Isao Yukisada Movies

The new kid in town finds his new friends might know something his father doesn't in this playful comedy from Japanese filmmaker Isao Yukisada. Ryunosuke Kusunoki (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is a boy from Tokyo who moves with his family to a farming community in Hokkaido province, where he soon finds he doesn't fit in. Ryunosuke's difficulties with his new school mates isn't helped by the fact his father (Tomokazu Miura) is a government functionary who has come to persuade a handful of farmers to sell their land so that a new airport can be built. Ryunosuke's father isn't the first man to try to get the local farmers to sell their land, and the landowners don't regard him with any greater friendliness than they did his predecessors. Ryunosuke is frequently taunted by Kohei Tsuchida (Yuma Sasano), whose father is a scientist and the leader of the local opposition to the new airport, but while their parents are increasingly at odds, Ryunosuke and Kohei strike up a friendship through their shared love of pranks. As Ryunosuke slowly begins to enjoy his new environment and the joyously eccentric community around him, he finds he can no longer support his father's desire to tear up the countryside in the name of air transportation. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Isao Yukisada directed and co-wrote this romantic melodrama, based on a best-selling novel by Katayama Kyoichi. A typhoon is approaching town when Ritsuko (Kou Shibasaki, who also starred in director Yukisada's Go) discovers a mysterious old cassette tape that leads her to abruptly abandon her fiancé, Sakutaro (Takao Osawa of All About Lily Chou-Chou). When Sakutaro realizes where she's gone, it leads him to take a journey of his own. Sakutaro (played by Mirai Moriyama as a teen) goes into a deep reverie, thinking back to his high school years (which are shown in flashback), when he developed a powerful crush on a classmate, Aki (Masami Nagasawa). Aki was beautiful, poised, and athletic, and seemed on the verge of escaping their small town. With the encouragement of his best friend Ryunosuke (Issei Takahashi) and his uncle (Tsutomu Yamazaki, who also starred in Go), a wedding photographer, Sakutaro pursues Aki. She's drawn to him, and encourages him to open up to her in cassette recordings that they exchange. Their romance is blossoming when Sakutaro learns that Aki is gravely ill. As he relives his past, it becomes unclear whether their respective journeys will reunite Sakutaro and Ritsuko. Crying Out Love in the Center of the World was shown at the 2005 Asian American International Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Remembrance and regret dominate the reunion of a group of college pals in this drama from Japanese filmmaker Isa Yukisada. Teruaki is a man in his mid-'20s who is startled one day when he hears a news report that a close friend from his days in university, Tomomi Manabe, has died in a boating accident. Teruaki takes it upon himself to track down a number of their mutual friends, and after meeting up at the funeral, they compare notes on where their lives have taken them since graduation. Teruaki, meanwhile, slowly but surely finds himself overcome with regret at the realization that the woman he once loved is now gone forever. Himawari was the second feature from cameraman-turned-director Yukisada, though it began playing at film festivals before his debut, Open House, had gained an official release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A lover, an ultimatum, a phone call, and a gun: these elements are found in each segment of Hal Hartley's Flirt, an experimental comedy-drama that essentially repeats the same story three times. But while the basic narrative remains the same -- a congenital flirt must decide whether or not to commit to a current lover, who otherwise will marry someone else -- the details differ greatly, from the location of the film to the gender of the participants. The initial segment, set in New York, tells the tale with a male flirt in turmoil over his relationship with a woman. The film then moves to Berlin, where the same drama is played out amongst a gay male couple, with an added touch of self-reflexive humor. The third and final episode takes place in Tokyo, with a female flirt and a more abstract cinematic approach, including several sequences in traditional Japanese pantomime. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide