Eiji Okada Movies

Acclaimed director Tatsumi Kumashiro, who made a career out of elevating the high-budget, soft-core-porn genre Nikku Roman Porno into the realm of art, ended his career with this grisly sex-charged yakuza drama. After eight years in prison, middle-aged gangster Tanaka (Eiji Okuda) is out and looking for a little payback. Unfortunately, the mob boss and his smooth-talking underling Kurauchi (Hakuryu) are much more interested in making fast yen than drawing blood. An old battle-grizzled warrior, Tanaka feels utterly out of place in this new profit-minded ethos and instead sticks with what he does best -- horrible bloodcurdling violence. He can kill barehanded without breaking a sweat and, if the situation requires it, he can suture up his own wounds. When the boss, who both respects and fears his charge, quietly tries to push him aside in favor of Kurauchi for succession as gang leader, Tanaka decides to wage war against his rival. At the same time, Tanaka has a spy for the enemy gang brutally murdered, turns an innocent young lass into a junkie whore, and engages in kinky sex with his housewife mistress. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

During 1980s, at the height of Japan's economic power, the furasato (or hometown) boom struck. White-collar workers slaving for 12 hours a day only to face a two-hour commute began to fantasize of a simpler way of life in the rural countryside. Director Mitsuo Kurotsuchi parodies this phenomenon with Jutai. Former rock icon Kenichi Hagiwara plays service industry everyman who hawks expensive toys to yuppies in Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics district. Taking a vacation during the holidays, he piles his wife (Hitomi Kuroki) and two children in the car to visit his own furasato. Living in an idyllic little isle off of the southern island of Shikoku, Grandpa (Eiji Okada), who's half senile, and Grandma (Emiko Higashi), who's beyond chipper, eagerly await the arrival of their son and grandchildren. Unfortunately, between Tokyo and Shikoku is a traffic jam that would put the one in Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend to shame. Soon a five-day trip to a rural paradise turns into an epic journey into motorist hell, replete with a weak-bladdered child, hopelessly bad navigation skills, and a near head-on collision with a truck full of pigs. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Two rival surgical teams at a Japanese hospital perform gruesome experimental operations on healthy patients in this macabre horror story. The liver of a young serviceman is removed as the main course in a planned dinner celebration. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Somewhat reminiscent of The Incredible Journey and Milo and Otis -- though much harsher in its approach -- Antarctica focusses in on a team of sled dogs, owned by a team of snowbound Japanese researchers. A relief team is long overdue, forcing the dogs to fend for themselves. Eight of the dogs break free from their chains, roaming the Antarctic wastes in search of food and shelter. Only two of the dogs survive the ordeal, indication enough that this film is not specifically designed for the family trade. Based on a true story, Antarctica was a box-office smash in Japan, though this success was not repeated when the film was distributed internationally. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Moe (Junko Mihara) is a teenager who has left her family's country home to share an apartment in Tokyo with her older brother Jun (Eiji Okada), in order to get a good high-school education in the city. She does the housework for her brother, who is a successful photographer with a romantic interest in his attractive assistant. Moe and her brother share the same bed -- out of practicality -- but that situation changes when Moe awakens sexually. Her brother's interest is strictly in his assistant and he has no clue that Moe is in a quandary about her own sexual leanings, even when she tries to ruin his relationship with the photography assistant. Moe then looks for other ways to express her desires, and she starts to develop a relationship that -- as unlikely as it may be -- will at least solve her dilemma. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Whatever eccentricities elephants may have, they do not inform this lumbering documentary on the calm, easy-going mammals. The sun is shown setting again and again over the African plains as the elephants forage, bathe in rivers, hang out, and then repeat this procedure. Distractions take the story away from the elephants at times but there is not enough zoological or botanical information to hold interest for long. A little more in the way of stirring commentary and variations on elephant behavior might be helpful. At the same time, a little less on the mating habits of the pachyderms and the killing of animals, filmed here in living color, might make this documentary more palatable for the moppet set. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Utamaro was an artist who lived in Edo (which was later to become modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th century. This film, which has a complex and wide-ranging storyline, recreates the world of that time, as it appeared in Utamaro's paintings. In one the many scenes captured by the story, Utamaro watches the goings-on in a brothel while hidden in its attic. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this Japanese-made sci-fi/action thriller, Interpol has nothing on ESPY, an elite international law-enforcement agency. Its members have supernormal powers, including telepathy and clairvoyance. Discerning a pattern to the series of political assassinations which have rocked the world, ESPY dispatches its best agents to Istanbul, to counter the efforts of an anti-ESPY organization, masterminded by Ulrov (who has super-powers himself), before the Prime Minister of Baltonia is killed. The combined force of the battling telepaths causes natural disturbances around the world including earthquakes and auroras. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this Japanese melodrama, a young painter struggles in all things to remain true to his art and to his friends, a difficult task in a society where such a quest can lead to a truly disastrous individualism. In his case, in late 19th-century Japan, repression and death surround and follow him as his culture painfully adjusts to the changes sweeping through it. Because he has absorbed some Western ideas about artistic realism, he seeks situations where he can see the things he plans to paint, whether it be a naked woman, or a scene of hara-kiri. At one time, he was poised to become an official painter for the Imperial Court. However, his indignation at the authorities, for having chopped his rebellious friend to death, puts him in grave danger. Because of his associates and his known attitudes, he is likely to be subject to investigation about his past. His pariah mother kills herself to prevent the authorities from discovering damaging information about his birth. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this Japanese drama, a young woman blackmails a fellow for two million yen and then tries to lure him away from his wife. To get the greedy woman to leave him alone, the fellow buys her a bar, but she refuses to stop until she destroys everyone around her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The building of a dam provides the framework for this Japanese drama. The trouble is that the dam is to be built along a fault line. An engineer is assigned to dig a tunnel so supplies can be brought in. Realizing the grave danger, the engineer is most reluctant to do so. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this sci-fi horror movie, a parasitic space monster attaches itself to a spaceship and begins absorbing the energy of the weapons attempting to destroy it. Every time a weapon fires, the creature gets larger. Eventually the crew aboard the ship figure it out and the monster begins to shrink. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi