cub is beloved for its brilliantly choreographed action sequences as well as its tender depiction of the bonds between a parent and a child.Read More »