SONOHI NO MAENI (2008)

Based on the original Naoki-Prize-Winning novel by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, this story focuses on the lives of Kenta and Toshiko, a middle-aged couple whose life takes a tragic and unexpected turn when Toshiko is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Together with her husband and sons, Toshiko is determined to live her life to the fullest until that final day comes. Their journey takes them back to their old town where they relive old memories and revisit their all too brief history together.

Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi
Starring: Kiyotaka Nanbara, Hiromi Nagasaku, Toshio Kakei
2009/Color/139min/Vista Size/Dolby SRD

©2008[その日のまえに]製作委員会

Review: Coming Soon!!

INSTANT NUMA (2009)

Haname loses her job as an editor when the magazine she works for is suddenly discontinued. When she disposes all her personal belongings to start a new life, she finds a letter that says her biological father is an unknown man named “Noburo.”




Director: Satoshi Miki
Starring: Kumiko Asou, Morio Kazama, Ryo Kase
2009/Color/120min/Vista Size/DTS

©2009[インスタント沼]フィルムパートナーズ (Instant Numa Film Partners)

Review: Coming Soon!!

DIVE (2008)

Tomoki Sakai (Kento Hayashi ) is an average junior-high student. Fascinated by the diving skills of Yoichi Fujitani (Sosuke Ikematsu ), an elite athlete born into a family of former Olympic divers, Tomoki joins the Mizuki Diving Club (MDC) where Yoichi trains. However, the club is in the red, and its very survival is under question. Beautiful Kayoko Asaki (Asaka Seto ) has just returned from the US and joins the club as a new coach, with the mission to save MDC. Her goal is for the club to produce an athlete capable of competing in the Olympics. She brings in Shibuki Okitsu (Junpei Mizobata), a skillful diver with a wild streak from Tsugaru. His volcanic personality and fierce competitiveness change the stmosphere in the club. Meanwhile, Kayoko discovers that Tomoki possesses an unique ability called “diamond eyes” and inspires him to begin serious training. Tomoki, Yoichi, and Shibuki have to overcome personal problems, and struggle through conflicts and setbacks in the sport to achieve their dreams.
Can they make it to the Olympics?
What is the mystery of the “diamond eyes”?
What do the boys see from the edge of their physical limits?

The hot summer of three boys hooked on the thrill of diving is about to begin.

Director: Naoto Kumazawa
Starring: Kento Hayashi, Sosuke Ikematsu, Junpei Mizobata
2008/Color/115min/Vista Size/Dolby Digital

©2008"DIVE"Film Partners

Review: Coming Soon!!

ZEN (2008)

The inspiring true story of legendary Zen Master Dogen is brought to vivid life on the screen, more than 750 years after he lived his extraordinary life.

To cast away everything, surrendering yourself to the flow of nature and just sitting in meditation. This is the essence of Dogen&rsquos Zen Buddhism. In the 13th century, Dogen, a young Japanese monk traveled to China, determined to find his true master. There he found a monk who taught him that sitting in Zen meditation is the true and only path to enlightenment. Returning, enlightened, to Japan, Dogen risked his life to pioneer Zen Buddhism, inspiring the millions of Zen Buddhists who practice around the world today.

Director: Banmei Takahashi
Starring: Kantaro Nakamura, Yuki Uchida, Tatsuya Fujiwara
2008/35mm/Color/127min/Vista Size/Dolby SR

©2009"ZEN"Film Partners

Review: Coming Soon!!

DOUBLE TROUBLE (2008)

It's December 30, and everyone is milling about. But the "incident" that rocked this small town began with a single phone call.
"Hello, Mitama Cultural Center. Yes, you're calling to confirm your concert, correct? That's right. Mitama Chorus Girls. tomorrow evening at 7pm. All set. we'll see you then."
Thus the cultural center's director confidently replies to the caller. But just a moment later, he realizes that they are hardly "all set"! There's the "Mitama Chorus Girls" and "The Mitama Ladies' Chorus": two similar-sounding names were confused bythis hapless director. Of all things, his mismanagement has led to a double-booking on New Year's Eve!

