Himizu (2011)

Himizu is two movies rather forcibly jammed together. One is an emotional powerhouse of a movie about a 14-year-old boy with a disastrously bad family, based on a manga. The other is a not quite focused movie about the effects of the Fukushima disaster, which occurred as the movie was going into production. Unfortunately, the …

Abacus and Sword / Bushi no kakeibo (2010)

For the Inoyami family, their abacus is more important than their sword, for it is the way in which they have always provided service to the lord. Thus, there is no swordplay to be found in Abacus and Sword, a detailed look at the Samurai as Salaryman. Supposedly based on family records kept during the …

Dear Doctor / Dia dokuta (2009)

Dear Doctor starts as a mystery – a village's doctor has suddenly disappeared – then restarts as a young medical graduate drives to the village to start a two-month internship with the older local doctor, apparently setting us up for a common story of the cocky young doctor learning humanity. Before it is done, it …

Cold Fish / Tsumetai nettaigyo (2010)

Cold Fish takes the standard film story of the “innocent man drawn into crime” to its most extreme level, with all the blood and gore we might expect from the maker of Suicide Club, but with a detailed attention to character not seen in that gory predecessor. Nobuyuki is the very typical small businessman always …

Beggar General / Kojiki Taisho (1945/52)

Kojiki taisho provides a portrait of Matabei Goto, one of Japan's famous warrior heroes, though it is short on actual fighting. Goto had been a great fighter and general, introduced after a battle in which he is reported to have been killed. He suddenly reappears and tells his daimyo to stage a night attack while …

Villain / Akunin (2010)

A young man stops for gas in his car and drives along a cliff overlooking the lights of the city below. However, the focus soon shifts to a young woman. At dinner with her friends, Yoshino talks about the handsome, rich, college boy Masuo she might marry and the guy she found on a dating …

All Around Us / Gururi no koto (2008)

Gururi no koto, the fourth film by Ryosuki Hasiguchi and his first not to deal with homosexual relationships, is a quiet examination of marriage, love, and the power of art. Beginning in 1993, it follows a decade or more of the marriage of Kanao and Shoko as they learn to live together, face the trauma …

Last Ronin / (2010)

The Last Ronin deals with the last of the Chusingura ronin, and there are two of them. One is Kichiemon, the familiar one from the story, and he is here portrayed as having been purposely sent not only to deliver the news but also to provide money from Chief Retainer Oishi for the upkeep of …

Memories of Tomorrow (2006)

One day Saeki forgets the name of Leonardo DiCaprio. Normally this would not be that big of a deal, but Saeki is the account manager for an ad agency that just landed its biggest contract. In a while, he forgets his keys, misses the exit from the freeway, forgets the changed time for an important …