Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Quote:
Part of a trilogy focusing on the Tohoku region that is comprised of dialogues with victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Ideas on how to share experiences of the disaster with future generations, a challenge touched upon in the previous films The Sound of Waves and Voices from the Waves, is found in folk tales from the region.

Folk storytellers Ito Masako, Sasaki Ken, and Sato Reiko gather at Kurikomayama in Miyagi Prefecture. Folklore scholar Ono Kazuko, founder of Miyagi Minwa no Kai, acts as interviewer as they tell a series of fantastic and outlandish tales, including the story of a girl who marries a monkey.Read More »

Adapted from a short story in Murakami Haruki’s “Men Without Women”. A director’s wife was a playwright, but she died two years ago. When he’s invited to direct a play at a festival in Hiroshima, the director finds his chauffeur to be a stoic woman. The two share many rides, and as communication is initiated secrets and confessions are gradually exchanged.Read More »

An unexpected love triangle, a failed seduction trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.Read More »

A young couple announces their wedding at a party with friends. The reactions of the latter reveal hitherto unexpressed sentimental flaws within the group. The following days, the tension rises to the surface.Read More »

Quote:
Epic feature film that clocks in at four hours and fifteen minutes, born from a proposal at an actor training school. Three-part structure consists of an ensemble play by directors as they prepare for the stage, the play as it is actually performed before an audience, and short episodes.Read More »

Quote:
Yuzo (Nao Okabe) and Mitsuki (Anne Ogawa) live together in Yuzo’s small apartment, their constant companionship tender and indifferent in turn. Then Yuzo receives a call from Satsuki (Hyunri), a documentarian resolved to make a film about a now-distant family tragedy, and the three meet, to search for some way to account for their relationship to one another, the memories they share and those they’ve kept to themselves.Read More »

Quote:
A haunting study of loneliness gradually gives way to a dark mystery in Hamaguchi’s unusual and beautifully acted Touching the Skin of Eeriness. After his father’s death, the reclusive Chihiro goes to live with his older half-brother brother and channels his unspoken feelings into his one passion, modern dancing. Chihiro’s relationship with his dance partner grows increasingly strange, mirroring the dances invented by their intense teacher, played by renowned dancer and choreographer Osamu Jareo.Read More »

Quote:
Asako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.Read More »

Four women. All in their 30s. Three married, one divorcee. They are able to tell each other anything. Or at least they thought. One day, after losing in divorce court, one of them gives up on a future with their partner and disappears. The three remaining women take a second look at their lives. The long night is full of questions. “Are you really the you you wanted to be?”Read More »