Shinji Somai Movies
- 2000
Veteran filmmaker Shinji Somai spins this melodrama about an unlikely couple blithely courting their own destruction. Famed pop star Kyoko Koizumi -- also known by her nickname Kyon Kyon -- plays Yuriko, Tokyo pink-salon hostess who after years of sticky fumbling in darkened booths is reaching the end of her tether. One day, she wakes up under a cherry tree with her salaryman client from the night before. Though she is irritated that he does not remember a thing about the previous night, she is curiously attracted to the guy. An elite bureaucrat in the powerful and prestigious Ministry of Education, Renji Sawaki (Tadanobu Asano) has long since given up caring for the career mobility or for his long-suffering girlfriend (Kumiko Asou); instead, he seems to be willfully slumping headlong into oblivion. This lust for the abyss attracts Yuriko on levels that she can't fully understand, but she soon realizes that she wants a change and she wants him to come along. The change she has in mind is a trip to Hokkaido to see her daughter. Will love bloom, or will their respective death wishes take the day? This film was screened at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kyoko Koizumi, Tadanobu Asano, (more)
- 1998
Veteran director Shinji Somai lensed this heart-warming family drama about a shabby looking coot claiming to be the father of an elite salaryman. Hiroshi Nirasaki (Koichi Sato) is a securities broker desperately trying to keep the fact that his company is about to go belly-up from his high-strung upper-class wife (Yuki Saito). One day, while walking home from a particularly bad day at work, he gets accosted by an old bum (Tsutomu Yamazaki) who demands to be taken in by his son. Though his mother told him that his dad died when he was born, the drunken geezer knows enough about him and his short order cook mother (Sumiko Fuji) that he is almost convinced. Hiroshi takes him to his large traditional home -- the house of his wife's deceased well-to-do father -- to meet his wife Mizuho (Yuki Saito), his snooty mother-in-law (Shiho Fujimura), and his school-aged son (Keita Okada). Dad immediately makes his presence felt by demanding his fatherly rights and by generally acting crude and obnoxious. Mizuho and her mother can't stand him; Hiroshi's son on the other hand loves the reckless charm of his new grandfather. This film won the FIPRESCI Award given by the International Film Critics Federation at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Koichi Sato, Yuki Saito, (more)
- 1994
Veteran director Shinji Somai spins this coming-of-age tale about a trio of boys obsessed with death. Kiyama (Naoki Sakata) is a willowy lad who once heard that the average human in a lifespan breaths six to eight million times and as result stays awake at night counting his exhalations. His bespectacled buddy Kawabe (Yasutaka Oh) -- after his father died -- is even more fascinated by his own mortality. When he hears from his mother that an elderly man living lonely in a decrepit old house is about to keel over, Kawabe cajoles Kiyama and their rotund friend, Yamashita (Ken'ichi Makino), to go over to the house and see if they can catch the geezer in mid-croak. The boys see the old man (Rentaro Mikuni) gazing into space, haunted by some terrible memory. When he catches them on his property, they scream and flee, only to return. Soon, they befriend the old coot and learn a bit of the dark secret that plagues him. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Veteran director Shinji Somai helms this coming-of-age tale about a school-aged lass named Renko (Chieko Tabata) struggling to come to terms with her parents' divorce. The film opens with Renko's mother Nazuna (Junko Sakurada) and father Ken'ichi (Kiichi Nakai) coolly talking about their impending breakup. The following day, Ken'ichi drives off with his belongings to his new apartment. Nazuna tries as best she can to fill the void, but Renko still dreams about reuniting her fractured family. Her first attempt -- locking herself in the bathroom -- ends terribly, complete with tearful arguments and angry recriminations. The second attempt, a surprise visit by her father during a vacation along Lake Biwa, also ends badly. This time, Renko realizes that there is no fixing her parents' broken bonds. While on a walk during a fire festival, she manages to accept it and move on. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kiichi Nakai
- 1987
Sensaku (Keiji Mutoh) is a rural rube from the island of Hokkaido who travels to Tokyo in search of his fiance Kuriko (Narumi Nasuda). His search brings him to a seedy part of town where flesh pedlars and other unsavory characters trade in human pleasure and misery. Sensaku discovers the woman he loves is involved with a corrupt and abusive club owner (Suma Kei). Yoshino (Michiru Akiyoshi) is a singer who makes her living as a teen idol but dreams of performing with the grand opera. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1986
In this drama, Fusajiro (Ken Ogata) is a tuna fisherman who lives alone with his grown daughter Tokiko (Masako Natsume), his wife having left him when Tokiko was still a baby. Now the young woman has fallen in love with Shunichi (Koichi Sato), who would like to learn how to fish tuna for his living. While her father is not thrilled at the prospect of teaching Shunichi how to fish for tuna, he does take him out a few times. On their second outing, the young man is nearly killed in an accident and Fusajiro seems oddly reluctant to save him, but he does. Eventually, the young couple marry and go away to live in another town. Left alone for the first time, Fusajiro goes looking for his estranged wife. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Ogata, Masako Natsume, (more)
- 1985
In this somewhat confusing action-adventure story aimed at a teen audience, a group of young men and women take on a gang who has kidnapped one of their friends. Their bravery and resourcefulness lead them on a journey into a world filled with the denizens of organized crime, and of cops with questionable ethics. Before they can even come close to success, they face violent confrontations and rapid-fire gun battles in a bewildering sequence of equally rapid-fire events. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tatsuya Fuji, Michiko Kawai, (more)
