Miako Tadano Movies

Japanese actress Miako Tadano makes her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of her own novel concerning an expectant mother whose pregnancy stretches on three times longer than the standard nine months. Fuyuko Matsuda (Tomoko Nakajima) has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect her unborn child from such things as excessive noise and microwave radiation, and though her sister (Erika Okuda), mother (Midori Kiuchi), and grandmother (Yatsuko Tanami) all humor the overprotective mother, Fuyuko's husband Toru (Hidetoshi Nishijima) just finds his wife's eccentric behavior obnoxious. Upon discovering that her husband has entered into an affair with a co-worker, Fuyuko begins to suspect that their pair may not be quite prepared for parenthood. When Fuyuko's pregnancy subsequently endures for eighteen months past her original due date, her lingering stress begins to become infectious and her callous husband suggests that the unborn child may be of extraterrestrial origins. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Maverick Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa creates a surreal yet laconic love story set in the dystopic near future as Tokyo is gripped by mysterious and virulent pollen. The story focuses on Haru, a thoroughly bored music producer who justifiably fears that he might literally disappear into thin air; and Michi, an employee at an international mail carrier, who likes to decorate her apartment with stolen items and fantasizes about going to foreign lands. Listless and prone to violent fantasies -- his of gang war, hers of suicide -- the couple volunteers to be test subjects for a new experimental drug designed to combat the effects of the pollen, even though the side effects render them sterile. Within this vague and insecure world, the two try to maintain their love but find themselves drifting apart. Every half-thought attempt at salvaging their relationship only results in further alienation. Haru buys a dog but eventually he gives it away, putting further strain on the two. The couple attempts to flee their everyday existence and visit the sea, when they happen upon a washed-up skeleton. The emotional fallout finally results in the relationship's breaking up. Later, they meet again in a most surprising fashion. Kurosawa's film, told largely with long takes and a minimum of dialog, reads like an ironic reworking of alienated youth dramas. These characters are so internally inert and emotionally cut off that they seem to verge on the darkly comic; yet their love for one another keeps them from sliding into the abyss. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Menage a trois and man-boy love are just two of the provocative elements in this bizarre love triangle from Japan. Mayumi is a shy, awkward, and narcoleptic high school student who one day decides to end it all by throwing himself off of his high school's roof. Before he can carry out the act, he is rescued by his teacher, Mr. Murai, who then proves by raping the boy that he's in no rush to be canonized. Unexpectedly, the violation gives Mayumi a new lust for life, and he subsequently shows up at his teacher's house wanting more. Mayumi has company: Marii, his female schoolmate, also wants a piece of Mr. Murai. What ensues is a three-pronged relationship that alternately takes the form of father/children and lustful lovers. French Dressing was screened at the 2002 Philadelaphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi