Harue Akagi

Two in the Shadow

Mikio Naruse

Yûzô Kayama, Yôko Tsukasa

A man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfers him to a remote branch in a small town. Before he leaves, he gives the man's widow a large sum of money that she uses to move back to her hometown.

ちいさこべ

Tomotaka Tasaka

Kinnosuke Nakamura, Chiemi Eri

A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the children making this into a true masterpiece.

野良犬

Azuma Morisaki

Tetsuya Watari, Shinsuke Ashida

When his pistol is stolen, police detective Murakami is humiliated, especially when the gun is later implicated in a crime. Working with his superior, Chief Detective Sato, Murakami works feverishly to trace the location of his pistol, ultimately clashing with a gang of youthful Okinawans.

Naniwa no koi no monogatari

Tomu Uchida

Kinnosuke Nakamura, Ineko Arima

The adopted son of an Osaka courier falls in love with a prostitute and, discovering that she is about to be purchased by a client, steals money from his employer to redeem her. Hunted criminals, the two young lovers take flight to Yamato, but, as in Chikamatsu's other domestic tragedies of love and duty (known as sewamono), they must be pursued and their passion destroyed by death. Favourite Uchida themes, such as the indenturing of a prostitute (cf. YOSHIWARA; A BLOODY SPEAR AT MT. FUJI), and his characteristic emphasis on performance and theatrical artifice re-emerge here; but the daring device of having Chikamatsu appear as a character - not unlike having Shakespeare interpolated into a film adaptation of one of his plays - is just one of many surprises this remarkable film holds. “Extraordinary” (Donald Richie).

血槍富士

Tomu Uchida

Chiezō Kataoka, Ryūnosuke Tsukigata

Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.

武士道残酷物語

Tadashi Imai

Kinnosuke Nakamura, Ineko Arima

After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he recounts his gruesome family history which saw generations of his ancestors suffer and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their cruel lords.

Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights

Tomu Uchida

Kinnosuke Nakamura, Wakaba Irie

The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete his skill in the Way.

Tragedy of the Coolie Samurai

Daisuke Itō

Hashizo Okawa, Shirō Ōsaka

Gonza was a handsome young laborer, a footman and spear-carrier, working hard for his meager wage. All Gonza wanted was to marry his young sweetheart, but despite their mutual poverty, her status as the daughter of a samurai blocked their path to happiness. A chance opportunity to achieve samurai status would come one day, but Gonza will regret trusting the so-called honorable samurai who extended this fateful offer, and the terrible price he'd pay, fighting for his life in one of the most blood-spattered samurai battles ever filmed.

五番町夕霧楼

Tomotaka Tasaka

Yoshiko Sakuma, Chōichirō Kawarasaki

With her family suffering from extreme poverty, Yuko, as the eldest daughter, is sold to a successful brothel in Kyoto. There she is assigned to serve Takamatsu, one of the brothel’s top customers. But while Takamatsu falls madly in love with Yuko, she finds herself attracted to a young priest named Kunugida. Torn by jealousy, Takamatsu hatches an evil plan to tear them apart.

瞼の母

Tai Katô

Kinnosuke Nakamura, Hiroki Matsukata

Period piece about a young man who, because of his hard life alone in the world, has become a yakuza. When he hears that his mother may be living in Edo (Tokyo), he travels there, intent on finding her and leaving the swordsman's life behind. But a team of rival gangsters is hot on his heels.

右門捕物帖 蛇の目傘の女

Toshikazu Kono

Ryutaro Otomo, Eitarō Shindō

Ryutaro Otomo as the Edo magistrate Umon Kondo is out to solve a crime that centers around the murder of a jail guard & the escape of a criminal who is later himself killed. His dying words in Umon's arms were, "I didn't kill the guard." The murdered criminal had been a safe-cracker & only his girlfriend knows where he hid a fortune. She is kidnapped, so the plot gets thicker & thicker.

天下の御意見番

Sadatsugu Matsuda

Ryūnosuke Tsukigata, Hiroki Matsukata

赤穂浪士 天の巻・地の巻

Sadatsugu Matsuda

Harue Akagi, Ushio Akashi

Chronichles the story of the Forty-seven Ronin.

ペコロスの母に会いに行く

Azuma Morisaki

Ryō Iwamatsu, Harue Akagi

Laid-back baby boomer Yuichi (Ryo Iwamatsu) is a middle-aged manga artist and singer-songwriter when he isn't at his salaryman day job or watching out for his elderly mother. Suffering from increasing dementia since her husband's death, Mitsue (Harue Akagi) is a constant source of comic energy or annoyance for Yuichi, and he and his son must soon decide if they should put her in a home for the elderly. Jumping back in time, we see how Mitsue (played by Kiwako Harada) tracked the tumult of the latter half of the 20th century, being raised as one of 10 brothers and sisters, surviving the war, and having to push her alcoholic husband (Ryo Kase) along in life. "Pecoross" is directed by the oldest active film director in Japan, Azuma Morisaki, who creates an emotionally complex work that is only the more profound and life-affirming for its cartoonish portrayal.

大菩薩峠 第二部

Tomu Uchida

Chiezō Kataoka, Michiyo Kogure

This is the second installment of the trilogy based on Japan’s greatest novel “The Great Bodhisattva Pass”, following the life and times of bloodthirsty samurai, Tsukue Ryunosuke. Blinded in an explosion and further injured from a fall, the master swordsman is taken in by Otoyo, a woman who falls in love with him. Under Otoyo’s dedicated care, Ryunosuke’s physical and emotional wounds seem to heal. However, deep inside, the demons that drive him to kill yearn to resurface. Meanwhile he is being pursued by Utsugi Hyoma, a young samurai seeking to avenge his brother’s death at Tsukue’s hands. Hyoma is being aided along the way by the clever thief Shichibei.

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan

Tomotaka Tasaka

Kinnosuke Nakamura, Yoshiko Mita

Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.