Kichiku / The Demon (1978)
Drama | Mystery
When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi – and his very surprised and angry wife Oume – and disappears.
Starring: Shima Iwashita, Ken Ogata, Hiroki Iwase, Miyuki Yoshizawa, Jun Ishii
Director: Yoshitarô Nomura
Glasses / Megane (2007)
Comedy | Drama
Taeko an stressed out career woman leaves her stressed out life in the city for an island vacation. The vacation does not become what expected, as everyone on the island are rather strange.
Starring: Satomi Kobayashi, Mikako Ichikawa, Ryô Kase, Ken Mitsuishi, Masako Motai, Hiroko Yakushimaru
Director: Naoko Ogigami
Kamome Diner / Kamome shokudô (2006)
Comedy | Drama
Where are we welcome? On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her, and meets Masako, a formal and ethereal middle-aged woman whose luggage has gone missing. The three women work in the diner, interact, and serve customers. A somewhat brusque man teaches Sachie to make delicious coffee, then he returns under other circumstances. Three neighborhood women inspect the empty diner every day; will anything bring them inside? We learn why Sachie serves rice balls; but why Finland?
Starring: Satomi Kobayashi, Hairi Katagiri, Masako Motai, Jarkko Niemi, Tarja Markus, Markku Peltola
Director: Naoko Ogigami
My Brilliant Life / Doo-geun-doo-geun Nae-in-saeng (2014)
Drama | Family
Dae-su, once a promising taekwondo athlete with 'incompetent swing kick' and Mira, who dreamt of becoming an idol, unexpectedly became teenage parents at the age of 17. Now they're 33 and have a 16-year old son Ahreum. Due to an extremely rare genetic disorder called progeria, Ahreum ages exponentially faster than normal people. Even though he's just a teenager, his body is that of an 80-year old man's. Despite all the negativity and hardships in their lives, this tight-knit young family carries on, taking one day at a time. One day, Ahreum's story is broadcasted nationally via network TV program. He is suddenly thrown into the spotlight, and his normally dull days are now filled with moments of happiness, joy and sorrow?
Starring: Hye-kyo Song, Dong-won Kang, Kap-su Kim
Director: Je-yong Lee
Rengô kantai shirei chôkan: Yamamoto Isoroku / Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet (2011)
Biography | Drama | War
Admiral Yamamoto was the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor 1941. The strategy was crystal clear – to strike as hard and as unexpectedly as possible. With the element of surprise as their primary weapon, they succeeded in doing the impossible, taking the U.S. by surprise and knocking out one of the world's most powerful navies. Yamamoto was marked for death by radical Japanese nationalists for his outspoken opposition to any attack on the United States. What dramatic turn of events could have possibly compelled him to orchestrate the infamous early morning raid?
Starring: Kôji Yakusho, Hiroshi Abe, Shûichi Azumaya, Mitsugorô Bandô, Akira Emoto
Director: Izuru Narushima
Gangster Payday / Hidden Dragon / Da cha fan / Qian long feng yun (2014)
Comedy | Crime | Romance
An aging hoodlum wants to go straight and decides to invest in a tea-house. However, when the tea-house stands in the way of a development project supported by a rival gang, he must call upon his old gang friends to save his tea-house.
Starring: Anthony Wong, Charlene Choi, You-Nam Wong, Wai-Man Chan, Chi Hung Ng
Director: Po-Cheung Lee
The Golden Era / Huang jin shi dai (2014)
Biography | Drama | Romance
The life of Chinese writer Xiao Hong, from her childhood in the Heilongjiang Province to her final days in Hong Kong's Repulse Bay. The love of the author's life, newspaper editor Xiao Jun and the inspiration she drew from him as well as the surrounding literary scene in creating some of China's most enduring masterpieces is explored against the backdrop of a turbulent time that included the formation of the Chinese Communist government and World War II.
