Takuro Okada – Konoma

Oto-na-ri stars Junichi Okada as a photographer named Satoshi who prefers landscape photography to his daily grind of snapping photos of magazine models. Kumiko Aso plays a part-time florist named Nanao who lives in an adjacent apartment and dreams of someday moving to France. Though the two have never met, they do share a wall and occasionally inadvertantly eavesdrop on the daily goings-on of each other’s lives.

During the middle of the Kanei Period (1624-1644) Japan was in the early stages of its most peaceful era. This left a large number of unemployed samurai with nothing to do, and their morale suffered. In order to raise their spirits, the Shogun’s Chief Advisor Okubo Hikozaemon suggests that they hold a ‘Festival of Swordsmen’ in the Shogun’s presence. Problems arise when some of the martial artists bring their personal grudges to the competition. Starring Otomo Ryutaro and Wakayama Tomisaburo as two of the strongest swordsmen in the nation, this film is loaded with surprises, and superb action. When Busshi Shirogoro (Otomo) meets the daughter of the late Lord Sanada Yukimura sparks fly as she tries to use the com-petition to carry out her vengeance against Shogun Iemitsu. Tension mounts as the competition nears, and a mysterious ronin (Wakayama) takes on his own vendetta against the popular Shirogoro, risking not only his life, but that of his wife as well. She is the sister of one of Yagyu’s top sword instructors and has secrets of her own!

Japan has a long history of heroic fictional characters who subdue bad guys by hurling objects at them, such as Zenigata Heiji: the cop who catches criminals by throwing coins and Ultra 7: the henshin hero who temporarily detaches his “Eye Slugger” to hurl at evildoers. To pay homage to that idea, as well as to spoof Japanese detective shows, director Minoru Kawasaki set out to create his own take on the genre. Of course, being the guy that brought us movies like Executive Koala and “Crab Goalkeeper”, plenty of absurdity was in order—but for the first time in his career, he didn’t resort to putting an animal in a typically human a situation.

Gontiti – Vacances (1994) is an album by the Japanese instrumental duo Gontiti, known for their relaxed, melodic blend of acoustic guitar and world music influences. The group, consisting of Tetsuo Okada and Yoshio Katori, specializes in creating soothing, atmospheric music that combines elements of bossa nova, jazz, flamenco, and new age styles, often featuring intricate guitar work and a light, flowing vibe. Vacances is one of their most celebrated albums, offering a perfect example of their signature sound—melodic, emotive, and incredibly relaxing.

The Samurai Trilogy, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring the inimitable Toshiro Mifune, was one of Japan’s most successful exports of the 1950s, a rousing, emotionally gripping tale of combat and self-discovery. Based on a novel that’s often called Japan’s Gone with the Wind, this sweeping saga fictionalizes the life of the legendary seventeenth-century swordsman (and writer and artist) Musashi Miyamoto, following him on his path from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. With these three films—1954’s Oscar-winning Musashi Miyamoto, 1955’s Duel at Ichijoji Temple, and 1956’s Duel at Ganryu Island—Inagaki created a passionate epic that’s equal parts tender love story and bloody action.

In the late twenties and early thirties, Yasujiro Ozu was working steadily for Shochiku studios, honing his craft on dozens of silent films in various genres, from romantic melodramas to college comedies to gangster pictures—and, of course, movies about families. In these three droll domestic films—Tokyo Chorus, I Was Born, But . . . , and Passing Fancy, presented here with all-new scores by renowned silent-film composer Donald Sosin—Ozu movingly and humorously depicts middle-class struggles and the resentments between children and parents, establishing the emotional and aesthetic delicacy with which he would transform the landscape of cinema."