FanFare

When a single mother suffers a nervous breakdown, she is suspected of child abuse and her child is taken away. Her mental suffering escalates as she succumbs to her darkest fantasies. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 18, 2023 - 4 comments

[TRAILER] The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she’s hiding a troubling secret. Life’s joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 18, 2023 - 3 comments

A blind traveling musician is abused and oppressed while she tours the country, even though the modern world imposes changes on people's behavior. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 18, 2023 - 3 comments

[TRAILER] Tsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josee. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 18, 2023 - 1 comment

Young Kinu Yamabe is drawn to low-born Onimaru, who is vital and charismatic, but viewed by his father as a demon. After her first period, Kinu suffers the fate of any women born near the Sacred Mountain: she must leave the Mountain and serve as a priestess. A jidaigeki adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 17, 2023 - 3 comments

[TRAILER] Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She's in search of the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 17, 2023 - 1 comment

[TRAILER] In the wake of the social unrest caused by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, two female sumo athletes, Kiku and Tokachi, and an anarchist group called the Guillotine Society, spark an unlikely connection. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 17, 2023 - 2 comments

[TRAILER] Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi struggles to imbue her students with a positive view of the world despite the fact that war is looming. aka Nijushi no hitomi [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 17, 2023 - 3 comments

[TRAILER] In feudal Japan, Oharu (Kinuyo Tanaka), the daughter of royal samurai Shinzaemon (Ichiro Sugai), secretly has a passionate romance with Katsunosuke (Toshirô Mifune), a man with a meager social standing. When the couple is found out, the law comes down hard on this breach of class: Katsunosuke is put to death and Oharu and her family are banished from the kingdom. Destitute and disgraced, Shinzaemon sells Oharu into prostitution, and she spends years searching for love. aka Saikaku ichidai onna [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 17, 2023 - 1 comment

As Otama, a young woman who, in order to support her father is trapped into becoming the mistress of a middle-aged pawnbroker, she captures the essence of a caged bird. Otama is a thinker and a watcher, capable of looking inward at herself and outward at her situation at the same time. Thus, when she falls in love with a young student who passes by her house every day, she can both indulge and deny herself that love. aka Wild Geese [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Aug 17, 2023 - 1 comment

Original title: Sagasu. Depressed and in debt, Santoshi (Jirô Satô) tells his young teen daughter Kaede (Aoi Itô) that he's going to find an infamous serial killer and collect a reward. However, when Santoshi disappears without a trace, she starts to fear the worst and begins searching for him. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jan 4, 2023 - 2 comments

At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Oct 14, 2022 - 5 comments