Catalog Search Results
Description
The Japanese version goes beyond the stereotypical images of Japan that are too often presented to Americans, and asks the questions: What happens to Western cultural ideas and objects when they are placed in a new setting? How have the Japanese navigated the flood of foreign influences that has been inundating their culture for a thousand years? With its series of entertaining yet revealing sequences, The Japanese Version is truly a cross-cultural...
Series
Criterion collection volume 116
Description
During a civil war in medieval Japan a deposed princess hides within a secret fortress guarded by a brave general, and waits for a chance to escape with her clan's fortune to safety in a neighboring province.
Description
1942, Nanjing. Following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief gathers a group of suspects in a mansion house for questioning. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese code-breaker attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting his/her own identity.
6) The Sun
Description
Third part in Aleksandr Sokurov's quadrilogy of Power, following Moloch (1999) and Taurus (2001), focuses on Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Japan's defeat in World War II when he is finally confronted by General Douglas MacArthur who offers him to accept a diplomatic defeat for survival. Official Selection at the **Berlin International Film Festival** and **Toronto International Film Festival**.
Description
“Lost” 1984 documentary, rediscovered and restored, about Japanese men and women who, at the turn of the century, immigrated to the West Coast of the United States. These pioneers tell their own stories of struggles and triumphs in a new land. “‘Issei’ brings to vivid life the world of early Japanese immigrants in rural California. Infused with spirit and humor, this captivating film is a treasure.” - Valerie Matsumoto, Professor, History,...
8) Oh Lucy!
Description
"A lonely woman living in Tokyo decides to take an English class where she discovers her alter ego, Lucy"--From www.imdb.com.
Description
From groundbreaking animation outfit STUDIO 4°C, creators of MFKZ and the upcoming Children of the Sea, comes an extraordinary project with a simple vision: to take an all-star team of some of the best animators working in Japanese animation today, and give each free reign to tell a unique short story. The results are GENIUS PARTY and GENIUS PARTY BEYOND, two animated anthology films full of boundless imagination, fantastic worlds, and unique visual...
Series
Criterion collection volume 138
Description
A man is murdered and his wife is raped in a forest grove. The story is told from four contradictory points of view.
11) Fish is Our Life
Description
This unusual documentary provides a fascinating profile of an important segment of the Japanese population rarely seen or studied in the West. It focuses on the small businessmen-proprietors who work the 1,100 family-owned businesses at Tsukiji Market, Tokyo's largest wholesale fish market.
12) Harmonium
Description
"Toshio hires Yasaka in his workshop. This old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life"--www.imdb.com.
13) Obon
Description
Akiko Takakura is one of the last survivors of the atomic bomb explosion of Hiroshima. During Obon, she receives the spirits of her parents and is haunted by memories. Her father is an authoritarian and traditional man. Akiko's childhood consists of constant rejections and beatings. But the horrors of the atomic bomb and Japan's subsequent capitulation change everything. Finally Akiko experiences fatherly love in the midst of Hiroshima's ruins. Official...
14) Demolition Girl
Description
High school teen Cocoa (Aya Kitai) supports her gambling addict father and deadbeat brother with a part-time job selling sausages and secret work as a video fetish performer. Initially resigned to her small town life of limited possibilities and economic struggle, when the unexpected prospect of going to a Tokyo university is introduced, Cocoa suddenly sees a way out.
15) Sayounara
Description
High school student Yuki’s peaceful life in a sleepy coastal town is rocked her when her best friend Aya commits suicide. As friends since junior high, this unexpected event plunges Yuki into self-doubt about her life and the people around her. Her classmates respond in different ways, with Yuki becoming the target of derision for some of them.
Description
One day, Koichi Uehara, a fourth-grader living in the suburbs of Tokyo, picks up a fossil that looks like a large stone while on his way home from school. To his surprise, he has picked up a baby Kappa (a Japanese mythical water creature), who has been asleep underground for the past 300 years. Koichi names this baby creature “Coo” and brings him to live with his family, and soon the two are inseparable friends. However, trouble abounds as Coo...
17) Maborosi
Description
After the sudden, self-inflicted death of her husband, a young mother (Makiko Esumi) remarries and moves to a remote village on the Sea of Japan with her infant son. She finds herself haunted by the many tragedies of her life, but time begins to heal her wounds as she rediscovers love, understanding, and a sense of peace. One of the finest pieces of Japanese cinema ever made with elegant camerawork, striking visuals and almost entirely natural lighting,...
Description
Why does one need a ferryman? One needs a ferryman where there is a body of water and a bridge does not exist. The village high in the hills has a ferryman, but a bridge is in the works. The poor peasant is about to become even more poor. The people, livestock and goods won't need his services much longer. His life also takes an abrupt turn another way. He meets a girl on a day when everything was supposed to go like any other day.
Description
Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki are a pair of best friends in their final year of high school. They're both obsessed with the school's brass band club. With Mizore on the oboe and Nozomi on the flute, they spend their days in happiness, until the club begins to practice songs inspired by the fairy tale Liz und ein Blauer Vogel - "LIZ AND THE BLUE BIRD". Immersed in this story, Mizore and Nozomi begin to realize that there may be no such thing as...
Description
When Alice transfers to a new middle school, she hears an urban legend about a student who disappeared the previous year and is suspected to have been killed by his fellow students. Even worse, Alice discovers that she lives next door to his former house, a supposedly haunted home now occupied by a reclusive classmate named Hana. Hana and Alice decide to investigate this “murder case” together, but soon find their lack of detective skills may...
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