Hitomi Ishihara Movies
As the Korean War draws to a close and the pressing demand for copious amounts of coal takes a sudden plunge, the remote Japanese mining town of Joban attempts to compensate for the devastating economic blow by transforming itself into a lavish Hawaiian retreat in an affectionate comedy inspired by real events and directed by Lee Sang-il. The year s 1965 and the changes that have swept through the outside world are finally reaching Joban. As the mineworkers are laid off and the women of the town take it upon themselves to gently nudge their once-prosperous community from the brink of economic collapse, the ancient Hawaiian art of the hula dance seems to offer the ideal means of doing so. Though highly fashionable Tokyo urbanite Madoka Hirayama (Yasuko Matsuyuki) at first seems terribly out of place when she arrives in Joban to teach local ladies how to saw their hips with authentic grace, her noble efforts soon instill her students with a newfound sense of confidence in both themselves, and their struggling community. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yasuko Matsuyuki, Etsushi Toyokawa, (more)
- 1998
Nodo Jiman is popular NHK television show in which amateur singers from across Japan sing their hearts out before a nationwide audience. This film -- directed by Kazuyuki Izutsu -- gives a fictional treatment of the dreams and struggles of a handful of potential contestants as the show is set to broadcast from a small town. The contestants are winnowed down from over 2,000 applicants to ten finalists. The denizens of the town that dream of fame and glory include a high school girl who is the star member of the karaoke club; a yakatori owner (Kohei Otomo), who frets when the health inspector times his visit at the same time as the audition; Kataro (Kazuo Kitamura), an old mushroom grower who sings to communicate with his autistic grandson; and Reiko (Shigeru Muroi), a fading enka singer who is looking for one more shot in the limelight. Other contestants include a narcissistic cabbie (Naoto Takenaka); a straight-laced salariman (Daikichi Sugawara) who butchers his song's French lyrics; and a grandmother (Kyoko Asakiri), who sings "Ginza Can Can Musume". This film played at the 1998 Pusan Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shigeru Muroi, Kohei Otomo, (more)
Peter Greenaway directed this elliptical and visually intricate tale of the far side of erotic and intellectual attraction. As a girl, Nagiko would receive a special gift each year from her father: a calligrapher (Ken Ogata) who would carefully paint a poem on her face, as her aunt (Hideko Yoshida) read aloud from The Pillow Book, a classic Japanese text on the art of love. As Nagiko (Vivian Wu) reached adulthood, her father insisted on putting a stop to this ritual, and he persuaded her to marry the nephew of his publisher (Ken Mitsuishi). But Nagiko is not satisfied with her husband, and after finding success as a model, she seeks a lover who will indulge her fondness for literature by writing verse on her naked body. In time, she finds happiness with a British expatriate named Jerome (Ewan McGregor), who persuades her to use his body as paper for her poetry, but the interference of her father's publisher (Yoshi Oida) gives their relationship a tragic turn. Greenaway deliberately mistranslated some of the French and Japanese dialogue for The Pillow Book, hoping that the occasionally fractured language would give the film a "Tower of Babel" quality. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vivian Wu, Ewan McGregor, (more)
