Yui Natsukawa Movies

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda writes and directs this family drama that unfolds over the course of a single summer day as the Yokoyama family gathers for a rare reunion held to commemorate the death of the one who was taken before his time. It was 15 years ago that eldest Yokoyama son, Junpei, drowned in a tragic accident, and the only changes around the family home since that fateful day are so subtle that they're not likely to be noticed by anyone outside of the immediate family. Retired family patriarch Kyohei (Yoshio Harada) used to run a successful medical clinic out of the home, though the lights in his medical examining room haven't even been turned on in years. The tiles in the kitchen where energetic Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) cooks family meals are slowly coming loose, and as youngest son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) arrives home, he does his best to hide the fact that he's currently unemployed. His older sister, Chinami (You), has also arrived with her family, and does her best to entertain everyone despite the undeniable cloud of melancholy hanging over the home. As the festive gathering commences and Toshiko lays out a lavish meal, it gradually becomes obvious that resentment and sorrow bonds this family as powerfully as love. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Animator Goro Miyazaki, son of the famous Hayao Miyazaki ("The Walt Disney of Japan"), makes his directorial debut with the animated feature Tales from Earthsea (aka Gedo Senki). Miyazaki loosely adapted the work from the third and fourth volumes in best-selling sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin's infamous series of cult novels -- all set in Earthsea, a Tolkien-esque fantasy realm. Gedo Senki opens at a point when Earthsea is deteriorating rapidly, and the power of magic is waning -- tendencies signaled by the sudden, frightening reappearance of dragons in the land of humankind. Ged Sparrowhawk was once a lowly goat herder but is now known as Lord Archmage, the most powerful of all wizards. He soon meets Prince Arren of Enlad -- a teenage boy chased by a "shadow," the force that is tipping the world out of balance and driving innumerable people to the point of insanity.

The men team up and journey to Hort Town, the Earthsea capital city, where they find the entire community turned upside down -- craftsmen have abandoned their trades, slavery runs rampant, addicts clamor in the streets. They ultimately find refuge in the priestess Tenar's palace, also occupied by the scarred orphan girl Therru. While the latter initially avoids Arren in fear of his "dark side," Arren bides his time in the nearby fields, being mentored by Ged on the balance of creation. Therru eventually opens up to Arren, but he grows increasingly disturbed by nightmares about being chased by the shadow, and his daytime fear of it grows absolutely overwhelming. Ged then discovers that the cause of the kingdom-wide "imbalance" is actually his old arch nemesis, the wizard Cob, who has opened up the gateway between the living and the dead, and hopes to attain eternal life, meanwhile plotting to murder Ged in vengeance for an act he committed long ago.

In fear of his evil self, Arren absconds from Tenar's palace -- actively fleeing from the shadow -- but ultimately faints and turns up at the castle of Cob. The latter's minions give their guest "hazia," which causes him to lose his bearings and tell Cob his real name. Arren thus becomes enslaved to the wizard. Meanwhile, Ged and Therru turn up, and bring Arren back to full awareness. With their assistance, he is able to surmount the temptation of eternal life; he then does an about face, and, with the assistance of an enchanted sword, prepares to do battle with Cob. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Beat Takeshi Kitano directs and plays the title role in this tribute to the wildly popular "blind swordsman" of Japanese cinema who was the hero of more than 20 movies and a television series from the early '60s to the late '80s. In Kitano's version, Zatôichi wanders into a town harassed by criminal gangs, and helps two geishas take revenge on the men who murdered their parents. His mission leads him to a final, bloody confrontation with the gang's mastermind and his hired assassin (Tadanobu Asano), a swordsman with a reputation as lethal as Zatôichi. ~ Tom Vick, Rovi

In a time when demons and ghosts threaten to bring total devastation to a powerful kingdom, betrayal from within the powerful ranks of the ruling emperor threatens to bring an entire civilization to its knees in this supernaturally charged martial arts epic from director Yojiro Takita. As dark forces hold a suffocating grip on a once powerful kingdom during the Heian period, the emperor employs the help of the Onmyoji in keeping the malevolent spirits at bay. Though the coming birth of the emperor's heir offers a glimmer of hope for the kingdom's future, an intimate betrayal leaves the fate of the kingdom in the hands of Seimei (Mansai Nomura) -- the most powerful of the Onmyoji. As Seimei prepares to do battle with his former master Doson (Hiroyuki Sanada), the powers of lightness and dark come together for a battle that will determine the fate for generations to come. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this supernatural thriller from Japan, Hinako (Yui Natsukawa) is a young woman with a successful career as a fashion designer who pays a visit to the village on the island of Shikoku where she grew up. Hinako learns that her best friend from childhood, Sayori (Chiaki Kuriyama), the daughter of the village's spiritual leader, died in a mysterious drowning accident. She also discovers that another childhood friend, Fumiya (Michitaka Tsutsui), is still living on the island, and as they renew their friendship Hinako finds herself sexually attracted to Fumiya. They're both startled when Sayori's spirit begins appearing to them, and they begin researching Shikoku folklore; they discover that the island is believed to be the gateway to another world, and Sayori's mother is trying to open the path so her daughter can return to this realm. Shikoku marked a change of pace for director Shunichi Nagasaki, who previously made the romantic drama Some Kinda Love. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Following up on his 1995 violent crime-thriller Gonin, Tadashi Ishii adds sex into two-fisted mix of action and bloodlust: instead of a quintet of disenfranchised guys, this go-around features five very angry women. Small factory owner Masamichi Toyama (Ken Ogata) is deeply in debt to the local yakuza. One night, while returning from buying his wife a birthday present, he comes home to find the mobsters demanding payment. They rape his wife and beat him as a warning. The incident drives his wife over the edge: she frantically starts looking for the lost birthday present and then that night hangs herself. Like in the first movie, Toyama sets out to strike bloody revenge against the yakuza office. Meanwhile, the film catches up with four women in similarly desperate straits: Ran (Kimiko Yo), an out of work former owner of a fitness club; Sayuri (Shinobu Otake), an aging hooker with few prospects; Shiho, a housewife who just discovered her husband in mid-philander; and Saki, a low-rung corporate drone who is still traumatized by memories of a childhood rape. The four find themselves in the midst of a daylight robbery of a high-end jewelry store. While the ski-masked thieves busy themselves with grabbing as much loot as possible, the office worker zaps one with a tazer while the housewife bashes another on the head. Chaos breaks out and soon the four, along with a store saleswoman (Mai Kitajima), are fleeing place with jewels in hand. Having laid waste to the Mob lair and still brandishing a bloodied weapon, Toyama staggers to the store, looking to buy his dead wife the diamond ring she longed for, only to get swept up in the melee. Soon Toyama and the five women are fending off vengeful yakuza and enraged jewel thieves. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi