Shugo Oshinari Movies

A passionate young man gets a crash course in the ways of love in this romantic comedy-drama from Japanese auteur Nami Iguchi. Mirume (Kenichi Matsuyama) is a nineteen-year-old student pursuing a degree in art at a college outside Tokyo. Mirume signs up for a printmaking class, and the handsome young artist makes a major impression on Yuri (Hiromi Nagasaku), an attractive professor in her mid-thirties who is teaching the course. Yuri seduces naïve Mirume, and before long he's convinced that she's the love of his life. When school shuts down for the summer break, Yuri heads north to her home in Kiryu City, and after uncovering her address, Mirume follows her home. Mirume arrives at Yuri's house to discover she has a husband (Morio Agata) who doesn't understand the purpose of Mirume's visit, and as the evening wears on, Mirume becomes increasingly reluctant to accept that Yuri wanted nothing more than a brief fling. Meanwhile, Mirume's infatuation with Yuri doesn't set well with En (Yu Aoi), one of his classmates who is clearly attracted to him. Hito no sekkusu o waruna (aka Don't Laugh At My Romance) was an official selection at the 2008 Hong Kong Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Wildly popular filmmaker Shunji Iwai breaks a three-year hiatus following his less than successful April Story with this elliptical drama about teenaged alienation, violence, and celebrity. The film centers on Yuichi Hasumi (Hayato Ichihara), an eighth grader who lives in a sleepy town in rural Japan with his mother, her boyfriend, and the boyfriend's son. At school he is beaten up and harassed by his former friend Hoshino. In order to scrape up the cash to meet Hoshino's daily extortion demand, Yuichi resorts to petty theft and shoplifting. At home he finds sanctuary with his favorite singer Lily Chou-Chou, for whom he has devoted a website called "Liliphilia." One day, he encounters on the net a fellow Lily-phile who goes by the handle "blue cat." As Hoshino's power grows, he demands that Yuichi tail fellow classmate Shiori Tsuda (Yu Aoi), who he is pimping out to older men. Yuichi's suffocating situation at school leads him to consider suicide, something he confesses to "blue cat" -- his only confidant. Things come to a head tragically at a long awaited Lily Chou-Chou concert. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide