Toshiaki Karasawa Movies
- 2006
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald director Koki Mitani continues to hone his screwball skills with this crowd-pleasing comedy about a hapless hotel accommodations manager juggling multiple responsibilities in preparation for the forthcoming New Year's Eve celebrations set to take place in the lavish Hotel Avanti. New Year's eve has arrived, and as the clock ticks towards midnight detail oriented accommodations manager Shindo (Koji Yakusho) prepares the Hotel Avanti for the Stage Director's Association's Man of the Year award ceremony, a press conference for a respected politician, and, of course, the massive bash that will ring in the new year. As things turn hectic and former theater director Shindo's ex-wife Yumi (Meiko Harada) turns up on the arm of the soon-to-be-honored Man of the Year, the whirlwind energy also sweeps up such quirky characters as Shindo's loyal debuty (Keiko Toda), a platinum-wigged prostitute (Ryoko Shinohara), a crooning bellhop (Shingo Katori), a deeply depressed entertainer (Toshiyuki Nishida), and a chambermaid (Takako Matsu) who is mistaken as the mistress of a wealthy guest. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Koji Yakusho, Takako Matsu, (more)
A genetic discovery that could prove mankind's saving grace is instead used to create the very beings who threaten their existence in director Kazuaki Kirya's visionary sci-fi epic. The time is the late 21st Century; fifty years of war between Europa and the Eastern Federation have left the planet devastated and the human race completely dispirited. In the aftermath of the Eastern Federation "victory," a new federation known as Eurasia is born. But the planet has been ravaged beyond the point of repair by nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and a half-century of warfare has taken a devastating toll on all mankind. At first, it appears that salvation is imminent when a highly respected geneticist named Azuma announces the discovery of a so-called "neo cell" that can rejuvenate the human body without risk of rejection. Mankind's last hope threatens to become its ultimate downfall, however, when nature and science combine to create a menace that could very well extinguish the human race forever. Now, as the human race prepares to make its last stand against the ultimate enemy, a powerful warrior will emerge to fight for mankind and provide hope for future generations. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yusuke Iseya, Kumiko Aso, (more)
Noted television screenwriter and founder of the acclaimed theatrical group Tokyo Sunshine Boys, Koki Mitani makes his directorial debut with this wickedly funny look at a live radio broadcast gone horribly wrong. As a part of a PR stunt, a Tokyo radio station holds an amateur screenwriting contest and the winner (and only contestant) is a meek and guileless housewife named Miyako (Kyoka Suzuki) who spun a sincere little melodrama about a marriage falling apart. At first, everything seems like a dream -- the show's high-strung producer Ushijima (Masahiko Nishimura) is calling Miyako by the honorific sensei and the cast and crew seem to radiate a cool, yet heartfelt, professionalism. Then calamity strikes. Prima donna actress Nokko (Keiko Toda) -- who is ticked off at the current state of her career -- decides moments before air time that her character Ritsuko should be named Mary Jane. Instead of being a modest housewife, Mary Jane is casually turned into a high-powered lawyer. Soon the other characters want to play glamorous foreigners too. The setting is switched from sleeping resort town Atami to Manhattan and then later Chicago. The romantic male goes from being a truck driver to a pilot and then an astronaut. As further plot changes continue to pile up -- ranging from gangster hits to dam breaks to moon landings -- Ushijima and director Kudo (Toshiaki Karasawa) try desperately to keep ahead of things while poor Miyako -- her dreams of being a screenwriter thoughtlessly trashed -- quietly seethes. This film was screened at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toshiaki Karasawa, Kyoka Suzuki, (more)
