Tokyo Zombie is a survival film/road movie starring Japanese film stars Tadanobu Asano and Sho Aikawa! Afroed Fujio and bald Mitsuo work at a fire-extinguisher factory in near-future Tokyo where they practice jujitsu and live like brothers when one day zombies descend from Japan’s top waste disposal site–the trash mountain, black mount Fuji–and their lives are forever changed.
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Sensitive, romantic, and affecting, Laundry marks the assured directorial debut of Mori Junichi, who won the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award for the film. The film stars popular actor Kobuzuka Yosuke (Ping Pong) as a simple-minded, but kindhearted man; Koyuki (The Last Samurai) co-stars as a troubled young woman. When these two lonely souls meet up, they find courage to face life’s gentle tragedies together. Handicapped teenager Teru (Kubozuka Yosuke) has taken care of his grandmother’s laundromat ever since childhood. While he delivers cleaned laundry he becomes acquainted with Mizue (Koyuki) who suffers from a failed relationship. She has the bad habit of making up for her lost love by peeking at other people in the shop. After some unfortunate circumstances, the laundromat is closed down. With the passing of his grandmother, Teru is left alone. Teru sadly bids his grandmother a final farewell in the company of Mizue, both having tasted life’s tragic turns time and time again. …
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One day, an angel materializes before Kato’s eyes. While the angel seems like an average girl with a passion for gin and lime, she sports a pair of big white wings. Only lonely-hearted people can see her. She may seem ordinary, but this angel touches hearts and transforms lives…
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In Aso of Kyushu, Japan, thousands of dead people suddenly resurrect from death to their beloved ones. Inspector Heita Kawada (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) is being assigned to return to his hometown and investigates such strange phenomenon. There he meets his childhood friend, Aoi Tachibana (Yuko Takeuchi), whose boyfriend died for years and wishes him to revive one day. As the answer of the phenomenon is about to be disclosed, these ‘people’ are facing an end of their resurrection…
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Auds get two for the price of one (but not much more) in the curiously titled "Takeshis'," multihyphenate Takeshi Kitano's confused look at fame– and especially the conflicts in his own Janus-like career.
Alas, intriguing idea runs out of gas early on and starts chasing its own tail in senseless gunplay/violence; the whole endeavorEndeavor is also colored by an unsettling indecision and self-loathing that makes for labored viewing. Beyond festival outings, this self-reflexive layer cake won't be getting many takers in Western markets, though Kitano completists will want the DVD. Kitano has made no bones about the divisions in his career, though this is the first time it's provided subject matter for a movie. As both actor (under the moniker Beat Takeshi) and writer-director (as Takeshi Kitano), he spreads himself between TV and movie-making: as a popular tube comic-cum-presenter since the late '70s, and as an internationally known arthouse director since the mid-'90s ("Sonatine," "Hana-bi""Hana-Bi"). Essentially, TV provides local celebrity and pays the bills, while movies satisfy him creatively.
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Nine young men decide to present an accusation of corruption in their clan to the local superintendent. However, the group is betrayed, but the ronin Sanjûrô Tsubaki saves them from the superintendent’s men. The uncle of the leader of the rebel clansmen, the Chamberlain Mutsuta, is kidnapped, and his wife and daughter are detained and made prisoner of the superintendent, and he tries to force Mutsuta to write a fake confession letter declaring being corrupt. Sanjûrô helps the group to rescue the Chamberlain and his family.
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Keisuke Yamato is a bronze medallist for 100m freestyle swimming, but he doesn’t seem able to get any better. He is also the only son and heir to the Yamato chain of confectionery stores, which are arch-rivals and competitors with the Ninomiya chain of confectionery stores. When he enters high school, he meets Ami Ninomiya, only daughter of the Ninomiyas, and a talented high-diver with a grudge against him. Against a strong backdrop of supporting characters, what begins as mutual dislike on both sides grows into a strong friendship - and maybe more…
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In seventeenth century Japan, the seventh Shogun Ietsugu comes to power at the age of four–obviously too young to play his role. Therefore, his retainers are fighting for the posision of the Shogun’s primary supporter in hopes of surreptitiously userping power. Meanwhile in the back palace, the women of the ex-shogun’s are duking it out in a similar type of power struggle. A very popular lady named Ejima is involved in the battle, and caught in a cunning trap. One day Ejima goes to see a Kabuki play, and meets a handsome actor named Ikushima. Ejima soon falls in love with him, not knowing that he is really part of a trap set by her rival.
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Believing that the world will end that very day, three mental patients Coco, Tsumuji, and Satoru set out upon a journey. Walking upon the tops of the walls of the city, they seek to find a picnic spot with the best vantage point to view the final event…
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Viva otakus! If Train Man was a sympathetic look at Japanese otakus, then Mamiya Kyodai (a.k.a. The Mamiya Brothers) fully romanticizes the seemingly go-nowhere lives of thirty-something year-old guys suffering from arrested development. Sasaki Kuranosuke and Tsukaji Muga are Akinobu and Tetsunobu Mamiya, two brothers with decidedly dead-end jobs - one is a beer taster and the other a school janitor - who nonetheless live mostly fulfilling lives. After each day of nine-to-five drudgery, the two retire to their shared apartment, which doubles as a shrine to their pet obsessions, and entertain themselves in various otaku-familiar ways. Movies, manga, crossword puzzles, sports - life is a hobby-filled paradise for the Mamiya brothers.
However, there’s also love - or the lack of it. Both brothers still maintain a healthy interest in the opposite sex, and find targets in the form of teacher Kuzuhara (gorgeous J-drama queen Tokiwa Takako) and adorable video store clerk Naomi (idol Sawajiri Erika). The Mamiya brothers make their move, but all manner of obstacles crop up, including romantic rivals, work issues, and just plain bad luck. Can the Mamiya Brothers get the girls, keep their hobbies, and live the ultimate otaku dream?
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