Junji Sakamoto
Jun Wataguchi lives a lazy, half-hearted life, not going to school, hanging out with half-witted delinquents, and begging money from his friends. His parents, who run a shipping business transporting earth and sand for reclamation by boat, manage to get by, despite the dwindling number of jobs and lack of successors over time. Jun showed no interest in his parents' business, and the father and son hardly ever spoke to each other. One day, one of Jun's friends is attacked by someone and an unexpected person emerges as the culprit.
Ko, a man in his late 30s, lives in the countryside with his wife and teenage son. Mitsuhiko, who runs a local car dealership, also stayed in his hometown. One day, their mutual friend Eisuke returns from a long military operation and their reunification brings back both pleasant and painful memories.
Whether it's someone mixing burnables and recyclables or noise from a neighbor's domestic spat, there's always something occupying the residents of a housing project in the suburbs of Osaka. However Hinako (Naomi Fujiyama) and Seiji (Ittoku Kishibe) couldn't care less. Having moved in just six months ago after the closure of their herbal medicine shop, the old couple is reluctantly putting their life back together. But when Seiji disappears, the apartment rumor mill churns: divorce, murder, dismemberment? As the story spins out of control, and a mysterious man with a parasol puts in a tall order of natural remedies, the truth turns out to be even more fantastic than gossip. Ranging from incisive comedy of errors to absurdist adventure to moving late life romance, "The Projects" is one of the biggest surprises of the year.
This documentary film directed by Junji Sakamoto (debut in boxing movie Dotsuitarunen), follows legendary boxing champ Joichiro Tatsuyoshi over 20 years. Narrated by actor Etsushi Toyokawa.
A professional scammer is hired by a wealthy young businessman to find a hidden treasure looted from the Bank of Japan and supposedly stashed away by a group of men after WWII in various locations around the globe. Eventually an assassin is put on their trail.
A teacher, Kawashima Haru, arrives on a remote island, north of Hokkaido. She has accompanied her husband, Yukio, to become the teacher of six students. Once Haru discovers the children’s beautiful singing voices, she brightens their spirits by leading them in a chorus. Smiles now break out on the faces of the children, who had been bored at school before her arrival. Their angelic voices reverberate across the wilderness, warmly basking the residents’ hearts. One day, Abe, a policeman with a troubled soul, arrives on the island. Haru, who harbors her own secret pain, is increasingly moved by the long shadow cast over Abe’s heart. But one summer’s day, Haru’s husband dies in an accident on a picnic with her students. The terrible wound in Haru’s heart causes her to abandon her worried father and flee the island. Although she has escaped the island, she remains concerned for her students...
Former high school teacher Kazuo Hatano (Toru Nakamura) reunites 12 years later with Masako Tezuka (Manami Konishi). Masako Tezuka was his former high school student whom he married after her graduation. Their marriage became a scandal & the couple divorced ...
A blind master swordsman attempts to lead a quiet life with his wife but he is provoked back into battle.
A Middle-aged Japanese ex-pat journalist investigates child organ trafficking in Thailand and he uncovers a sinister network. In the darkest corners of Thailand, child prostitution and organ sales flourish. In order to save a child's life, another life must be taken. An outraged Japanese journalist and a passionate young Japanese NGO member attempt to save "children of the dark" from being consumed by arrogance and greed. However, the harsh realities of life intervene... Adapting Yan Sogil's book, which unflinchingly portrays the tragic realities unfolding today, filmmaker Junji Sakamoto directs a talented multinational cast to bring these stark events to life.
After the unexpected death of her husband a new life begins for Toshiko. 30 years of a happy marriage seem to suddenly vanish as she finds out that her husband had lived a double life. Struggling between her anger and the chance to begin a new chapter for herself, she finds her life moving into unchartered waters as she faces her 60th birthday.
