Yoko Narahashi Movies

Gary Cole, Aaron Yoo, John Gries, and Judy Ongg star in an inspirational small town drama exploring the lingering effects of World War II on Japanese-American citizens struggling to overcome lingering hostilities and be accepted in country they now call home. The Nomuras are a typical American family who just happen to be of Japanese heritage. When World War II breaks out and the Nomuras are ushered into the Topaz internment camp, teenage son Lyle (Yoo) becomes the target of harassment to camp guard and frustrated minor league catcher Billy Burrell. Lyle is a star pitcher who had been accepted into college on a baseball scholarship, but was subsequently forced to abandon his dreams when his family was interned. Billy's daughter is a musical instructor at the camp, and when she and Lyle strike up a tenuous romance, tensions quickly come to a head between the two families. Hoping that the two families will be able to find a common ground due to their mutual love of baseball, Lyle's father proposes a goodwill game between Burrell's team and the internees. As the two teams take to the diamond for a game organized to unite them all, the small town's tolerance will be put to the ultimate test in a match that reveals the true spirit of American culture. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Niki Caro directed this romantic drama from New Zealand, adapted from Peter Wells' story, Of Memory & Desire, about the doomed affair of a Japanese couple on their honeymoon in New Zealand. The body of Keiji (Eugene Nomura) is pulled ashore on a New Zealand beach; his widow Sayo (Yuri Kinugawa) then tells the tale in flashback: Attracted to Keiji, Sayo marries him over the objections of his mother (Yoko Narahashi). Keiji becomes depressed when it seems he cannot consummate their marriage. However, they succeed in their hotel room and also later at a beach cave where Keiji carves the word "love" inside the cave before tragedy strikes. In Tokyo, Sayo rebels against Keiji's family. Returning to New Zealand, she suffers mental collapse as she constructs a shrine in the cave. Shown in the International Critics Week section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Abandoned by her boyfriend after following him to Tokyo, an American slacker adrift in a foreign culture witnesses the healing power of food and determines to become a ramen chef. When Abby (Brittany Murphy) arrived in Tokyo, she assumed she was starting a new life with her boyfriend. But that future fades when Abby's boyfriend disappears, leaving her to fend for herself in a city she doesn't understand. In desperate need of a little consolation, the floundering American begins frequenting her neighborhood ramen shop. She feels comfortable there, and recognizes how happy food can make people by the radiant smiles on the customer's faces. Convinced that her true calling is to become a ramen chef, Abby eventually persuades the restaurant's temperamental, tyrannical Japanese chef to become her mentor in the art of making ramen. Though at first their relationship is almost unbearably contentious, the master and his student eventually find a common ground when Abby realizes that the secret ingredient to true ramen is a universe of feeling. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

With the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War II, Japan saw a spate of war films being released. This film -- directed by Yoko Narahashi -- concerns a modern-day comedy team transported into a kamikaze squad in the waning days of the war. The two comedians are Tashiro (Masayuki Imai) who is a volatile hyper sort and his partner, Kinta (Shota Yamaguchi), a phlegmatic innocent. After a car crash, they wake to discover themselves in an army infirmary. At first they think they are in jail and start to perform their shtick to ingratiate themselves with their fellow inmates. Of course, their routine -- featuring '90s-era jokes -- baffles onlookers. Brain damage is suspected. As the film progresses, they slowly realize that indeed it is August 1945 and their colleagues are actually training for one-way flights to American battle ships. Tashiro and Kinta know that war will end in a matter of days, but fail to convince their cohorts that the gig is up. In spite of themselves, they befriend the pilots. On the night before his mission, one student doggedly tries to break his school-aged long jump record. Another is a Christian who had to publicly renounce his creed, but still secretly believes. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi