Ken Ishiguro Movies

A man finds a new sense of himself in his old hometown in this drama from Japan. Tetsuro is a businessman from Tokyo who goes back to the coastal town where he grew up for the first time in years when he arrives to attend a memorial ceremony for his late grandmother. While he's back home, Tetsuro happens upon Yuki, who was his girlfriend in high school, and the two meet over cocktails to get reacquainted. Tetsuro and Yuki were both on their high school's yachting team, and after a few drinks he offers to join Yuki and some friends for a sailing trip that will circle the island of Hokkaido. The next morning, Tetsuro isn't so sure a return to sailing is such a good idea, but when his old friends come out of the woodwork to cheer him on, he finds himself warming to the task and it leads him to take a fresh look at his life in the city. Starring Ken Ishiguro, Misa Shimizu and Takako Uehara, Umikaze Ni Fukarete (aka Carried On A Sea Breeze) was directed by Toshiki Sato, best known to Japanese film fans for his noted "Pink Films" (softcore sex pictures), though he's also made thrillers and more serious dramas. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Having successfully become a Japanese Rescue Diver and won the heart of the beautiful Kana, Daisuke Senzaki (Hideaki Ito) finds his future saving lives drawn into question when a daring rescue mission takes an unexpectedly tragic turn. An airplane has crashed in the water, and the two survivors - a young boy and his father - are fast being pulled beneath the swirling waters. Though Daisuke does manage to save the child, the father slips beneath the surface never to be seen again. Haunted by his inability to save the man, Daisuke slips into a deep depression that soon causes him to call off his upcoming marriage to loving fiancée Kana (Ai Kato). Daisuke's resolve as a rescue diver is put to the ultimate test when an enormous ferry capsizes and the frightened passengers - Kana included - look to the Coast Guard as their only hope for survival. As multiple fires erupt and the four-story leviathan steadily begins to take on water, a series of explosions trap Daisuke and partner Tetsuya Yoshioka (Ryuta Sato) inside the vessel with two passengers who require extra special attention - a combative drunk and a thirty-five year old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy. Premiering on Japanese screens in May of 2006, this sweeping sequel to the 2004 hit sold enough tickets become the second highest opening weekend draw in Japanese box office history. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Makoto Wada directs this Twilight Zone-like portmanteau film about the grotesque, the bizarre, and the just plain weird. The first segment features a slightly drunken man (Hiroyuki Sanada) and a very tense woman (Mieko Harada) clutching a suitcase, who are riding an elevator together. When the lift suddenly stops and the lights dim, the guy clearly hopes for impromptu romance to bloom. Instead, the woman freaks out, accusing him of stopping the elevator on purpose. Soon she's brandishing a switchblade, defending whatever is in her luggage to the death. The second segment details how a young woman's (Mami Kumagai) moment of upward career mobility is undone by a mysterious -- maybe otherworldly -- boatman. The third section tells of a novelist (Haruhiko Saito) who fails to buy a train ticket on his way back to his hometown village and is forced to explain himself to a frightfully unsympathetic station manager (Ryuko Hagiwara). The fourth segment relates a story about a rich merchant (Kaoru Kobayashi) who happens upon his former mistress (Hitomi Kuroki) while escaping a thundering rainstorm. The two share a room at a nearby inn and make love. In the middle of the night, the mistress is plagued by horrible visions and soon the merchant is seeing them too. The final section is about a reporter (Ken Ishiguro) and photographer (Kyusaku Shimada) who enlist the help of the wrong pilot in order to make deadline for their tyrant of an editor. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide