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Family-centred dramas seem to have become the specialty of director Ryota Nakano since his feature debut “Capturing Dad”. His 2016's film “Her Love Boils Water” earned him a remarkable number of awards and nominations and “A Long Goodbye” was the following work, with a stellar cast. It will be followed in 2020, by another family narration, “The Asadas”, where a real story gives him a vehicle to talk about the dramatic events of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

A Long Goodbye is screening at Japan Society as part of the Family Portrait program

It's 2007 and Fumi (Yu Aoi) and older sister Mari (Yuko Takeuchi) are summoned by their mum Yoko (Chieko Matsubara) to celebrate the 70th birthday of their father Shohei (Tsutomu Yamazaki), a former headmaster, stern and entirely dedicated to his work. Soon it's clear that the birthday celebration is just an excuse to deliver an uneasy message. Shohei was...

Movies are the best liars money can buy, and the notion of love at first sight might be their greatest fib. Blame the effortless charmers of Classic Hollywood who perfected flirtatious glances, knowing smiles, and batting of the eyes in order to con us into thinking their lives could be ours. What these fantasies ultimately tell us is that new romance could (and should) lead to salvation, the hope for a happy life that settles in nicely with societal expectations.

With its massive runtime, circular story, and repetitive depiction of self-destructiveness, Kôji Fukada’s The Real Thing is the very antithesis to the classic meet-cute scenario. Based on Mochiru Hoshisato’s graphic novel, it was originally produced for Japanese television. The film has been slightly trimmed and spliced together for theatrical audiences at a still-hefty 232 minutes. Thus some of the eccentric charm that made it such a masterpiece of the serial format has vanished.

“Prison is the only place that won’t kick you out no matter how badly you behave,” remarks the ex-con protagonist, who gets no second chances in Japanese society. Directed with piercing insight, emotional depth and true compassion by Miwa Nishikawa, “Under the Open Skies” tells the heartbreaking tale of a pariah whose soul is crushed by systemic discrimination and a world of hypocritical conformity. while likely collecting awards at home and abroad.

Ever since her sophomore feature “Sway” premiered at Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight in 2006, Nishikawa has been a name to watch for riveting, wickedly cynical works. She also excels in drawing morally ambiguous characters: liars and swindlers hiding secrets behind their social standing. Though her technique is no less rigorous, her sixth film treads a new path by rooting for a career criminal from the lower depths who suffers for his honest values. This puts the film in...

Today it was revealed that former Thee Michelle Gun Elephant front man Yusuke Chiba and former Blankey Jet City drummer Tatsuya Nakamura will be teaming up for the first time to create a theme song for Toshiaki Toyoda’s upcoming film I’m Flash!

Additionally, they’ll be putting together a concept album under the name “I’m Flash! Band” along with bandmates Kazuhide Yamaji and KenKen.

The film was written and directed by Toyoda and was originally inspired by the song “Oh no! I’m Flash” by Sheena & The Rokkets guitarist Makoto Ayukawa (video).

Tatsuya Fujiwara, who was eager to work with Toyoda for the first time, stars as the charismatic leader of an upstart religious group who is involved in an accident which leaves a mysterious girl named Rumi (Kiko Mizuhara) in a vegetative state. In the aftermath, he flees to a desert island with a group of...

Kiko Mizuhara has been cast as the female lead in Toshiaki Toyoda’s I’m Flash, playing the role of a “mysterious beauty” named Rumi who is involved in an accident which causes her to be left in a vegetative state.

Mizuhara (21) made her acting debut in Anh Hung Tran’s Norwegian Wood in 2010 and has been very active in television commercials and modeling.

The movie, which was first announced back in January, features an original script by Toyoda and stars Tatsuya Fujiwara as a charismatic religious guru named Rui who has become a wealthy celebrity for his work.

One day, Rumi approaches Rui, with her only connection to him being that her younger sister was once a member of his organization, “Life Is Beautiful”. After meeting Rumi, Rui is responsible for the accident which leads to her injury. He escapes with only minor scratches and decides to go into...