Neither group will budge an inch. The director, who had always enjoyed stability in both his work and private lives, becomes flustered in the face of the ladies' passion for their choral groups. On top of that, his marriage hits a rocky patch, his bar tab is up for payment, and his whole life is turned upside-down. With this catastrophe on New Year's Eve, what will our director's fate be? And what of the "mamas" who have practiced their hearts out for this night?

Director: Joji Matsuoka
Starring: Kiichi Nakai, Kyoka Suzuki, Kazuki Kitamura
2008/35mm/Color/112min/Vista Size/DSR

©2008 CINE QUA NON/HAPPINET/KADOKAWA PICTURES

Review: Coming Soon!!

RESCUE WINGS (2008)

“Save lives and make it back alive”

Coming to screen a dynamic, amazingly “true to life” rescue action masterpiece featuring the Air Rescue Wing of the Air Self-Defense Force (SDF).

Haruka Kawashima has just started off her career as the first female pilot of the rescue helicopter UH-60J. Through her training and missions, she struggles to overcome the pain of not being able to save all lives...

Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Starring: Yuko Takayama, Dai Watanabe, Syunya Isaka
2008/Color/112min/Vista Size/Dolby SRD

©2008"RESCUE WINGS"Film Partners

Review: Coming Soon!!

SAMURAI GANGSTERS (2008)

A startup gambler Jirocho leaves behind his newlywed wife Ocho and sets out on a one-year journey with his gang. The gang attracts more members along the way as they come to admire Jirocho as a true man. He eventually becomes a household name in Tokaido. However, as his notoriety grows, more enemies emerge to challenge him. His life is thrown into turmoil as he is relentlessly confronted by Jirocho’s enemies, one after another. In the midst of the chaos, Ocho falls ill and further misfortune strikes the gang.

What will Jirocho do, now at his wit’s end? And what will become of his gang? The Jirocho Family faces a deadly battle...

Director: Masahiko Makino
Starring: Kiichi Nakai, Kyoka Suzuki, Kazuki Kitamura
2008/Color/126min/Vista Size/SRD

©2008"Jirocho Sangokushi"Film Partners

Review: Coming Soon!!

Agitator (2001)

The Agitator is a complex crime drama, with a lot of people and a lot of subplots. To summarize, there are two rival yakuza gangs, the Shirane, and the Yokomizu. When a Yokomizu gangster causes a scene in a Shirane nightclub, vengeance escalates into murder then breaks out into gang war. The leaders of the gangs make a plan to end the fighting quickly, but a rouge faction, the Higuchi gang, threatens to take them both down.

Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Masaya Kato, Naoto Takenaka, Masato Ibu

©2001"Agitator"Film Partners

Review:
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The Agitator is heavy on the politics and intrigue between the gangs. Most of the film is spent in meetings, with the gangsters laying out plans for power and then revising them as the Higuchi scatter the pieces to the wind. It’s a thinking gangster’s film.

This doesn’t mean that the movie is lacking in the gory shoot-outs you’d expect from a gangster drama. When they finally decide who they’re killing, the gangsters make good on that promise. As the story moves toward its climax, the violence picks up, and there’s a lot of action (and blood) in the final third.

-Rebecca
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DROP (2009)

Based on a best-selling comic/novel that has sold more than 2.5 million copies written by Japan’s favorite comedian Hiroshi Shinagawa, DROP tells a fastpaced, sensational story of a youngster dropping out of ‘ordinary’ school life!

Angst-ridden teen, Hiroshi, aspiring to the exciting life of a teenhood, transfers to a public school where he immediately gets in trouble with the school’s tough gang leader, Tatsuya. Though Hiroshi is pummeled, his never-say-die attitude earns him entry into the gang where he sinks into a daily rhythm of rumbles, truancy and hard-earned friendships. But despite all his rebellious energy and youthful zeal, Hiroshi finds his manhood most tested in matters of the heart.

Director: Hiroshi Shinagawa
Starring: Hiroki Narimiya, Hiro Mizushima, Yuika Motokariya
2009/Color/122min/Vista Size/Dolby SRD

©2009"DROP"Film Partners

Review: Coming Soon!!