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.
A girl who lost her mother in childhood; A man trapped in a past of painful memories; An old man who lives alone and lost his daughter. When the girl meets the man, her body begins to float suddenly in the air. At the same time, the old man receives a message on his answering machine from his daughter who was thought to be dead. This is the story of three souls moving toward UTOPIA.
When eighth-grade cool guy Hiromi transfers from Tokyo to a small elementary/middle school with only six kids enrolled, wholesome and honest Soyo becomes enthralled with his sophisticated world.
Four dramas about brothers and sisters, each of whom lacks a certain emotion.
A girl unable to speak, a man unable to write a poem, a crisis line manager unable to help might find in the gloomiest of all places what they have been longing for - Hope and courage.
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.
Christmas-themed omnibus TV movie: Hotdog Express; Documentarytic; 祭典の日
Kie's loud crying, echoes throughout the small coffee shop. Yumi gently watches over her. The manager of the coffee shop thinks he knows the reason for Kie's crying and tells her but... A girl power comedy!
A compelling human drama about the growing social problems and public responsibilities regarding the welfare and ethical treatment of neglected dogs and cats at animal shelters. The story is told through the eyes of tormented vets who are relentless in their efforts to change the system to serve these animals with dignity.
This story follows the journey of an ill-fated young man whose ambition is to be a professional antiques dealer. A hard-up young man, who makes his living by selling old items in flea markets, meets a nurse and he falls in love with her. He decides to become a successful antique dealer. So he participates in a huge auction in the mountains but he makes a fool of himself. At the same time he ends up being in the netherworld, and hovers between life and death.
Saori, a school girl, is molested on the notorious "molester train" of the Hanagawa line and rescued by another school girl who witnesses the act. The girl who rescues her turned out to be a new student of the same high school Saori attends. The mysterious new student Yuriko is rumoured to be a "parent killer". Yuriko then leads Saori and her friends to hunt molesters.
There are no heroines, there are no heroes. The six girls in this film are victims of their own excess and lack of worth. The film is set in a Drug Rehabilitation Centre. The girls are rehearsing the play 'Death of Domomata' for the annual Christmas Eve recital. On the morning before the recital, Tobe, who plays the leading role, dies suddenly. How do the girls left behind manage to go on with the show and how do they cope with Tobe's death?
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.
Kanichi works at wet tissue company in Mito, Japan. He runs into Gondo. 10 years ago, Gondo was fired from his job as a teacher for secretly filming others. He is now with Mihari who works as a hostess. He took away her away from Tokyo. Kanichi falls in love with Mihari at first sight and takes her away from Gondo. Meanwhile, due to a female student on the video Gondo secretly shot, an unexpected disturbance is created.
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.
To reward himself for his new teaching gig in Sapporo, 29-year-old Manabu decides to celebrate New Year's Eve with a little treat at a local sex club. On the verge of... climaxing, he's struck by a brain hemorrhage and ends up buck naked at the hospital surrounded by his worried family who want to know how this happened.
Everyday a woman feverishly practices ping pong by herself. She play ping pong to distract herself from the reality of her life which includes the occasional sexual harrasment at work. A chance encounter one night slowly begins to change her world.
A young woman, Ako, wanders around a sparsely populated housing estate in a rural city, Mito, where she spends her time speaking to objects and plants.
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.
There were man and women who were supposed to think each other from a place far away. On a winter day, they got on the train to meet. On the journey, he unexpectedly received a E-mail from her, and she was lost all the time.
With their hair salon business now on track, longtime couple Sakura and Makoto mull over inviting Sakura's estranged father to their upcoming wedding.
New idol group Electric★Kiss appears in front of idol group BiS. The girls in BiS go up against a conspiracy planned by Electric★Kiss.
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.
Kato, a scriptwriter, is in love with Miho—but he can never manage to muster up enough courage to make the relationship anything more than a platonic friendship. Seemingly oblivious to Kato's feelings for her, Miho is always calling him up and spilling her guts about her own love problems. She's in love with someone else, it turns out, but Kato swallows his pride—hearing about it all is almost too much to bear, but he wants to be with Miho as much as he can.
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.
Naruse Uta is a "unique" 13 year old child. She possessed the talent to read sheet music even before she could speak, but has now come to the point where she hates playing the piano. Her father was also a piano virtuoso, but mysteriously disappeared from her life at a young age. Because of her father's disappearance Uta's mother had to move out of their posh home and into a far modest working class neighborhood. In this working class neighborhood there is a local grocer. The grocer's son Kikuna Oto happens to be a budding musician, but lacks the drive to truly succeed. That is until Uta Naruse comes into his life...
The nearly thirty-year-old daughter of a used car shop owner lies in a hammock within a grove behind her house. She neither gets up nor sleeps, but muses to herself. Before she realizes it, she begins dozing off. Today, the sun is setting again.
Ten years ago Keisuke went to Tokyo to become a musician. He receives a call from his far off hometown informing him of the funeral for his older brother who went missing while fishing at sea. Having lied he achieved success in Tokyo, Keisuke is hesitant but nevertheless returns home. Gathered at his parent's house are his father who lives alone; his brother's ex-wife; Hiroshi, a classmate who was the last to see his brother; and Hiroshi's younger sister Nagi who bears a limp.
Anata wo matteimasu is a feature-film comedy directed by Shinji Imaoka (Underwater Love, Uncle’s Paradise, Frog Song, Lunchbox, The Woman of Shinjuku).
The girl asked, "Where is Manga Island?" Only manga artists can set foot on the island. Idle people are not allowed to enter, but Manga Island is also like a besieged city. People outside want to enter, while those inside want to come out. A few manga artists trapped on a small island, accompanied by snakes and insects, perform the horror of a deserted island, and even rush to draft day and night, pouring their emotions and desires onto paper. When it comes to brain block, I finally come up with the legend of mermaid monster Tan and dungboat, and I'm afraid of being taken by someone. Everyone was hungry, afraid of both starvation and exhaustion of inspiration. Struggling with the barren environment, but also entangled with one's own demons. Shouwu Wenxiong initially made a long film, wrote and acted by himself, cleverly transforming the desire, pain, confusion, and joy of creation into a fantasy drift of a group of cartoonists.
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
Widow Chloe travels to Japan for work where she is welcomed by an old friend, Toshi. Sliding between the melancholy of loss and the awe of perspectives changed, Chloe wanders an unfamiliar landscape where love has carved all the guiding grooves.