Starring: Wei Tang, Shaofeng Feng, Zhiwen Wang, Yawen Zhu, Xuan Huang, Lei Hao, Quan Yuan
Director: Ann Hui
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends / Rurôni Kenshin: Densetsu no saigo-hen (2014)
Action | Adventure | Drama
Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends is the second of two 2014 live-action Japanese movies directed by Keishi Otomo and based on a manga by Nobuhiro Watsuki. It’s preceded by Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen. The new films are based on the Kyoto arc from the original manga and revolve around former government assassin Shishio Makoto’s desperate struggle to overthrow the government of Japan.
Starring: Takeru Satô, Emi Takei, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Yû Aoi, Munetaka Aoki, Yôsuke Eguchi
Director: Keishi Ohtomo
Tokyo Tribe / Tookyo Toraibu (2014)
Drama | Sci-Fi
Five years after the Shibuya riots, the Tribes of Tokyo have been enjoying a period of relative peace, until Kim and two other members of the Musashino Saru intrude on the territory of the Wu-Ronz in Bukuro. Mera, the leader of Wu-Ronz kills the three Saru, under the assumption that they were members of the Shibuya Saru. Two days later, after searching for who killed his friends, Musashino Saru member Kai runs into Mera. Old friends in their high school days, the two get into a confrontation that ends up leaving Tera, the leader of Musashino Saru, dead and setting the stage for violence between the Tribes.
Starring: Ryôhei Suzuki, Young Dais, Nana Seino, Ryûta Satô, Shôko Nakagawa
Director: Shion Sono
Ju-on: The Grudge 2 / Ju-on 4 (2003)
Drama | Horror
While driving, the pregnant horror-movie actress Kyôko Harase and her fiancé are in a car crash caused by the Toshio's friend. Kyôko loses her baby and her fiancé winds up in a coma. Kyôko was cursed together with a television crew when they shot a show in the haunted house where Kayako was brutally murdered by her husband years ago. While each member of the team dies or disappears, Kyôko is informed that she has a three-and-a-half-month-old fetus in her womb.
Starring: Noriko Sakai, Chiharu Niiyama, Kei Horie, Yui Ichikawa, Shinobu Yûki
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Ju-on: The Grudge / Ju-on 3 (2002)
Horror
In Japan, when the volunteer social assistant Rika Nishina is assigned to visit a family, she is cursed and chased by two revengeful fiends: Kayako, a woman brutally murdered by her husband and her son Toshio. Each person that lives in or visits the haunted house is murdered or disappears.
Starring: Megumi Okina, Misaki Itô, Misa Uehara, Yui Ichikawa, Kanji Tsuda
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Shogun's Sadism / The Joy of Torture 2: Oxen Split Torturing / Tokugawa onna keibatsu-emaki: Ushi-zaki no kei (1976)
Drama | Horror
Two short stories set in Edo during the Shogun era. 1. During a time when Christians are persecuted vehemently, Iori falls in love with young Christian girl. When she and her family are captured during a raid, his sadistic master takes her as her personal slave to torment him, and tries breaking her spirit by means of rape, torture and pure sadism. After Iori refuses to participate any longer he is exiled, but vows to get her back. 2. When Sutezo is forced to serve the cruel master of a brothel to repay his debts, he becomes friends with the young girl Sato. Together, they escape and try to get by on scams and theft.
Starring: Yûsuke Kazato, Rena Uchimura, Akira Shioji, Masataka Iwao, Ryuichi Nagashima, Yûsuke Tsukasa
Director: Yûji Makiguchi
Brotherhood of Blades / Xiu chun dao (2014)
Action | Drama | Romance
This is a movie set in the late Ming Dynasty. The 3 main characters are all elite guards for the palace. One of their fellow guardsmen goes bad. His former companions must now forget their bond and apprehend him. But are they being lured into a larger conspiracy against their emperor?
