Nozomi

What would be worse - your son being a murderer or the murdered? This tense drama skilfully navigates a family through this very dilemma.

Architect Ishikawa Kazuto (Tsutsumi Shinichi) and his proofreader wife Kiyomi (Ishida Yuriko) live peacefully in a stylish luxury home with their high school son Tadashi (Okada Kenshi) and daughter Miyabi (Kiyohara Kaya). One day, Tadashi leaves home and doesn’t return, news breaks that one of Tadashi’s classmates has been murdered and the police suspect Tadashi’s involvement. The family dynamic is placed under intense strain – Kazuto desperately wants to believe in his son’s innocence, while Kiyomi is determined to protect him at any cost, even if he’s guilty. This suspenseful drama meticulously dissects and reassembles the thought processes of an ordinary family torn to shreds by juvenile crime and the ensuing ruthless media frenzy that purports to represent social justice. (Subtitles)

Japan 2020 Tsutsumi Yukihiko 108m

Bake-neko Anzu-chan

This award-winning animation is what you get when you combine the fantasy of ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ with the deadpan humour and reality of everyday life.

When a temple's chief priest finds a kitten crying, he names it Anzu and decides to look after it. 30 years later, it turns out that the cat is no ordinary cat, it can now speak and live like a human. Anzu (voiced by Moriyama Mirai) travels around on a moped and works part-time as a masseuse. One day, the head priest's son (Aoki Munetaka), a long-estranged and shifty widower with huge debts, returns to the temple with his 11-year-old daughter Karin (Goto Noa). Anzu the cat reluctantly accepts his request to look after the emotionally-drained girl. This is an incredibly charming French-Japanese co-production brings together two directors from different mediums to create this irreverent fable about bridging the human world and the afterlife. Audience Award winner for Best Animated Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2024. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Kuno Yoko & Yamashita Nobuhiro 97m

Samurai Taimusurippaa

A clever, funny and distinctly Japanese time-travel film that sees a real samurai crash-lands in the middle of a jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) production.

As the Edo period (1603-1868) draws to its dramatic close, two swordsmen clash with a political foe. They are interrupted by a flash of lightning, heralding a bizarre paranormal event, and Kosaka Shinzaemon (Yamaguchi Makiya) awakens to find himself... in a quiet lane in Kyoto. His confusion turns to alarm when among the locals clad in the robes of old Japan, he sees people wearing unfamiliar attire. Even the folks who seem ordinary to him are behaving oddly – it turns out he’s travelled several centuries forward in time, landing right in the middle of a 21stcentury film set! Award-winning director Yasuda Junichi offers a remarkably poignant comedy drama, nailed down by the subtle and convincing performance of experienced jidaigeki actor Yamaguchi Makiya. The film is more than just a fun fish-out-of-water fantasy: it’s an homage to the waning genre of samurai cinema. Audience Award winner for Best Asian Feature at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival. (Subtitles)

Japan 2024 Yasuda Junichi 131m