Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance

Haru

1996 · ★ 8

A young Tokyo businessman joins an online movie forum and develops a special bond with one of its members through back and forth e-mails.

Oh! My Mother

1969

Writes Ando, "Oh! My Mother was the first work I made using a newly bought 16mm camera I had purchased with the writer Shuji Terayama in Paris. This piece was selected for the Oberhausen International Film Festival. In 1969, there were, of course, no video cameras like ones we see now, and color TVs were only found at broadcast television studios. I had just been employed at the TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System), and I often snuck into the studios after hours to experiment with the equipment. Oh! My Mother was made using the feedback effect, which is produced by infinitely expanding the image by looping the video."

Murders Made to Order

1993 · ★ 7

Following the tragic events of Sting of the Scorpion, Maggie finds herself stripped of her rank and committed to an insane asylum. The crooked cop who put her there offers to procure her release and reinstatement - if she'll go undercover as a bar hostess to spy on the triads. The whole thing's a setup, of course, and soon Maggie is on the run from the law, as well as nursing a bad heroin addiction. She finds refuge in the criminal underworld, where she accepts a job as an undercover assassin. But when her identity is exposed, Maggie has both sides of the law gunning for her life.

History of Jirocho Shimizu

1995

A historical chivalric drama with tears and laughter, telling the story of Jirocho Shimizu's family, his confrontation with Katsuzo Kurokoma's family, right up to the final battle on the Tenryu River to avenge Ishimatsu Mori.

Utamaro, Painter of the Woman

1959 · ★ 9

Kitagawa Utamaro is a famous ukiyo-e artist known for his paintings of beautiful women. The courtesan who became his model became even more popular. Ocho, a resident of an apartment building, hears about this and secretly plans to follow Otose, the owner of Mizuta-ya, who became famous as Utamaro's model. At this time, the Kano school, headed by Kano Eikawa, which was under the control of the shogunate, is dissatisfied with Utamaro's fame and tries to compromise him…

From Russia with Love

1963 · ★ 7.1

Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.

Food and the Maiden

2010 · ★ 6.5

Young girl Saori, a cook at a diner, loves cooking. There is a regular customer Kujo, a guy who has never touched the plate of her cooking. Saori decides to give him a bag of sandwiches for him to eat at home, but later she finds that he gave it to a Buddhist monk on a street. She does not know that Kujo only eats what he cooked himself. A tragicomedy of 4 couples suffering about eating.

Two Portraits of MIYAGINO

2010 · ★ 7.8

In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master’s shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle. A mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance of the artist Sharaku. Helmed by Cannes-selected director Tatsuji Yamazaki, the film employs kabuki-inspired sequences and stylised sets.

Tears of Blood

In this first act, we follow the story of Kenji, a young boy who follows his family's tradition by rejecting any type of cybernetic enhancement in a world where humanity is increasingly mixing with machines.

Seven Samurai

1954 · ★ 8.5

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Lucky Number Slevin

2006 · ★ 7.5

Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.

The Great White Tower

1966 · ★ 6.9

The story contrasts the life of two doctors, former classmates and now both assistant professors at Naniwa University Hospital in Osaka. The brilliant and ambitious surgeon Goro Zaizen stops at nothing to rise to a position of eminence and authority, while the friendly Shuji Satomi busies himself with his patients and research.