Movies: Sanshō Shinsui

In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mounta...

A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison....

A scientist realizes his dead wife is an organization of mitochondria bent on making a new species that will wipe out humanity....

Ryoro Kurojima (Sadao Abe) is the director of a Tokyo apology center. His job is to teach others how to apologize. Ryoro Kurojima solves problems by using his apology techniques on anything from simple arbitration to a national crisis....

Based on a manga written by Tatsuhiko Yamagami, the story is set in a former seaport town Uobuka, where 6 former criminals were sent to live there by the government, with the intention of re-socialising them. Aside from the few who know about the pro...

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminate...

At the time between the World Wars, Japan is involved in empire-building throughout East and Southeast Asia. After a brief career as a low-level military adventurer, Iheiji sets up chains of brothels throughout Asia. As Japan's power in the region gr...

A young man is conflicted. He is trying to raise his high school aged sister and keep her out of trouble in their rough and tumble neighborhood. But he is also a leader of a motorcycle gang of psycho rapists who are targeting school girls. Can he get...

2 almost inseparable friends. The talented painter recognized by all decided to leave the town where they live and become an artist and the shy poet who only sees his future in his mother's business....

When radicals from Japan's Red Army took a woman hostage in the resort town of Karuizawa, Nagano in 1972, Officer Atsuyuki Sassa was put in charge of diffusing the situation. But the task had its challenges. Upon arriving in mountainous Nagano, Sassa...

Upon reaching the train station to death, a dejected soul is informed that he is "lucky" and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy named Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide....

Set in the late 60s in a small seaside town, this coming of age drama centres on a young girl named Nagisa. She spends her summer holidays working in a local seaside bar, searching for her lost cat, dancing to rock’n’roll and discovering first love....

The movie is absurd, and a thoroughly original take on the morale in Japanese society. The images are beautiful, and the people are as cold as the snow that surrounds them. The take on Melville's "Samoraï" from -67 is obvious, but Kobayashi turns the...

A down-and-out scriptwriter spends his days and nights in the bars of Tokyo. When he is thrown out of a joint because it is closing time, there is always a willing lady to spend the rest of the night with. In the street he has countless semi-philosop...

A wife, bored with her husband, meets one of his old friends at a party. He manages a strip club. Intrigued, she goes with him to visit one of his clubs. One of the strippers is upset and the manager has to pleasure her to calm her down. The wife is ...

1st in a 6-film series. The W.R.C. is the largest yakuza-run conglomerate in Japan, and a war for succession begins when the current Chairman suffers a fatal traffic "accident". Tadano (Namioka Kazuki), the secretary to the current Vice-Chair Konno ...

The 5th film in a 6-part series. After his beloved Ji-hyun (Otsuka Rina) is murdered, Umehara (Ozawa Hitoshi) hides his grief while searching for the spy, armed now with information from the North Koreans. Tadano (Namioka Kazuki), who is indeed one ...

The 4th entry in a 6-part series. Searching for more information about the spy within the WRC and needing networks and leverage to do so, Umehara (Ozawa Hitoshi) takes off to South Korea with his loyal second, Han (Yamaguchi Yoshiyuki) in tow. Meanw...

2nd film in a 6-part series. Shock and suspicions circulate in the aftermath of the death of the WRC Chairman, and the competition between Umehara (Ozawa Hitoshi) and Tamura (Sugata Shun) begins in earnest. An internal spy was discovered and execute...

A massive yakuza war begins when the most powerful clan in Kansai plans to conquer all control of the country after attacking several headquarters of other clans in Japan and China....