Mitsue returns to Japan after the disillusionment of a work opportunity in Singapore. Resuming her past life, she treads between friendships with a former lover and a new co-worker, while finding her footing despite being constantly on the move. A sense of alienation follows her from city to city as the young urbanite looks for novelty and adventure, but struggles to find a place to call home. Through beautiful vignettes of Mitsue’s encounters with familiar faces as well as strangers, this gentle drama invites us to dwell on the stops one makes in a journey of self-discovery.
21st Century Girl is an omnibus feature that is of the girls, by the girls and for the girls. The work of 15 women directors under the age of 30, each of whom contributed an 8-minute film, the package highlights a range of genres, visions and thematic concerns.
Tourists, foreigners and outcasts converge on the streets of Osaka in this sprawling ensemble drama by Japan-based, Malaysia-born filmmaker Lim Kah Wai. His eighth feature explores the lesser-known aspects of the Asian melting pot city through the eyes and experiences of a dozen characters who struggle to find their place in society: among them a Nepali refugee with dreams of opening a restaurant, a Burmese student struggling to make ends meet while working two jobs, and a Taiwanese sex tourist who travels to meet his favorite adult video actress.
Soyo, a student in a school with only six students, develops feelings for the new student, Hiromi, who has moved from Tokyo.
Nitobe and Sakamoto are childhood friends who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. The themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’ lives.
Part-time worker Hazuki lives with her younger sister, high school student Koharu, and their mother Sawa. One day they receive word that their estranged father is on his deathbed, so Sawa asks Hazuki and Koharu to visit him and take one last photo to remember him by.
An unconventional coming-of-age film depicting ganguro gals—girls who tan their skin, use light eyeshadow, grow out their nails, and walk around in platform shoes. The story intertwines the high school days of girls who embraced the ganguro culture and lived their youth to the fullest in a rural town in Ishikawa Prefecture, and their present lives 14 years later as they reach around thirty.
Asako, a comic book artist in her early forties, is devastated by the death of her precious cat, Saba, which kept her company for over 15 years, as her assistant Naomi watches on with concern. Naomi is a young woman in her early twenties, who has her set of worries about love and future. Then one day, Asako meets a new cat, Gu Gu, which brings new joy and vitality to her life. What is more, she finds potential for love in a man named Seiji. Like Asako, Naomi, too, embarks on a new life plan.
Pursued by loan sharks, Aoyama is rescued by a mysterious man in orange overalls, and spirited away to “The Town,” where other dropouts hide out from debtors, abusive partners or the police. It’s a perpetual holiday resort where every need is catered to but hidden in it is a sinister conspiracy.
With their hair salon business now on track, longtime couple Sakura and Makoto mull over inviting Sakura's estranged father to their upcoming wedding.
A depressed ex-boxer (Yosuke Kubozuka) self-medicating for the injuries that ended his career finds a stray cat that brightens his day, but she is snatched up by a comical grungy mechanic (Kenji Furuya). Calling each other by the competing names they gave the cat, Maru and Lily, the odd pair is abruptly sucked into a political conspiracy with Saeko (Yui Ichikawa) and her son at the center. Witnessing another injustice in which the economic and social elite prey on the vulnerable, the two strays set off on the road to redemption, or at least peaceful cat ownership. (Fun fact: in addition to acting together in Alley Cat, Yosuke Kubozuka and Kenji “KJ” Furuya released the single “Soul Ship” in 2017. Kubozuka performs as Manji Line and Furuya in the band Dragon Ash.) -JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film
Suzuki Rara is left behind in the countryside due to mischief. She becomes a YouTuber, goes both crazy and offbeat. Wearing an eye-patch, loose track pants and often holding a sledgehammer she begins interacting with the locals, families and visitors.
Hozumi is a doctor and he is friends with manga artist Soeda. They both like Asako who works at a tropical fish shop. Hozumi eventually gives up Asako for his friend Soeda. Soeda and Asako decide to get married, but, after they get married, Soeda dates another woman and abuses Asako. He even pushes Asako to have an affair with Hozumi. Hozumi still has feelings for Asako, but his love changes to hatred.
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
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A high school girl wakes up each day with no memory of the day before. When she agrees to date a shy classmate, Toru, he begins to fall for her—despite her rule against falling in love.
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After a teenager's friends die in an accident, he finds running allows him to remember them perfectly. Running, however, also brings him notoriety. He is caught between keeping the past alive and making new memories in the present.
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Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.
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New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amidst their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future.
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The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a visual impairment, and Misako who disconnects from the world.
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When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.
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A World War II prisoner returns home to his childhood sweetheart. However, back home, he discovers that he has to compete to win her love.
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Clare and Aidan make a pact to break up before college — no regrets, no broken hearts. But will one epic goodbye date offer them a last chance at love?
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In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.
Makoto Gousuke has just transferred to a new high school with the intention of being the toughest kid there. Little does he know that there‘s an entire group of toughs who already rule the school, and they‘re all girls! After being humiliated by their leader, the pretty Misaki Shizuka, he vows revenge and starts a lengthy battle between the sexes at the school.
One by one, everyone falls asleep forever.
Dr. Noboru Sakai was a genius, but an odd one who, for some reason, always conducted his research hanging upside-down. One day, a new secretary named Margaret arrives at his laboratory. Claiming to be "perfect," she begins a strange life alongside the "upside-down genius" doctor.
