Yoshitaro Nomura
A valet at a fancy nightclub hatches a plot to punish those responsible for his father's death.
Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.
A car going at 25 mph plunges into the sea at Shinko Harbour, Toyama prefecture. Inside is the local business magnate Fukutaro Shirakawa, who perishes. Riding alongside him and surviving unhurt is his second wife, Kumako. It soon comes to light that Kumako’s husband was insured for 300 million yen and she is arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband for the insurance money. The newspapers denounce her as an evil woman, while the public is in no doubt about Kumako’s crime. Ritsuko Sahara is chosen as her defence attorney but the pair clash over almost everything...
Keiko Inagawa (Asami Kobayashi) pays a visit to neurologist Aizawa about her fiancé Tatsuo Tamura (Kaoru Kobayashi). A mysterious case involving the disappearance of Tatsuo’s three brothers, one after the other, is yet to be resolved and now Tatsuo, seized with the idea that he too may disappear, has had a nervous breakdown. Aizawa suggests that Tatsuo recount his dreams as a means of solving the mystery, since human beings have an instinct that foretells the near future in the form of a dream. Keiko and Tatsuo eventually discover that the three disappearances have a strange connection…
Masako, a five-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Chiba, gets a tiny scratch on her finger while playing with mud in a marsh. After that, she suffered all kinds of horrible spasms including biting her tongue. The doctor checks on her for hours on end and arrive at the conclusion that she has tetanus. It seems like the devil has come to dwell in the little girl's body. Her parents have to to bear the sufferings of their child and face the fear that they might also be the victims of tetanus. The once peaceful family has changed completely and the three have been cast into a bottomless hell.
Noriko had been engaged to marry Toshiyuki Fujimura, who worked at her father’s bank. One day however, Fujimura mysteriously disappears. From that day, Noriko keeps herself locked up in her room. After three years of Noriko shutting herself up like a doll without a soul, Fujimura suddenly returns. Noriko’s family’s first reaction was strong rejection, but Noriko asks no questions and embraces him warmly. One day, as Noriko is cleaning her husband’s room, three envelopes accidentally fall from the pages of one of the books she had picked up. The first letter is dated August 11th, saying that his wife had suddenly taken ill. The second, dated August 20th, says that his wife is now critically sick, and the third letter, dated September 1st, is an announcement of his wife’s death. The wife is obviously Noriko, but she is alive and well. Do the letters then mean a preliminary notice of Noriko’s death?
The body of Sakai Hatsuko, a woman of 23 who has been slain with a knife, has been found in a forest. Some days later, Ueda Hiroshi, a 19-year-old shipyard worker, is arrested and charged with the murder. At Ueda's trial, a complex story unfolds.
The heir to a family fortune discovers that a curse has been placed on it, put there centuries before by a band of samurai warriors. Adaptation of novel by Seishi Yokomizo
Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murderer of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a rail yard.
In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war, achieving nothing because fighting on the losing side, & then beginning his long period of wandering & training, with the goal always in mind of his duel with Kojiro. Part II builds toward that great duel on Ganryu Island, with considerable focus on Musashi's planning & forethought as to how to gain an advantage.
Kingoro Tamai moves with his wife and son to the port city of Wakamatsu. He organizes the Tamai-gumi, a stevedore group, to vie for work with two other powerful groups. Gingo is Tamai's chief rival who falls in love with the latter's wife and tries to kill Tamai.
Centred on Aonari Hyokichi, a young literary man with aspirations to become a writer, and the surrounding people, including Kira Tsuneo and Tobigashikaku.
Comedy of two brothers working at a local governmental office.
When a married man begins an affair with a woman from his past, he comes to suspect her young son intends to murder him.
Rainbow Over the Pacific is a tale of romance that moves from the streets of Tokyo to the islands of Hawaii as it weaves the story of two star-crossed lovers--Hideo (Yukio Hashi), an aspiring photographer from Japan, and Reiko (Jun Mayuzumi), a beautiful Sansei Cherry Blossom contestant from Hawaii--who are drawn together by destiny, yet appear to be fated to be apart. Will the sun set on their young love, or will it be the dawn of a new relationship?
Shochiku's popular series of gang films, this one has the hero returning from prison bent on revenge. He runs into Chinese hoodlums, blackmailers and gold-smugglers. But he also aids and abets young lovers yet, despite his help, their love ends in tragedy and he tracks down his prey in Kobe.
A young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her.
After moving in to their dream home, newlyweds decide to rent out their second floor to save money. They soon discover the woe of being landlords.
One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip and never returns. Teiko travels across Japan to search for him, and along the way discovers some surprising facts about her husband's past. With only a pair of old photographs among his belongings to go off of, Teiko tries to figure out what has happened to him.
A Chinese medical student named Gan Shosho finds himself cut off from his homeland as he is studying in Japan during the outbreak of the war. Despite his difficult circumstances, he finds love in the form of Sachiko and the two marry. They later travel to Nanjing to live a new life together where Sachiko and Shaochang cooperate with the Japanese-backed government. Their ultimate hope is to secure peace but their idealism is not enough to keep them together through brutal times and with the end of the war the two find themselves facing a divorce... --Osaka Asian Film Festival
