Juri Ueno Movies
- 2006
An intense barrage of anime, computer generated graphics, and a record setting number of pop culture references per minute, the Japanese feature Arch Angels follows the adventures of three girls at the prim and proper St. Michael's Academy. The hum-drum life of Catholic school doesn't suit these bored young ladies, but lucky for them a freak Ramen incident imbues them all with super powers - and just in time for a series of kidnappings to rock their cute little boarding school to its ivy-covered foundations! ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juri Ueno, Yusuke Iseya, (more)
- 2006
A young man wishes against all hopes for a second chance at love in this romantic drama from Japan. Tomoya Kishida (Hayato Ichihara) is a film student with dreams of one day becoming an important director. While at school, he meets pretty Aoi Sato (Juri Ueno), and the two become fast friends. However, while he lacks the nerve to tell her, before long Tomoya has fallen in love with Aoi. While they remain best friends, after graduating, Tomoya gets a job as an assistant on a film set, while Aoi heads off to visit California. Shortly after sending a picture of a rainbow to Aoi's cell phone, Tomoya receives the shocking news that her flight has crashed and she has died. As he arranges to fly to California and arrange for Aoi's funeral, Tomoya begins having persistent daydreams about the love affair he wanted but never had with her. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayato Ichihara, Juri Ueno, (more)
- 2006
Director/screenwriter Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) teams with emerging filmmaking talent Kyoshi Sasabe (Half a Confession) for this screen adaptation of author Hideo Yokoyama's somber novel. Koji Namiki is a young pitcher who has shown great promise on the diamond by winning the National High School Basketball Championships. Shortly after entering college, however, Namiki's athletic career is called into question after he suffers a severe elbow injury. But despite a disheartening diagnosis, Namiki is determined to make a comeback. With a little help from his teammates it appears that he is getting back on track, too. Recently, he's even developed a new slow ball that he and his teammates have christened "the magic pitch." Fate can be a cruel mistress though, and when World War II breaks out Namiki the entire team join the navy and begin a training regiment specifically designed to prepare them for the ultimate darkness. Yet even at the bottom of the ocean, as Naimki prepares for the "kaiten" (an submarine attack method also known as "The Human Torpedo"), he never loses hope that he may one day be back on the surface and striking out opponents with his patented "magic pitch." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juri Ueno, Shinosuke Ichikawa, (more)
- 2004
A group of scheming Japanese schoolgirls attempt to get out of summer math class by delivering bento boxes to the school's brass band, in the process contaminating the meals and forming a stand-in band with the one real musician who hasn't fallen ill. A group of struggling female math students are in class when daydreaming Tomoko (Juri Ueno) peers out the window and sees the brass band loading into a bus to perform at a local baseball game. Shortly after their bus pulls away, a catering truck carrying the band's bento boxes arrives to discover that the band has left without their meals. Tomoko immediately recognizes this as a surefire way to get out of class for the day, and proposes to the teacher that the girls deliver the lunches personally. But on the way to the game the girls drop the lunches into a mud puddle, and decide to dunk them in a local stream to clean them off. In the process, the bento boxes get contaminated, causing everyone in the band except for Nakamura (Yuta Hiraoka) to fall badly ill. The only thing that saved Nakamura was the fact that Tomoko ate his lunch before the girls arrived. Now, as the rest of the band gets rushed to the hospital, it's up to Nakamura to find some replacements. Naturally, he recruits the girls who caused all the trouble in the first place. Over the course of the next few days, the girls really begin to enjoy playing music. When the band recovers and comes back to claim their instruments, however, the girls scheme with Nakamura to raise enough money top purchase their own instruments, ultimately forming the band "Swing Girls and a Boy" and rehearsing for their debut performance at the upcoming winter music festival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juri Ueno, Yuta Hiraoka, (more)