Starring: Chen Chang, Shishi Liu, Qianyuan Wang, Dong-xue Li, Yuan Nie, Shih-Chieh Chin, Zhu Dan
Director: Yang Lu
All-Round Appraiser Q: The Eyes of Mona Lisa / Bannou kanteishi Q: Mona Riza no hitomi (2014)
Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller
Riko Rinda (Haruka Ayase) is an appraiser with her own store "All-Around Appraiser Q". She is hired as a temporary employee by The Louvre for a Mona Lisa exhibition to be held in Japan. Yuto Ogasawara (Tori Matsuzaka) is a magazine editor and follows Riko Rinda for a story. The two soon discover a hidden puzzle of the Mona Lisa.
Starring: Haruka Ayase, Tôri Matsuzaka, Eriko Hatsune, Hiroaki Murakami, Pierre Deladonchamps, Uwe Liebscher
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Disregarded People / Sutegataki hitobito (2013)
Comedy | Drama
Young man, Yusuke Mamiana, fed up with his life meats a unattractive ugly girl, Kyoko, at his hometown. Out of his impulsive desire, he had a relationship by nearly raping her. They started to live together and gradually feel 'Family' attachment in each other. As time passes, Yusuke starts to think more about 'Happiness' of his family and himself.
Starring: Nao Ômori, Hitomi Miwa
Director: Hideo Sakaki
PK / Peekay (2014)
Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance
P. K. is a comedy of ideas about a stranger in the city, who asks questions that no one has asked before. They are innocent, child-like questions, but they bring about catastrophic answers. People who are set in their ways for generations, are forced to reappraise their world when they see it from PK's innocent eyes. In the process PK makes loyal friends and powerful foes. Mends broken lives and angers the establishment. P. K.'s childlike curiosity transforms into a spiritual odyssey for him and millions of others. The film is an ambitious and uniquely original exploration of complex philosophies. It is also a simple and humane tale of love, laughter and letting-go. Finally, it is a moving saga about a friendship between strangers from worlds apart.
Starring: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh Rajput
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Black Coal, Thin Ice / Bai ri yan huo (2014)
Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
An ex cop and his ex partner decide to follow up on investigation of a series of murders that ended their careers and shamed them, when identical murders begin again.
Starring: Lun Mei Gwei, Fan Liao, Xuebing Wang
Director: Yi'nan Diao
Magnet Man / Jishaku otoko (2014)
Drama
There is a rumor about a power spot for people seeking marriage. `The human race can be divided into two types, N(North) and S(South). Just like a magnet, when two people are from the opposing type, they will be attracted to each other.` says Oba Sosuke, the owner of Oba Farm, the said power spot. Due to the rumors, he is revered as the God of Matchmaking. Kohinata Shion is an attractive, level-headed girl, in her 30‘s but yet to have any marriage prospects nor boyfriend. On a mission from her senpai, Himuro Kotaro, Shion arrives for a working farmstay at Oba Farm.
Starring: Saki Aibu, Shô Aoyagi, Erika Asakura, Shunji Fujimura, Mamiko Itô
Director: Satoru Nakajima
Climbing to Spring / Haru wo seotte (2014)
Drama
An alpine story of family, determination and destiny.Toru grew up in the Tateyama mountain ranges: alpine country. As a child, he resented the yearly trek up the mountain with his father to prepare their mountain hut for the summer season of climbers. When Toru grows up he leaves his hometown, entering the working world as a stock trader and becoming another office worker. But when Toru receives word that his father has passed away, he returns to Tateyama once again and becomes conscious of a new calling. But does Toru have what it takes to follow in his father footsteps?
Starring: Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Yû Aoi, Etsushi Toyokawa, Fumi Dan, Kaoru Kobayashi
Director: Daisaku Kimura
Perfect Blue / Pafekuto buru (1997)
Animation | Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Pop star Mima, her fame and fortune beginning to slide as fashions change, is persuaded to turn actress, reluctantly accepting an ill-defined role in a television soap opera. However, Mima's grip on reality begins to loosen as a result; she imagines that she has an identical twin who has maintained a singing career, and becomes increasingly paranoid after her friends are either threatened or killed. Can Mima unravel the truth before she is driven completely over the edge?
Starring: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto
Director: Satoshi Kon
