Yuji and Yuriko's peaceful life shatters when an old diary belonging to Yuji's great-uncle Sadaichi, who died in the war, is discovered. The pages are full of an obsession with life... and one strange phrase: "I want to devour the bird—Hikuidori." From that day on, eerie phenomena start to haunt those connected to the diary. As the nightmare deepens, a strong will to live—once buried with Sadaichi—begins to twist the past and bleed into reality.

“Hana-Dama”—a flower in the wasteland. This flower is a symbol of earthly desires and every human is overwhelmed by desire and their rationality collapses wherever the flower is in bloom. And even today, the “Hana-Dama” continues to blossom profusely somewhere in the world. The story is set in a film theater, the facility keeps on closing one after another during recent years. The last day has come to a film theater which has been maintained by a film-loving owner, the staff, and their unique audiences. The symbol of human desire, “Hana-Dama,” blossoms at the theater and instigates people’s erratic behavior. Upon facing its closure, tremendous chaos that will be noted in the history of Japanese film takes place within this film theater.

A professional hitman, turned against the world that made him and sensationalizes what he does, kills in the hope to one day take back pieces of his past. It's a world void of connections, trust or meaning, embroiled by fleeting encounters with fugitive women, who along with the other usual croutons sprinkling similar films of the time - diversions and subversion, greed and hijinks, the nameless political element, egalitarian dreams coming up against walls of economy - make a Wakamatsu salad where every ingredient has its untold price that everyone will be made to pay.

A young man wanders and makes calls to elders who live alone. Saying “Granny, it’s me,” he lies to them that he is their grandson. An old lady, who runs a music shop in the declining shopping area in Amakusa, answers his call and warmly accepts him. Pretending as her grandson, he settles down in the town. He gets used to his friendship with young villagers, the sound and landscape of Amakusa, and the old lady’s everyday life.

北方謙三のハードボイルド小説を映画化。しがないサラリーマンのオオツカ。ある日彼は上司の命令を受けて、姿を消した先輩社員の行方を捜すために新潟へ向かう。それはいつもと同じ、ただの出張のハズだったが…。

Nobuko Otowa plays a former Seto Inland Sea island farmer who has moved to the mainland in order to find work, but instead ends up dead. The film begins with the discovery of her corpse, which leads to an investigation that uncovers the narcotics, prostitution, and murder in which many poor farmers had found themselves trapped after World War II.

A very rare ATG distributed Wakamatsu, starring Ken Yoshizawa and Rie Yokoyama as two pieces of a destructive love-triangle. Has all the usual Wakamatsu themes of politics, suicide and twisted love, as well as stylish Hideo Ito cinematography and great use of the more or less single set (a beach with an abandoned boat on it). As there's not that much dialogue, it could make a fairly 'easy' translation project (hint hint)

About the escape of a boy and his girlfriend who murdered a friend. Inspired by Godard and the nouvelle vague movement.

1986 film

A brother and sister live as outcasts from their hamlet due to a belief that mental illness runs in their family. A group of villagers plot to steal their property by beating and hanging the brother and gang-raping the sister. Believing the brother to be dead, scheming to kill the sister, and making both deaths look like accidents... unbeknownst to them, the brother survives and proceeds on a mission to slaughter those responsible in the hamlet.

A militant revolutionary group is torn apart by betrayal as its members descend into paranoia and sexual decadence.

1989 film by Takeshi Kitano