新・極道の妻たち　惚れたら地獄

Sharaku

The ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist Sharaku is an enigmatic puzzle in the world of Japanese art. Working at an age when such masters of the trade as Hokusai and Utamaro were at their zenith, Sharaku suddenly emerged out of obscurity and produced roughly 140 strikingly brilliant portraits of Kabuki performers, only to disappear just as suddenly. To date, no one knows about his true identity or about his post-ukiyo-e career. Veteran director Masahiro Shinoda tries to fill in the blanks with ...

Onimasa: A Japanese Godfather

Onimasa is the egocentric boss of a small yakuza clan on Shikoku Island, whose criminal duties conflict with his self-image as a chivalrous samurai. His struggles with his boss, the Shikoku Godfather, and the tumultuous life of his adopted daughter, Matsue, form the backdrop of this epic tale of justice, obedience, and bloody vengeance.

Suspicion

A car going at 25 mph plunges into the sea at Shinko Harbour, Toyama prefecture. Inside is the local business magnate Fukutaro Shirakawa, who perishes. Riding alongside him and surviving unhurt is his second wife, Kumako. It soon comes to light that Kumako’s husband was insured for 300 million yen and she is arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband for the insurance money. The newspapers denounce her as an evil woman, while the public is in no doubt about Kumako’s crime. Ritsuko ...

Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron

Kumokiri Nizaemon, a former samurai warrior, has abandoned his class to become the leader of a gang of thieves. He leads his outlaws in an attempt to rob the castle of his former clan.

Ballad of Orin

A blind traveling musician is abused and oppressed wherever she goes, even as the modern world imposes change around her.

Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees

A mountain man beheads his many wives to prove his love to an alluring woman he meets in an enchanted forest.

Himiko

A freestyle, imagined telling of the life of shaman queen Himiko, who falls in love with her half-brother, making her powers weaken thus putting her position to risk.

Lady with Seven Faces

A lovely female thief, and disguise artist, has a great passion for her next big job which she sets up with her right-hand man: She intends to steal 500 million yen of ill-gotten money from the safe at Nitto Textiles

Red Lion

Impersonating an Imperial Army officer by wearing a "red lion's mane", a poor servant returns to his village after 10 years of absence to end the village's suffering caused by corrupt officials.

Double Suicide

Successful and married with children, paper-mill owner Jihei knows better than to contradict the strict social and moral codes of 18th-century Japan. But when he meets the lovely courtesan Koharu, he becomes a man obsessed. Koharu returns his love, even foregoing other customers while Jihei schemes to somehow buy her freedom. His efforts yield ruinous consequences for his business and his family life, and Koharu is meanwhile purchased by another client.

Sword of the Beast

Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his ...

A Legend, or Was It?

A Tokyo family escaping the war relocates to a Hokkaido village; their daughter is set to marry the local leader's son, but her siblings disapprove.

An Autumn Afternoon

Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.

Harakiri

Japan zu Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts: Ein umherziehender Samurai namens Tsugumo bittet darum, im Haus eines feudalen Lords aufgrund bitterer Armut Seppuku begehen zu dürfen. Da zu jener Zeit jedoch viele herrenlose Samurai (Ronin genannt) diese vorgebliche Bitte nur an die Fürstenhäuser herantragen, um sie durch Androhung der Schmach des rituellen Selbstmordes in ihren Häusern zu erpressen, erzählt man dem Unbekannten zur Abschreckung wie es dem Ronin Chijiwa erging. An diesem hatte man ...

Killers on Parade

Mod-sixties visuals and black humor mark this wild New Wave masterpiece about a vengeful contractor who hires a series of young killers to target a woman muckraker. Trouble brews when an amateur marksman shows up his eclectic competition.