Hiroshi Abe Movies

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda writes and directs this family drama that unfolds over the course of a single summer day as the Yokoyama family gathers for a rare reunion held to commemorate the death of the one who was taken before his time. It was 15 years ago that eldest Yokoyama son, Junpei, drowned in a tragic accident, and the only changes around the family home since that fateful day are so subtle that they're not likely to be noticed by anyone outside of the immediate family. Retired family patriarch Kyohei (Yoshio Harada) used to run a successful medical clinic out of the home, though the lights in his medical examining room haven't even been turned on in years. The tiles in the kitchen where energetic Toshiko (Kirin Kiki) cooks family meals are slowly coming loose, and as youngest son Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) arrives home, he does his best to hide the fact that he's currently unemployed. His older sister, Chinami (You), has also arrived with her family, and does her best to entertain everyone despite the undeniable cloud of melancholy hanging over the home. As the festive gathering commences and Toshiko lays out a lavish meal, it gradually becomes obvious that resentment and sorrow bonds this family as powerfully as love. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A kickboxing hero with a difference arises in this action saga from Thailand. Japanese mobster Masashi (Hiroshi Abe) and his Thai partner and girlfriend, Zin (Ammara Siripong), narrowly escape death at the hands of underworld boss Number 8 (Pongpat Wachirabunjong) and his bodyguard Priscilla (Sirimongkol Iamthuam), but the scuffle has unexpected consequences -- Masashi's superiors order him to return to Japan, and Zin finds she's pregnant with his child. Zin raises their daughter, Zen (Yanin Vismitananda), on her own and discovers she's autistic; one of the few things that helps bring Zen out of her inner world is chocolate, and in time the girl develops a remarkable skill in the martial arts. When Zin is diagnosed with cancer, the family cannot afford the chemotherapy that could save her life until her friend Moom (Taphon Phopwandee) comes up with a plan -- plenty of people still owe Zin money from her days as an outlaw, and with Zen as a candy-fueled enforcer, he might be able to get them to pay up and raise the funds for Zin's medical bills. Chokgohlaet (aka Chocolate) was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, who previously made several pictures starring Thai martial arts master Tony Jaa. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Masato Harada takes the helm for this eerie horror film concerning a song that inspires listeners to take their own lives. The year was 1933, and Hungarian composer Rezs Seress was stuck in a slump. In order to cope with his depression, Seress composed a melancholy little ditty entitled "Gloomy Sunday". According to legend, this sad but beautiful song has inspired many a forlorn soul to succumb to their inner malaise. Seventy years after the fact, it seems that "Gloomy Sunday" still has the power to corrode the soul. A woman named Kana has suffered a mysterious death, leaving her two friends Anzu and Riku to make sense of a seemingly random tragedy. Upon learning of the urban legend surrounding Seress's downbeat ditty, Anzu and Riku discover a disturbing pattern. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Bayside Shakedown producer Chihiro Kameyama returns with this crowd-pleasing comedy drama spawned by the hit television series detailing a renegade district attorney's efforts to target political corruption in the bustling metropolis of Tokyo. Kohei Kuryu (popular singer Takuya Kimura) is a stereotype-shattering prosecutor who prefers jeans and flannels to the typical suit and tie. Previously exiled to a position in a nearby town, Kohei returns to the Josai branch of the Tokyo's public prosecutor after a six-year absence. While his smitten assistant Maiko initially chides Koei for failing to stay in contact, the truth is that she's thrilled to see him return. Soon enough, Koei is taking on his first new case - an apparently open-and-shut trial involving a security guard who has pleaded guilty for manslaughter after killing a man during a late night argument. The case gets complicated, however, when the accused guard suddenly changes his plea to not guilty. When Koei discovers that the guard is a pivotal figure in the alibi of a former transportation minister (Kazuyoshi Morita) suspected of pocketing a major kickback that very same night, the lawyer and his assistant set out in search of the security guard's missing van - the one piece of evidence that could make or break the entire case. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Gen Sekiguchi and screenwriter Taku Tada, phenomenally successful award winners in Japan's advertising industry, make their feature-film debut with the fast-paced omnibus film, Survive Style 5+, which incorporates five strange tales that occasionally intersect. The ubiquitous Tadanobu Asano introduces the film, playing a man who has apparently just murdered his lovely wife (Reika Hashimoto). He drives out to the woods, buries the body, and returns home to find her waiting for him, and not in a particularly good mood. In the second story, Yoko (Kyôko Koizumi), a driven copywriter who constantly spews ad ideas into her handy minicassette recorder, has just had quick, unfulfilling sex with Aoyama (Hiroshi Abe), a sleazy, conceited TV hypnotist who proceeds to insult her work and her personal hygiene. Yoko takes it well, but she's got plans for the jerk. In the third story, Kobayashi (Ittoku Kishibe), a good-natured salaryman, is hypnotized by Aoyama into believing he's a bird. His family has a whole new set of problems when Aoyama is incapacitated before he can break the trance. The fourth thread follows three dimwitted burglars (Yoshiyuki Morishita, Jai West, and Kanji Tsuda) as they grapple with both professional and sexual confusion. The final plotline concerns a hot-tempered English hitman (Vinnie Jones) and his goofy employer (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa), who also serves as his translator as the hitman asks nearly everyone he meets, "What is your function on this planet?" Sonny Chiba has a cameo as the hen-pecked president of a drug company. Survive Style 5+ was shown at Subway Cinema's New York Asian Film Festival in 2005. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

The madness that began in director Hirohisa Sasaki's Crazy Lips continues in this wild and over-the-top sequel that's equal parts sci-fi chaos and earthbound mayhem. Sentenced to death for the murder of her daughter Misato, Satomi uses her last remaining minutes alive trying to explain the truth about her daughter's death to a sympathetic nun. When the police were called in following the murder and informed by Satomi's husband that the couple have no children, the surreal tale of paranoia and murder begins to unwind. Has Satomi simply gone mad or could it be that there is an alien conspiracy currently attempting to conquer the planet and destroy the human race? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Following Roland Emmerich's controversial Americanization of the Japanese monster icon in Godzilla (1998), the Beast from the East comes roaring back in this sci-fi adventure tale. Yuji Shinoda (Naomi Nishida), a scientist devoted to researching Godzilla, is setting up equipment on a fog-shrouded peninsula with her daughter Io (Mayu Suzuki) and journalist Yuki Ichinose (Takehiro Murata) when everyone's favorite 180-foot-tall lizard appears from the sea and begins laying siege to a nuclear power plant. The military swings into action, but the monster's fiery breath soon uncovers an alien spacecraft; beings from outer space have come to take over the earth, and now Godzilla is our last line of defense against them. Hugely successful in Japan, Gojira Mireniamu (aka Godzilla 2000) was the first Japanese Godzilla movie since Godzilla 1985 to receive a US theatrical release. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi