The four actors gathered in the studio spent three days rehearsing their 30-page script. They were told they would perform onstage on the fourth day. The cast has yet to be decided. Although they are upset about being in a closed environment with their smartphones and watches ripped away, the four devote themselves to rehearsals in order to obtain the roles they want to play. A second-rate actor, an unpopular actor, a bad actor, and an actor who can no longer find satisfaction in acting as directed. Their no-turning-back situations are gradually brought to light during rehearsals, revealing the women’s respective natures. Their performances collide as they give all they’ve got for their acting careers in this space where there are no rules nor even a director or producer. The fourth day arrives. As the masked audience watches, will they be able to show their true natures as actors and deliver a successful stage performance?
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Mai, a rising J-Pop idol, is finally about to have her big break when she unexpectedly falls in love. But in a treacherous industry where young singers must maintain an image of flawless purity, love is forbidden. When her relationship is exposed, Mai's agency takes drastic action, dragging the couple to court over the "no love" clause in her contract, throwing her life into chaos.
Asako lives in Osaka. She falls in love with Baku, a free-spirit. One day, Baku suddenly disappears. Two years later, Asako now lives in Tokyo and meets Ryohei. He looks just like Baku, but has a completely different personality.
A life-size, inflatable sex doll suddenly comes to life one day. Without her owner knowing, she goes for a walk around town and falls in love with Junichi. She starts to date Junichi and gets a job at the same store where he works. Everything seems to be going perfectly for her until something unexpected happens.
Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an unknown actor, is waiting for his big break. After their paths cross, Kitano seems to begin hallucinating about becoming Beat.
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.
A reclusive illustrator falls in love with a young woman who addictively shops for clothing.
A young, temperamental Tokyo beautician struggles to navigate her relationships with lovers, friends, and family.
Five stories of romance, farewells, bitter love and stolen kisses...
In the heart of Osaka's old neighborhoods lies a run-down apartment building known as "Copo." Its thin walls and lack of privacy are home to a group of residents, each struggling with their own pasts and uncertainties. Yuri, a part-time worker, has fled her family, while her neighbors—an aloof man who lives off women, a shy laborer with clumsy affections, and an older resident running a mysterious business—navigate their complex lives. The discovery of a fellow tenant’s death forces them all to confront their personal dilemmas and the fragile nature of life in the "Copo."
Machisu is a painter. He never had the success he thinks he is entitled to. Regardless of this, he always remains trying to be successful. His wife Sachiko keeps supporting him, despite all setbacks.
24-year-old Nozomi quit her job at an ad agency and now works part-time at a convenience store. Her ordinary days are enlivened by funny and kind co-workers but her heart is troubled because she cannot tell her parents about her situation and she is haunted by her failure to meet the excessive demands at her previous workplace. One day, her former junior high school classmate Kanako appears and Nozomi begins to articulate how she feels.
Marie-Lou Fontaine, director of a nursing home in the Paris suburbs, defies convention by adopting the 'Humanitude' method despite her team’s resistance. Her encounter with Mari Morisaki, a terminally ill Japanese playwright, transforms her life. Together, they turn the facility into a symbol of resistance and humanity against the system’s limits.
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When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.
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An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
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A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
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As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father's death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
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Mahree Bok lives on a farm in South Africa. Her father is a policeman who cannot hide his joy when activist Steve Biko is caught by the South African authorities. Piper Dellums is the daughter of a US congressman from California and who lives in a nice home in Washington DC. When Mahree is chosen to spend a semester at the Dellums' house, she doesn't expect that her host family would be black. Nor do her hosts suspect that she is not a black South African.
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South America, 1960. A lonely and grumpy Holocaust survivor convinces himself that his new neighbor is none other than Adolf Hitler. Not being taken seriously, he starts an independent investigation to prove his claim, but when the evidence still appears to be inconclusive, Polsky is forced to engage in a relationship with the enemy in order to obtain irrefutable proof.
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Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.
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94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
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Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Shares a lead actor
A group of delinquent high school girls form a band when they accidentally poison their school's brass band and have to replace them.
A supermarket as both a microcosm of Japanese society and the setting for a socially critical horror film. Expressionless faces and a supervisor who demands zombie-like friendliness. Only the young Sakai doesn’t stop hoping.
An unnamed doctor has always had everything he's ever wanted, but that has only made him develop more extreme and depraved needs. He kidnaps a young couple in the prime of their life together and forces them into a game of torment that slowly extinguishes their hopes for survival.
The revenge story of a woman whose partner is murdered by a ghost, and who will soon discover the true identity of the one she must avenge.
Three female idols appear on a television show to investigate an exorcism. An exorcist with psychic powers named Unsui claims that the show’s subjects, the Kaneda family, are cursed by a demon that’s too powerful for him to banish on his own, so he calls in a fellow exorcist to help. Soon, a reckless ghost hunter enters the fray as the three idols witness a series of terrifying events.
A spin-off feature from Tokyo Gore Police centering on three characters from the movie who are each given a short story explaining how they became an “engineer”.
An endearingly inept guy who has killer looks but zero experience with girls falls in love with a hard-to-get beauty.
This mystery film, directed and conceived by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, features 20 up-and-coming actors. Written by Yusuke Moriguchi ("Beautiful Dreamer," "Kohaku"), the film unfolds at the funeral of a person named "Hinata Okimura," depicting a deepening mystery as the eulogies of the 20 attendees contradict each other, unfolding in an unpredictable manner. Twenty men and women attend Hinata Okimura's funeral. According to the deceased's wishes, all attendees must deliver a eulogy. Standing before an unusual altar without a portrait, some speak as friends, others as devoted fans, and still others as fellow members of an idol group, each beginning to recount their memories of the deceased. However, the image of "Hinata Okimura" becomes increasingly distorted, even differing in gender from the person they describe, plunging the funeral into chaos.
Asuka Goda is a 40-year-old pastry chef who runs a sweets store. She works with pastry chef Seiya Hanada, who is younger than her, and Kenichi Gonda, who wants to become a pastry chef. One day, Seiya Hanada confesses to Asuka Goda about his feelings for her. Her situation brings back bad memories to what happened 5 years earlier. At that time, Asuka Goda was in an affair with store owner Junji Awai and also in a relationship with gym trainer Shunsuke Nomura. Asuka Goda decides to go to mysterious "Clinic Love Doc." The clinic lets people know everything about love with a gene test.
A Japan-set battle-royale comedy over a vial of sperm is centered around three women on the verge of a nervous breakdown from hearing their biological clock ticking away: a doctor and manager of a sperm bank, Sana Kobayashi, a single mother, Maron Kuribayashi, and an alluring receptionist, Mayumi Kujō. Unknowingly, the three shared a beloved partner and a sperm donor, Makoto, but lost him in a sudden accident. The night of Makoto's funeral they are shocked to discover each other in his room. In a rage of screaming, thrashing, and boasting about their own sexual prowess with Makoto, more fierce emotions erupt once Sana's plan to self-inseminate is exposed, but this leads to unexpected consequences. They affirm their real love for Makoto and reveal his true wishes.
A black and white silent film that humorously depicts a man at the mercy of love. He falls in love with a tennis club coach at first sight, after a desperate attempt to win her over, they end up dating. However, after being fired from his job and losing his life balance, the man started committing crimes...
Two kids, fourteen-year-old Eriko and her thirteen-year-old brother Daigo, suddenly find themselves trapped in a parallel universe. Most things are the same as in their own world, but their parents are missing from home and are only contactable when using one particular phonecard.
A cadre of backup dancers is left astray when their star singer moves on with her life and marriage. They each had their own ambition and hope, which subconsciously rested on the star power of the singer. When plan A does not work, they cling to plan B. When that does not work, in an act of desperation, they are assigned to plan C by their agency. A fight and unprofessionalism seems to put the Backdancers on permanent ice.
Todo Shunnosuke is a movie director who passed away thirty years ago. Just before his death, he told his wife about three short films which contained a secret. Years later, Todo's wife, who is on the verge of death, asked Madame Marmalade to solve the mystery. (2nd part of the 2-part Quiz movie : the audience gets to find out the answers to some questions asked in the "Question Version" film, and the people who got the answers right get their names placed in the film).
Makoto is a student at an art university. She was once captivated by her art class teacher, Ira when she was just 12 years old. Ira vanishes from the scene and, not until six years later, appears before Makoto at an art exhibition. Surprisingly, she looks the same as Makoto remembered and has a secret to hide. Although still human, Ira seems to have a thirst for blood.
Todo Shunnosuke is a movie director who passed away thirty years ago. Just before his death, he told his wife about three short films which contained a secret. Years later, Todo's wife, who is on the verge of death, asked Madame Marmalade to solve the mystery. (1st part of the 2-part Quiz movie : questions were asked to the audience at the end of the screening and the answers were given in the follow-up film, "Answer Version").
Pilot version of "Red Spider Lilies".
The staff team of the 'Not Found' film series infiltrates a dilapidated love hotel in the suburbs of Tokyo. Which has been the scene of a string of suspicious deaths (most recently a violent murder of a high school girl). To their surprise, they find that the place has become a haunted den where deformed creatures are stirring.
The three Aoi sisters live in a luxurious Japanese house. One night, Kotoko, the eldest, wakes up when she feels a presence stirring in the darkness. Her right eye gets pierced by a nail flying from the darkness. However, when the sisters check, both the nail and the eye wound have disappeared. Only leaving a bloodshed. The three sisters, who witness terrifying supernatural phenomenon, contact Jin Teshigahara, a worshiper, and his assistant Ryoan Suzuki for an exorcism. Teshigahara tells them that a curse placed on their ancestors is about to destroy the Aoi sisters. However, the exorcism ceremony was just the beginning of the Aoi sisters' 26 years of hellish revenge.
A film that takes the theme of psycho-phobia. The film visualizes a forbidden psychic experiment that is a "departing" process to a world of madness, aimed at "spiritual revolution".
Concert film featuring HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR's LIVE BEE LOUD ~THANKSGIVING~ tour filmed on October 18, 2008 at Akasaka BLITZ in Tokyo.
An actress penning a play inspired by the story of a woman vanishing into thin air becomes disturbed by unexplained phenomena at her rental villa.
