Miho Nikaido Movies

The man-made landscape of the post-millennium world is seen through two very different sets of eyes in this experimental feature from filmmaker Jem Cohen. Tamiko (Miho Nikaido) is a woman in her early thirties who works for a Japanese steel-manufacturing firm. Tamiko is involved in a major international research project in which she's studying "entertainment real estate," which means she spends her days exploring shopping centers, hotel complexes, and theme parks, and reports back on what she discovers. Meanwhile, Amanda Timms (Mira Billotte) is a teenage runaway from Middle America who, after using up her nest egg (her mother's credit card), is holing up in an abandoned building near a huge shopping center. Amanda spends her days working odd jobs in the retail stores and fast food joints near her "home," and in her spare time, videotapes her surroundings for the benefit of her sister as she adds stream-of-consciousness narration. Designed to create a framework for informally shot "street footage" Cohen had collected over a period of six years, Chain was executive produced by Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto of the independent rock band Fugazi, who collaborated with Cohen on Instrument, a film about the band's eventful history. Chain also features an original score by the Canadian experimental music ensemble Godspeed You Black Emperor! ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In Richard Sylvarnes' debut feature as writer, director, cinematographer, and editor, a beautiful Japanese woman (Miho Nikaido) is found wandering the streets in a daze. She's brought to a hospital where a young doctor, Dr. John Bennett (D.J. Mendel), haunted by a past tragedy, discovers a mysterious connection to her. Bennett has been resisting the advances of Dr. Samantha (Lisa Walter), while grieving over the accidental death of his wife (also played by Nikaido). When the strange, mute woman shows up, Bennett consults a psychic (Thomas Jay Ryan) in an effort to determine whom the woman is. Is she a ghost of some sort? Why has she appeared to him now? As the specifics of his wife's death are explored through flashbacks, Bennett uncovers some disturbing answers as to the identity of the woman. The Cloud of Unknowing was shot on digital video on a very low budget. Hal Hartley produced the film for Sylvarnes, who worked as a still photographer on Hartley's Henry Fool, in which Ryan played the title character. Nikaido and Mendel have also appeared in Hartley's films. The Cloud of Unknowing was shown in competition at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Director Tim Bridwell debuts with this far-flung travel drama. Randall (John Littlefield) is a bumptious American with a plan to smuggle a truck from Morocco to Nigeria. Along the way, he takes not only his girlfriend Cecile (Marie Ravel) but also two Japanese hitchhikers, Atsuko (Tsuyu Shimizu) and the cancer-stricken Yumi (Miho Nikaido). Amid the dunes of the Sahara, things go from bad to worse, leading up to the film's emotional climax. Rendezvous in Samarkand was screened at the L.A./AFI Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Tony Gerber made his directorial debut with this anthology film, a comedy-drama that opens with a 1950s black-and-white newsreel focusing on the ethnic diversity of New York City. This multicultural mix is dramatized in five interlinked tales set in each of NYC's five boroughs on a hot summer day: In Manhattan, a Soho fashion designer on the brink of eviction begins a relationship with a Japanese department store buyer. In the Bronx, the daughter of a Puerto Rican baker thinks her lover can provide a portal to a glamorous, successful life. For the Queens segment, Gerber expanded his 1995 short film, A Small Taste of Heaven, about a gambling Romanian butcher's apprentice who dreams of someday purchasing a nice suburban house for his wife. On Staten Island, the wife of an Indian limousine driver is treated like a servant by her husband's visiting brother. In Brooklyn, a West Indian man makes the mistake of pawning his wife's family heirlooms to buy a Cadillac. Shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

A lover, an ultimatum, a phone call, and a gun: these elements are found in each segment of Hal Hartley's Flirt, an experimental comedy-drama that essentially repeats the same story three times. But while the basic narrative remains the same -- a congenital flirt must decide whether or not to commit to a current lover, who otherwise will marry someone else -- the details differ greatly, from the location of the film to the gender of the participants. The initial segment, set in New York, tells the tale with a male flirt in turmoil over his relationship with a woman. The film then moves to Berlin, where the same drama is played out amongst a gay male couple, with an added touch of self-reflexive humor. The third and final episode takes place in Tokyo, with a female flirt and a more abstract cinematic approach, including several sequences in traditional Japanese pantomime. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi