Shinsuke Aoki Movies
- 2000
Television personality and model Naoko Iijima, along with Tsuyoshi Kusunagi from the popular music group SMAP, star in this wacky comedy about love and Lycra shorts. Naomi (Iijima), a champagne-sipping highroller on the run from bankruptcy and a corrupt boyfriend, hits a bike messenger (Hiroyuki Yabe) with her Alfa Romeo. Wracked with guilt, she reluctantly joins the low rent company co-owned by Suzuki (Kusunagi) to fill in for the injured courier. After an initially clumsy start, she decides to stay with the company and to get back at her boyfriend (who works for a rival firm) at the same time by making Suzuki's business the best darned bicycle messenger service in Tokyo. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- 1995
Veteran indie director Sogo Ishii spins this trippy coming-of-age drama cum sci-fi supernatural headtrip. The film centers on Izumi Hazuka (Rena Komine), a high school student and Olympic high dive aspirant. When she transfers to a new school in the southern city of Fukuoka, she meets two lads who think she's the cat's meow. One is the shy yet hunky Mao (Shinsuke Aoki) and the other is slick Ukiya (Masaaki Takarai). The two happen to be best friends and soon become rivals for Izumi's attention. When Ukiya's clairvoyant friend (Reiko Matsuo) tells Ukiya that he and Izumi are not in the cards, Ukiya bows out. That same friend also predicts that Izumi's upcoming diving meet will be a disaster. While in mid-dive, Izumi sees the water turn into rock. She panics and then belly flops. When she comes to, she learns that she has superhuman powers. At the same time, a mysterious drought and disease has descended on her hometown. Empowered by her newfound abilities, she sets out to save Fukuoka. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
When has-been baseball player Jack Elliot (Tom Selleck) is signed by a Japanese team, he is initially reluctant to take the game seriously. Elliot is very successful, though, as he teaches the team about American chutzpah, and they remind him of the value of respect. He must fight his way out from under a slump to show that he deserves the title. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Ken Takakura, (more)
