Movies: The Asahi Shimbun

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 pe...

After his classmate and crush is diagnosed with a pancreatic disease, an average high schooler sets out to make the most of her final days....

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future....

Two people meet each other after missing the last train home, leading to a beautiful relationship over five years....

Yusuke Kafuku, a stage actor and director, still unable, after two years, to cope with the loss of his beloved wife, accepts to direct Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, an introverted young woman, appointed to dri...

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world....

With the promise made to their deceased father in his heart, the older brother, Toshiki, has continued to protect his younger sister, Fumiko. Now that Fumiko is getting married, the burden he carried should have finally been lifted, but a long-buried...

Giovanni currently lives a dreary life of near non-stop work. At school, his peers ridicule him incessantly, and his employer at work is distant and cold. As his isolation from society becomes unbearable, he suddenly finds himself on a train heading ...

Misuzu Hara (Nao) works as a high school teacher and prefers to keep a distance from her students. In her past, she was raped by her best friend’s boyfriend Hayafuji after he found out she liked him. She didn't report the crime to the police and she ...

The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the intrigues and shifting loyalties of th...

Daikichi learns that his recently deceased grandfather has an illegitimate daughter with an unknown mother. The girl's name is Rin and she is just 6 years old. Everybody in Daikichi's family looks at the girl as an embarrassment and wants no part of ...

A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord....

Set 18 months after movie "Library Wars." After the government's enactment of the Media Betterment Act, battles wage between the Betterment Squads and the Library Defense. The Library Defense resists censorship and advocates freedom of expression. Th...

One night in Tokyo, Leo, a young boxer, meets his first love, Monica, an imprisoned sex worker. Caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme, they find themselves pursued by a corrupt cop, a yakuza, his nemesis, and a female assassin....

After having narrowly escaped an attempt on his life at the hands of a psychopath, detective inspector Takakura quits active service in the police force and takes up a position as a university lecturer in criminal psychology. But his desire to get to...

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone lov...

Hayami Teruya is a dedicated salaryman who does a workman like job as the chief editor for a magazine. He has personal charm, get along with both the publisher and subordinates and runs the ship well. Chatting with his direct boss he picks up a certa...

Two young skaters, polar opposites in personality, team up to train for an ice-dancing competition, their growing bond blurring the lines between partners and more as winter unfolds....

The film stars Seishiro Kato as Rantaro who is sent to a ninja training school by his parents. During the summer, their teacher is invaded by a group of rival ninjas culminating in a race to ring a bell on top of a mountain....

When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race....