Mihoko Shibata
Melodrama about the life of a mentally handicapped young man and his devoted sister after their famous novelist father and housewife mother go to Australia on a business trip.
The film stars two of Itami's regular actors, Nobuko Miyamoto as a geisha who brings luck to the men with whom she sleeps, and Masahiko Tsugawa as her unfaithful, sometimes partner. As well as showing her relationships with the man she loves and the men who employ her, it satirizes corruption and the influence of money in Japanese politics.
Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.
Ryoko Itakura returns as the government tax agent willing to tackle the toughest cases. This time she takes on a fanatical but lucrative religious cult run by a vile lecher.
The third chapter of the ‘Red Peony Gambler’ saga depicts the happiness and sadness of Red Peony Oryu’s life as she seals her femininity with a red peony tattoo and lives in world of chivalry and honor of the yakuza. This story takes place in the middle of the Meiji era in Nagoya. Oryu is wandering the country, training herself to reinstate her family name. With a written recommendation from Kumatora, she appears at the door of the Nishinomaru family. At the same time, the family is preparing for the gambling competition at the Netsuda Shrine Festival, which they have been hosting for generations. Meanwhile, the crooked Kinbara family is plotting to take over the competition. And now Oryu is forced to get involved in the struggle…
When a gifted Japanese craftsmen dies, his three daughters are summoned to decide who will take over the family ribbon business in this family drama. Only one daughter cares to carry on her father's work, but she is met with resistance from her stepmother. One sister cares nothing for the artisan tradition, while the other is an icy opportunist whose only love is for money. It is the daughter who cares the most for her father's work who wanders away in a symbolic journey of self discovery.
