The Woman in the Rumor(1954)

Street of Shame(ja)

Follows five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

Tokyo Decadence(ja)

A submissive hooker goes about her trade, suffering abuse at the hands of Japanese salarymen and Yakuza types. She's unhappy about her work, and is apparently trying to find some sort of appeasement for the fact that her lover has married.

The Insect Woman(ja)

A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.

Gate of Flesh(ja)

Prostitutes in burnt out Tokyo ghetto of post-WWII Japan peddle their flesh and save one-third of their money for a proposed dancehall to be named Paradise. The hookers live in a bombed-out building, but they accept the precarious situation with typical resolve.

Shoplifters(ja)

In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.

Sakuran(ja)

Kiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.

The End of Summer(ja)

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

Tokyo Family(ja)

An elderly couple journey to Tokyo to visit their grown children, only to find them preoccupied and self-involved.

Like Someone in Love(ja)

An old man and a young woman meet in Tokyo. She knows nothing about him, he thinks he knows her. He welcomes her into his home, she offers him her body. But the web that is woven between them in the space of twenty four hours bears no relation to the circumstances of their encounter.

A Hen in the Wind(ja)

Tokiko patiently awaits her husband's return from WWII when her four-year old son falls ill. She takes him to the doctor but has no means of paying, so she resorts to prostitution. A month later, her husband returns to find his desperate wife, who tells him the truth. Together, they must deal with the consequences.

Intentions of Murder(ja)

The neglected common-law wife of a Japanese librarian is repeatedly harassed by a young man with a heart condition who seduces her with the prospect of a better life.

Her Love Boils Bathwater(ja)

After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Futaba resolves to spend her remaining time reuniting her broken family, reopening the long-closed bathhouse, and helping her shy daughter Azumi learn to stand on her own.

MOTHER(ja)

Shuhei is leading a tough life. His alcoholic mother Akiko can only hook up with bad guys and order Shuhei to go get money from his disapproving grandparents instead of going to school. Except raising the little half-sister, his rock-bottom life seems to have no end.

Museum(ja)

In Tokyo, Japan, several grotesque murders take place on rainy days. Detective Sawamura, who is in charge of the case, soon discovers that his own family is connected to the crimes.

Sisters of the Gion(ja)

A geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto feels obliged to help her lover when he asks to stay with her after going bankrupt and leaving his wife. However, her younger sister opposes this, thinking that they should both find wealthy patrons to support them.

Sound of the Mountain(ja)

An ingratiating bride develops warm ties to her father-in-law while her cold husband blithely slights her for another woman.

Female Yakuza Tale(ja)

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

A Geisha(ja)

Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.

The Only Son(ja)

A rural widow sends her only son to Tokyo to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him and finds he has become a night school teacher struggling to support his wife and son.

Angel Guts: Red Classroom(ja)

When Muraki, a porn magazine editor, watches a blue film depicting a gang rape in a school, he becomes obsessed with the lead actress. Quite by chance, whilst looking to reserve a location for a shoot, he happens to encounter her at a love hotel where she works as a receptionist. Her name is Nami and she reluctantly agrees to speak with him, and confesses that it was her in the film. Then, Muraki tells Nami that he wants her to model for him.

Entre deux mères(fr)

Four-year-old Alice Leroy disappeared on a beach, assumed to have drowned. Eleven years later, Alice reappears.

Nights of Cabiria(it)

Rome, 1957. A woman, Cabiria, is robbed and left to drown by her boyfriend, Giorgio. Rescued, she resumes her life and tries her best to find happiness in a cynical world. Even when she thinks her struggles are over and she has found happiness and contentment, things may not be what they seem.

Flirting with Forty(en)

A divorcee has a passionate affair with a much younger surfing instructor in Hawaii.

Saving Face(en)

A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations.

Martin(en)

A young man, convinced he's a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and hostile cousin in a small Pennsylvanian town, where he tries to suppress his bloodlust.

Last Summer(fr)

One summer, a French teenager who has been living with his mother in the city moves in with his estranged father’s family in the countryside, where he clashes with his stepmother.

An Impossible Love(fr)

A chronicle of the unconditional love between a mother and her daughter, from 1958 to the present day, which is endangered by an unsteady and manipulative father.

Homecoming(fr)

Kheìdidja, in her forties, works for a wealthy Parisian family who offers her the opportunity to take care of their children for a summer in Corsica. It's an opportunity for her to return with her daughters, Jessica and Farah, to the island they left fifteen years earlier in tragic circumstances.

The Winter Guest(en)

It's winter in a small Scottish village near the sea, and multiple lives intersect in a day. Frances has just lost her husband to an early death, so her mother, Elspeth, travels to Frances' house to reconnect with her daughter and grandson, Alex. Meanwhile, old women Chloe and Lily go to a funeral, youngsters Sam and Tom cut class, and Alex gets a crush on tomboy Nita.

Backyard(es)

Officer Blanca Bravo arrives in Juarez, Mexico — a grim nexus of corporate colonialism and sexual tourism — to investigate a rash of killings targeting female migrant workers. But with no help from the locals, bringing the responsible parties to justice becomes a frustrating exercise. As Bravo rails against indifference and local corruption, she finds herself on a collision course with Mickey Santos, a Mexican mogul with a taste for young prostitutes.

Girls for Rent(en)

A team of girls go on a killing spree across the country.

Madame Olga's Pupils(es)

Madame Olga is the owner of a luxurious brothel in London, England. One of the brothel's new clients, a young man, falls in love with her. He wishes to have more than sexual relationships with the woman.

The Bearded Girl(en)

A sideshow can be a magical place. For those who live and work there, it can be a safe haven. For Cleo, her role in the family-run exhibit is clear: as the 88th generation of proud, bearded women, she follows their legacy of sword-swallowing, and her overbearing mother, Lady Andre, wants Cleo to be an obedient daughter and stick with tradition. But outside the show tents of Paradise County is a big world, and when Cleo’s fresh ideas for their sword show aren’t embraced, and she clashes with her mother, she gets the itch to leave her talented fringe family to find love and perhaps a new normal that doesn’t include facial hair.

Mujeres de la calle(es)

The Lover of My Ex(ja)

Romance about a woman who wavers between a younger man and her former husband, who wants to rekindle their relationship. Miyaguchi Naomi, a 39-year-old divorcee running a shop that sells rice balls, has been interested in Sota, a handsome young man who visits the shop on a daily basis to buy rice balls. He comes onto her, but one day Naomi happens to meet her former husband Masato. Sota sees her meeting with Masato…

Remember the Night(en)

Unexpected love blossoms when an assistant district attorney agrees to take a recidivist shoplifter home so she doesn't have to spend Christmas alone in jail.

Green Chair(ko)

When she falls in love with a handsome minor, a South Korean housewife finds herself at the center of a sexual scandal and hounded by hungry tabloid journalists. She vows to cut him out of her life but then he reaches the age of legal consent.

The Summer I Turned 15(no)

The story Peter is telling the about a special summer, when he is invited over to summer holiday from bickering parents, to his aunt and uncle in the country. He's been there before, but this summer was quite one to remember.

Sakuran(ja)

Kiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.

The Life(es)

An anthropology student exploring the nature of prostitution is drawn deeper into that profession than she ever expected.