Known for Acting
Natsuko Kotani was born to be a swindler. Meanwhile, Tetsuko Ishida is Natsuko’s distant relative. Unlike Natsuko, Tetsuko is an attorney with an upright disposition. Whenever Natsuko makes trouble, Tetsuko is called to solve her troubles. Believing that Natsuko is using her, Tetsuko, with her boring life, begins to change.
Shigeru Kajiwara (Joe Odagiri) works part-time at a company that sells mysterious health food. One day, the other employees run off with the company's money.
A young woman named Izumi suffers the loss of her boyfriend Junichi, who died from a fatal motorcycle accident. The shock from her boyfriend's sudden death causes Izumi to lose her memory from the time of the accident. A lawyer named Makiko then helps Izumi to remember the final moments of her boyfriend's life.
Based on a short story written by Shuhei Fujisawa (who also wrote Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade, Love and Honor), the film depicts the uneasy life of Noe Isomura (Rena Tanaka) with the difficult family she has married into after her former husband passed away. One day as she tries to brake off a branch of a cherry tree, she is aided by a samurai who she does not recognize but who recognizes her. He turns out to be a former suitor that she never met named Yaichiro Tezuka (Noriyuki Higashiyama) and who teaches swordsmanship to the local samurai. Meanwhile, the powerful new chief retainer of the village enacts land policies that threaten the survival of the local farmers.
A Japanese bank is being targeted by Horizon, an American financial group that takes advantage of weak and struggling firms. Horizon sends the Japanese financier Masahiko Washizu to do the job with only one instruction: buy them cheap and sell them high.
Tells the life story of Teru Kaneko, who was born and raised in a small coastal town. While working as a clerk in a book shop, Teru starts writing her own verses to get away from the worries of a disgraceful marriage. Under the pseudonym Misuzu, her works arrive to an important editor in Tokyo.
Takase, a fledgling recording engineer, visits Miyakojima Island in Okinawa for a documentary program. There he meets violinist Yohko and is attracted to her. She participates in the filming as a reporter despite the fact that she has a boyfriend with whom she communicates via e-mail. However, she has an unusual relationship with the artist Kijima. This coming-of-age film delicately depicts the protagonist's personal growth with a documentary touch, incorporating descriptions of the climate of Miyako Island and the actual people who weave the Miyako Kamifu cloth.
Natsuko's mother is hospitalized and only has six months to live. Her last wish is to see her father, who left her 20 years ago. Natsuko sets out to find him.
Police detective Sosuke is shot down while chasing down a suspect. While he is unconscious, his gun is stolen. He recovers, but loses his wife and resigns from the police force. All of a sudden, his lost gun used in a series of crimes.
Yoshihiko now lives with a couple of old friends, a married couple, Ryosuke and Aya. They share a past in several senses. It was Ryosuke who walked off with Yoshihiko’s girlfriend Aya. In doing so, he broke up with his own girlfriend, Reiko. Now they are all back together again and old feelings begin to surface.
Renji grew up in a family that runs a pelagic fishing business and vaguely thinks about becoming a fisherman in the future. He is attracted to Kyoko, a new transfer student to his fisheries school who is knowledgeable about whales, but there is a big difference of opinion between Renji, who thinks whaling is wrong, and Kyoko, who advocates whale protection.
An ex-boxer working for a game parlor owner gets caught up in a complex blackmail operation he doesn't understand. Before long he's caught between two yakuza bosses and a mysterious thief who motivation is unknown. Add in the boss' daughter who has a crush on him and watch him struggle to make sense of it all and come out alive.