Works commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Japan mapping Supervision Association
The Isokaze, an Aegis-class escort vessel, sets sail on a routine training exercise, playing host to a platoon from the Fleet Training Group. No sooner is the Isokaze on open water, however, then the FTG reveal themselves to be terrorist stowaways who kill the ship's captain, send the rest of the crew overboard and take control of the vessel. The ship is carrying a secret biological weapon which the terrorists are now threatening to use to level Tokyo! Only a stowaway NCO, Sengoko (played by Sanada Hiroyuki from Ring and Twilight Samurai) is in a position to stop them - but does he really have what it takes to save the day? Playing like a cross between a sea-faring version of Top Gun and Die Hard, director Sakamoto Junji shows that it's not just Hollywood that can produce thrill-a-minute action spectaculars.
Five young musicians, each harboring painful memories, are assembled to entertain American soldiers at an Enlisted Men's Club. Tensions emerge between the tenor saxophonist, a disillusioned ex-soldier, and a bitter GI whose brother was killed in the war. And when the band plays the prohibited "Danny Boy" during a birthday bash for a sergeant whose son Danny had died a year ago, everyone must confront a past they'd rather forget.
While the film is a remake of the original Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, it has no direct similarities. Set in Osaka, it focuses on former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo and Tochino Masatatsu as their lives cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place between Kaneo's boss Awano and the young Nakahira. Nakahira's men try to extort money from Masatatsu, bringing him in between a yakuza battle.
'Face' is a fascinating and difficult to categorize movie. Naomi Fujiyama gives an impressive performance (her movie debut) as the frumpy, clumsy and socially retarded Masako who one day strangles the pretty sister who loves to torment her. Masako flees from her home and then goes on a journey, both physically and emotionally, which ranges from everything from rape, earthquakes, learning to ride a bicycle, and working in a karaoke bar.
Hisashi gets fired from his temp job due to his impulsiveness. One day he meets Chikako, a housewife who constantly shoplifts at the supermarket he regularly goes. He somehow agrees to help her to look for her run-away son, Masaru. Unfortunate to Hisashi, Masaru starts following his around instead of returning home, after he was found by Hisashi. Then they end up stealing a gun from a police officer! In their course of running away, the similar two who cannot adapt to society very well start to develop a mutual friendship…
An odd journey starts as Mitsuru, a private detective, and a boy, whom a dying mobster entrusts to him, decide to go to northern Japan in search of the boy’s mother, and the detective’s buddy Hisashi joins them later.
The main hero of this film is the spirit of the once very popular wooden statuette called Billiken. It's a small god with a pointed head, a fat belly and a characteristic smile. When the casket in which the statuette was found is broken, the spirit of Billiken is free. After that he tries to fulfill the wishes of all those who had prayed to him, but it doesn't always works.
Three stories with horror and science fiction elements. 1st episode: "The Curse of Tutankhamen" (Tsutankâmen no noroï) by Kazuyuki Izutsu. With Naoto Takenaka. Two clans of Yakuza clash in a bar. 2nd episode: "They came back, tonight too" (Yatsura wa konya mo yattekita) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. With Renji Ishibashi. A polar writer is pursued by two mysterious mountebanks. 3rd episode: "I want to come back to this day" (Ano hi ni kaeritai) by Banmei Takahashi. With Toshiyuki Nagashima. A couple who robbed a bank decides to separate to escape the police.
The story of beautiful Christian nun, Kyoko (Etsuko Shihomi) who is the object of affection for two very different men - one the happy-go-lucky yakuza gangster, Haruhiko (Koichi Iwaki) who is the next-in-line to takeover the ragtag "Tenryu Gumi" gang and the other bumbling police detective Kumashiro (Akira Emoto). The Tenryu Gumi is a collection of misfits and other troublemakers but are relatively peaceful due to their Christian beliefs. Their bitter rivals are the more traditional "Kuroiwa Gumi", a much more sadistic and violent group led by godfather Kuroiwa (Hideo Murota).
Set in a barren, futuristic Tokyo of highways and wastelands, a rowdy group of punk bands and their fans gather to protest slow, boring, Japanese living.
A lonely researcher doubting his own existence builds an android which looks exactly like himself
