Tasuku Emoto

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In the fictional Tokyo suburb of Mahoro, Keisuke Tada (Eita) works as a “benriya” – a general problem solver for hire.
One day in January, former classmate Haruhiko Gyoten (Ryuhei Matsuda) appears unannounced. Back in their schooldays Haruhiko was a quiet person who rarely talked. Now, Haruhiko is talkative. Both men are over 30 years old and divorced. Without giving an explanation, Haruhiko suddenly asks to spend the night at Keisuke’s home. Keisuke turns down Haruhiko, but Haruhiko is persistant and finally Keisuke allows him to sleep over for one night. What Keisuke is unaware of is that Haruhiko plans to stay for more than one night. Eventually, Keisuke accepts Haruhiko as his assistant and they become involved in various cases involving an assortment of people from different walks of life.Read More »

Toko Suguri is married and they have a lovely daughter. She doesn’t have any major problems in her life. One day, Toko Suguri meets her former lover, Akihiko Kurata, at a friend’s wedding. They haven’t seen each other in ten years. Toko Suguri indulges in a sexual relationship with Akihiko Kurata.Read More »

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When it rains it pours. Kenji divorced his wife, lost his job and his old squeeze Naoko is getting married back home in the north of Japan, specifically in Akita. He returns there in order to attend her wedding. Naoko surprises him by proposing that they have sex again. The one night stand is the new beginning.Read More »

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Commencing well-respected Nippon director Kazuo Kuroki’s sixth decade behind the camera, “A Boy’s Summer in 1945” (literally “A Beautiful Summer in Kirishima”) is a lyric, novelistic drama set in the countryside in the last days before Japan’s surrender ending WWII. Striking a welcome retro note in its languid pacing and delicate handling of seriocomic ensemble threads, handsome production is a natural for fests. It might also prove a cornerstone for retrospectives or ancillary releases of works by a helmer (“Preparation of the Festival,” “Ronin-gai”) who’s long been appreciated at home but has won just limited attention abroad.Read More »

A young woman named Miyuki returns to her hometown, camera in hand, after a difficult breakup. As she walks and takes photographs, she meets a variety of people and begins to realize she doesn’t have to go through this painful time in her life all alone.Read More »

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Religious con-men have probably been around as long as religion itself, though we have no way of knowing what scams fake shamans were running in the caves. For every Jesus, who had a low opinion of the rich and left little more than a strangely stained burial shroud (if that) on his demise, there have been dozens of priests, ministers and gurus raking it in, living it up and believing in nothing but the endless gullibility of the human race.Read More »

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The fifth directorial effort and the first in around six years from film director and actor Okuda Eiji. This drama, set before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake, offers a delicate depiction of a man and woman forced to leave their hometown in Miyagi Prefecture due to the ‘sins’ they have committed.Read More »

Kôji Wakamatsu’s Cycling Chronicles: Landscapes the Boy Saw (17-sai no fûkei – shônen wa nani o mita no ka) – a.k.a. “Cycle Chronicles – Landscapes the Boy Saw” and “17 and Life” – is scheduled to have its U.S. première at the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) on April 27th at 8:45 p.m., and to subsequently be screened there on May 2nd at 6:00 p.m.. As was previously reported here and there on Twitch, the movie was screened at Regional Film Festival (Rîjonaru Firumu Fesutibaru) – “RiFF” for short – on October 31, 2004, and at the 26th PIA Film Festival in Sendai (Dai-26-kai Pia Firumu Fesutibaru in Sendai) – “PFF Sendai” for short – on November 23, 2004. It was released theatrically in Japan by Toshiki Shima’s Shima Films on July 30th of last year.Read More »