Akihiko Shiota Movies

Inspired by the deadly sarin gas attacks on a Tokyo subway back in 1995, director Akihiko Shiota's introspective psychological drama follows the journey of a young boy attempting to reconnect with his estranged mother and sister after a horrific terrorist attack. The Nirvana cult has committed an unspeakable act, and now that the group has been disbanded, its child members are being taken in by welfare services. Twelve-year-old Koichi (Hoshi Ishida) is just such a child. His father was a member of the Nirvana cult, and now Koichi has no one to turn to. Enraged and confused at being made a faceless ward of the state, Koichi flees from welfare services in an attempt to track down his sister, who has recently moved to Tokyo with their grandfather. Along the way, Koichi crosses paths with pretty runaway Yuki (Mitsuki Tanimura), who survives on the streets by selling her body. Though the two children are initially able to connect over the fact that they have both lost one parent and suffered terrible mistreatment at the hands of the other, Yuki's position in life gives her a kind of tentative erotic power, while Koichi's mind remains irreparably damaged due to the months of physical and mental intimidation he was forced to endure while living with the Nirvana cult. Together, these two forgotten children struggle to find their way in a society in which the weak are exploited and the vulnerable left to fend for themselves. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Following up on his acclaimed debut Moonlight Whispers (about a sadomasochistic relationship between two teens), Akihiko Shiota once again looks at troubled youth. Sachiko (played by Aoi Miyazaki of Eureka fame) is a 13-year-old junior high school student with a complicated family life. Her father left when she was an infant for a young mistress. Her mother (Ryo) -- a secretive and weirdly distanced woman -- works as a hostess and a kept woman for a mysterious gangster type. Sachiko finds some modicum of solace in the arms of her sixth grade teacher, Ogata (Seiichi Tanabe) who has a brief affair with her. As a result, he quits his job and starts working for a nuclear power plant far away. When her mother makes another halfhearted attempt at suicide, Sachiko's shattered emotional life becomes too much to bear and she drops out of school. Though she continues to correspond with Ogata, Sachiko is desperately lonely and alienated, leading to her consorting with other social dropouts. When her sole school friend Natsuko urges her to return to school, Sachiko finds that her long simmering rage against the world becomes difficult to control. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The directorial debut of Akihiko Shiota is an unusually frank yet oddly touching film about unconditional love and abnormal desires. Takuya (Kenji Mizuhashi) and Satsuki (Tsugumi) are high school students who realize their mutual attraction during Kendo practice. Their relationship begins conventionally, with hand-holding, awkward petting, and eventually furtive sex. Yet Takuya feels restrained in his inability to show his true proclivities. The radiantly beautiful Satsuki does not take her boyfriend seriously when he solemnly announces that he wants to be her dog -- until she discovers a drawer in Takuya's room full of her used socks, photographs of her legs and arms, and an audio tape of her urinating. Confused, disgusted, and heartbroken, she breaks up with him. But Takuya continues to follow her, even when she is on dates with other men, pleading with her to take him back as her slave. Initially she resists, until her pent-up anger and frustrated love come to a head, and she realizes that she likes to watch him suffer. "I feel great watching you cry," she proclaims, with her foot shoved up against his chest. A fascinating power struggle then ensues. Although Satsuki at first abuses Takuya psychologically, having him witness her servicing her suitors, and then ultimately physically, she finds herself submitting to his abnormal, pure love. Shiota served as the assistant director to Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose imprint is clearly visible on this film. As in Kurosawa's work, Shiota takes the genre picture and bends it into bizarre uncharted territory, as a way of addressing fundamental philosophical questions. After the shock of this passionately romantic film's subject matter subsides, the viewer is confronted with questions about the nature of freedom and love. This film was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide