Japanese Films to see

On the third anniversary of a cult's failed chemical attack on Tokyo and their subsequent mass suicide, family members of those affected gather at the cult's former base on the shores of a lake to observe the anniversary of their loved ones' deaths.

A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young woman who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.

2000 Japanese film directed by Junji Sakamoto

1999 Japanese film directed by Takashi Koizumi

1999 film by Takeshi Kitano

On what apparently is a parallel world, time flows in a much slower pace than normal. The ocean remains on a solid state of matter as the eccentric individuals who inhabit this land casually wander over it.

未来的某一天，人类世界堕落成充满血光、杀戮与贪婪的饿鬼道和修罗场，百年战争将所有的人间乐土摧毁殆尽，放眼望去满地饿殍，尸横遍野。少年格斯拥有极为悲惨的命运，他在乱世之中成长为一名只知道依靠手中的兵器存活的佣兵，直到他遇到了宿命中的使者——统率着实力强大的佣兵集团“鹰之团”的格里菲斯。这个有着英俊面庞和超强战斗力的男子带领他的伙伴一步步爬上世界的顶端，而格斯也从心底臣服在格里菲斯的麾下。乱世之中，他们为了各自的理想拼搏，甚至不惜将灵魂献给魔鬼。这正是人性的悲剧……
本片根据三浦建太郎的同名漫画原著改编。

Encouraged by her managers, rising pop star Mima takes on a recurring role on a popular TV show, when suddenly her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered.

The slow collapse of the relationship between an out-of-work actor and his girlfriend.

Tomiko falls in love with Niitaka, even though she also suspects him of being the Tokyo bus driver serial killer, who killed his female conductors after tiring of them.

Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a local yakuza gang. However, the world is a tough place.

Tells of the childhood of two nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly landlord, a rough new boy at the school, and three mysterious spirits in the form of old women.

1996 film by Yoshimitsu Morita

Ever since an accident in the mountains outside town, Takuji's slept in a coma; his neighbors care for him as new events occur every day.

A coming-of-age story. Shuji, a Japanese teen, is falling in love with his friend Hiroyuki, however, Hiroyuki is attracted to Kasane, the new girl in their class.

A teenage girl gains supernatural power after an accident and comes to understand her place in the universe.

1995 film by Shunji Iwai

Takashi and Yuriko are like any other young couple. He is a high school teacher, she takes care of the household chores and holds a job on the side transcribing audio recordings for a publishing house. Their marriage follows the traditional Japanese model: Yuriko has given up a promising career as a concert pianist and still laments the decision, despite having embraced the life of a housewife, while Takashi stays out until very late every day, spending his time after work with his colleagues rather than with his wife. Though dinners regularly go cold on him and the look on the face of his wife is far from happy, Takashi remains oblivious to the abandonment he inflicts on Yuriko.

A profile of the controversial novelist Mitsuharu Inoue, filmed during the last years of his life.

Near the remains of an iron factory, an old painter faces the challenges of creation, as his longtime muse has not appeared in some time. A young girl lends her curiosity to discover what it is that holds the old painter back. Her mother tells her a bedtime story to which brings understanding of the relationship between the abandoned factory and the lonely artist nearby. Poetically representing a new relationship between human beings and things buried in oblivion after doing their duties, this work approaches the essence of 'science' and 'civilization.'