Miyako Yamaguchi Movies

Infection director Masayuki Ochiai takes the helm for this remake of the 2004 horror hit from Thailand concerning a photographer and his girlfriend who are involved in a tragic auto accident, and subsequently begin to notice ghostly figures in the backgrounds of their pictures. Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor star in this supernatural frightener. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In his third film, Mitsuo Yanagimachi takes a harsh view of Japan's technological modernism and its effects on the quality of life. The film opens with the drowning deaths of farmer Yukio's two sons. Their deaths send him on a course of self-destruction. Blaming himself, he breaks with his family and wife, becomes a truck driver, and takes a mistress. Popping pills to stay alert at his job, Yukio's perception of reality begins to falter, and, as his psychosis flowers, he initiates conflicts with everyone in his life. Eventually, Yukio's anger with himself and the world drives him to violence and the film ends on a brutal, sour note. True to his previous style, Yanagimachi offers no explanation for the film's hostile conclusion, leaving the movie open to a number of interpretations. Rather than isolating a single cause for Yukio's breakdown, the film delimits a constellation of factors -- all of which are rooted in the conflict between the traditional lifestyle of rural Japan and its incipient modernization. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi

Male bonding and romantic love are the two major elements in this first-time drama from movie critic Harada Masato. Shuma (Naohiko Shigeta) is whiling away time, waiting to hear about his acceptance into the university. A favorite way of passing time is to go to the movies and on one of these excursions he makes friends with Dan (Takuzo Kawatani), an obsessive movie buff. As their friendship grows, Minami (Atsuko Asano) enters the picture. Shuma carries a big torch for her until he finds out that she is no more than a "gun moll." Shuma's anger at Minami's gangster connections makes him say a few things to Dan that are ill-advised. Shuma forgets about it soon afterwards, but unfortunately, Dan does not. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi