Tsurube Shofukutei

Three patients of different backgrounds, illnesses and stages are being treated at a psychiatric clinic in Nagano Prefecture. Their cases range from the criminal to merely asocial. That should be that, but soon matters take a darker turn when a corpse turns up and a murder has occurred. The culprit fingered is one of the patients.

5/10

It is the early 1930s and the command of the Japanese Imperial Navy determines to construct the world's biggest and most formidable battleship, Yamato. One of the admirals, Yamamoto Isoroku, disagrees. He recruits the upstart and mathematics' expert Tadashi Kai who discovers there are discrepancies between the official cost estimates and the actual figures. They soon find out that they have stumbled upon a conspiracy.

6.6/10

At the Hirata home, three generations of their family live together. A crisis ensues when one afternoon, housewife Fumie falls asleep and wakes up to find a thief has stolen her secret money she kept hidden in the refrigerator.

6.9/10

The film follows the relationship between a mother and her son. In 1945, the mother played by Sayuri Yoshinaga fled with her two sons from the Russians to Hokkaido. In 1972, her son played by Masato Sakai returns to Japan after finding success in the U.S.

5.9/10

Several years after Shuzo settled his wife’s birthday-surprise divorce proposal (What a Wonderful Family, 40th), the Hirata family faces new problems. Ignoring his family’s worry that he is too old to drive, Shuzo takes his old schoolmate for a spin after carousing. Soon, a new disturbance arises for the Hirata family. Veteran director Yamada Yoji continues his comedy about the “perfect“ Japanese family turned upside down in chaos, laughters and understanding. This time, with an additional taste of death.

6.9/10

Kozo Nakase attends meetings for single widowers looking to remarry. He meets Sayoko Takeuchi and eventually marries her. Not longer after their marriage, Kozo Nakase suddenly collapses and dies. Kozo Nakase leaves everything to Sayako. The rest of his family are left out of his will including his daughter Tomomi. Tomomi hires a private investigator, Honda, to find out more about Sayoko.

6.3/10

A husband and wife have been married for 50 years. For her birthday, the husband asks the wife what she wants for her birthday present. She replies that she wants a divorce. The wife's divorce announcement sends the entire family into chaos.

6.9/10

Senichi was born in 1964, when the entire nation was excited about the Tokyo Olympics. As an elementary student, Senichi won a footrace and got a taste of what winning felt like. Since then, Senichi takes part in various competitions including drawing and usually wins. He keeps struggling to win gold medals at competitions.

4.8/10

One of the hottest selling tickets in town is to see the hugely popular “rakugoka”, or comic storyteller, Danshun. Danshun himself was inspired as a little boy to become a rakugoka after seeing the legendary Danshi. He had found his calling. After his resistant parents relented to their son’s pleas, Danshun at age 17 became an apprentice of Danshi, the man dubbed a “wunderkind” and “genius” of the rakugo world. He soon realized however how hard the training was, and embarked upon a rigorous existence in which he had to deliver newspapers to earn a living. Living with hardship and joys, Danshun and his fellow apprentices would eventually rise in the rakugo world. A resplendent cast comes together to depict the rough and tumble world of a man who loved rakugo above all else and was destined to fulfill a dream.

7.5/10

Etsuko's café in her peaceful little seaside town is where everyone gathers to gossip and taste her famous brew. But the winds of change are beginning to blow.

6.1/10

After losing their restaurant in a fire, a husband and wife come up with a strange plan to rebuild their shattered finances: marrying the husband off to a series of lonely women and defrauding them.

6.7/10

Ginko’s younger brother Tetsuro, a failed comedian, is the oddball of the family. Embarrassing, loud and plain inappropriate at times causes Ginko to disown him. The two reunite when she discovers Tetsuro is terminally ill. Tetsuro’s impending death marks the beginning of love and toleration.

7.1/10

Charming little story about a local town's doctor - but he is hiding a secret. He will have to come face to face with this truth, despite being great at his job... he will be forced to explain his actions and take responsibility.

7.1/10

Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up her two daughters with the support of Shigeru's sister Hisako and Shigeru's ex-student Yamazaki, but her husband does not return. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace.

7.6/10
8.7%

Naoko meets Yusuke while staying on an island for medical treatment. Yusuke's graceful athletic figure captivates her eyes and she falls in love with him. But their relationship is soon broken after Yusuke's father dies while trying to save Naoko from drowning. The memory of Yusuke leads Naoko to the track, and six years later, they meet each other again at a Marathon competition. Naoko decides to become a manager to help Yusuke, a gifted runner, and they embark on training together to heal their sorrows from the past.

6.2/10

Toraji is a stereo-typical yakuza who is hoping to become a rakugo (comic) storyteller. Ryuji is a designer who has terrible taste, but owns a fashion shop in Ura-Harajuku, a shopping district famous for its avant-garde clothing. The story develops around the relationships Toraji and Ryuji have with the offbeat and comical characters around them. This fast-paced comedy is a collection of one-off stories which blends the modern and traditional by basing each episode on a classic rakugo storyline.

8.2/10

A released inmate is hired to solve a murder case.

6.7/10

A salaryman faces a major life change as his firm undergoes financial difficulties. To add to his troubles, a man claiming to be his long-estranged father shows up at his house requesting shelter. One of the best of Somai's seriocomic studies of the messiness of family life.

6.5/10

A delightful and moving coming-of-age story. One summer, three young boys take an increasing interest in an eccentric old man who lives alone in a house surrounded by an overgrown garden. The boys form a bond with the recluse and set about weeding and replanting the garden.

7.1/10

Physically separated from her father and at odds with her distraught mother, a girl must negotiate her own passage to maturity.

7.5/10

A pampered young model is killed in a traffic accident. Given the chance to return to earth, she becomes involved with the advertising executive who is trying to cover up her death. A blend of fantasy and trenchant realism in which Somai uses the ethereal glow of advertising images to comment on the transience of life.

6.4/10

Tadateru Matsudaira, the sixth son of Ieyasu Tokugawa, was exiled for not taking part in the attack on Osaka Castle. 10 years before his exile expired, he was attacked in a clandestine Yagyu operation believed to have been ordered by his older brother Hidetada. In order to correct his brother's true intentions, Tadateru broke the law and went all the way from Hida Province, where he was exiled, to Edo Castle. However, the Yagyu do not stop trying to kill Tadateru...

Third movie in the Hissatsu (Sure Death!) Series. Chasing the killer of a lawman, a group of assassins fall foul of a group of blackmarket financiers who dispatch their own hitmen to dispose of them.

6.8/10

The "Hissatsu!" band of assassins gets involved in an old mansion with a secret weapon.

6.4/10