Kazuyoshi Okuyama

大統領のクリスマスツリー

Kazuyoshi Okuyama

Michiko Hada, Urara Awata

Scenes by the Sea: Takeshi Kitano

Louis Heaton

Takeshi Kitano, Joe Hisaishi

First major English-language documentary profile of the cult Japanese actor/director, Takeshi Kitano. Featuring interviews with many of his regular contributors and colleagues, the film explores Kitano's rise from working-class poverty to superstar of Japanese radio, TV, comedy and journalism, and follows the making of his US-Japanese gangster film, 'Brother'.

らんぽ

Kazuyoshi Okuyama

Masahiro Motoki, Naoto Takenaka

Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper with an account of events just like his forbidden story. As the film progresses, fantasy and reality intermingle in a tale that draws heavily on influences from Poe and Stoker's Dracula. The film's strongly Expressionistic direction skillfully combines a variety of media (animation, computer-generated imagery, grainy black-and-white fast film stock, color negatives) for artistic effect.