Zangiku monogatari(1956)

Kokuho(ja)

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of a famous kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of kabuki.

Shara(ja)

The Aso family live in the old town of Nara. One Day, Kei, one of the Aso's twin boys suddenly disappears. Five years later seventeen-year old Shun, the remaining twin, is an art student. He now has to move forward with his life, together with his childhood friend, Yu.

Blood and Bones(ja)

In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.

An Actor's Revenge(ja)

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

Samurai Rebellion(ja)

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.

The Ballad of Narayama(ja)

In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.

Come Sunday(en)

Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.

Goku: Midnight Eye(ja)

Tokyo, 2014: a city balancing on the razor's edge between financial prosperity and seismic destruction. It is a place where the lights are bright, the stakes are high, and where the threat of imminent destruction breeds crime like a disease. But for Gokuu Furinji, ex-cop and super-powered private detective, crime is money...

Tokyo Family(ja)

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

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance(ja)

Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.

The Wings of the Kirin(ja)

A man's body is found under the statue of a winged kirin in the Nihombashi area of Tokyo. A suspect named Yashima has a car accident and falls unconscious while he is attempting to run away. Yashima's lover Kaori comes from Fukushima and tells detectives that he is absolutely not a criminal. Meanwhile, Detective Kyoichiro Kaga's (Hiroshi Abe) investigates and uncovers a point of contact between the dead body and Yashima. A hidden fact of the victim is revealed which even his children did not know about...

Kamui(ja)

A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.

Cryptozoo(en)

Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown.

Girl in the Box(en)

The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

Family Romance, LLC(en)

Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.

Babylon(en)

Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.

Penance(ja)

The murder of a young girl leaves the inhabitants of a small Japanese village in shock. The body of Emili is found by four classmates with whom she was playing. The murder is never solved. Emili's mother, Asako, is torn by grief and puts a curse on the four girls when they claim not to remember the killer's face. Each of the girls, in their own way, will do penance for their silence.

What Maisie Knew(en)

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

Return(en)

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli struggles to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes.

Return to Zero(en)

Based on the true story of a successful couple, Maggie and Aaron who are preparing for the arrival of their first child.

A Story of Floating Weeds(ja)

An aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current mistress and results in heartbreak for all.

Beauty(ja)

Set in a small Nagano village in the 1930s, the film follows Hanji, a young boy captivated by a local kabuki performance. Inspired by Yukio, Hanji learns kabuki with Utako. As they grow, they become skilled actors, performing in a final kabuki before World War II. After the war, Hanji returns to revive kabuki and restore the community’s spirit. In the 1980s, as he nears death, the villagers organise a final performance in his honour, where he performs “Tenryu Koishibuki” for Yukio.

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum(ja)

In late 19th-century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that the praise he receives is only due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully joins him.

Sayonara(en)

Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver is reassigned to a Japanese air base and is confronted with US racial prejudice against the Japanese people. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily, a by-the-book officer, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man, Joe Kelly, falls in love with a Japanese woman, Katsumi, and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.

An Actor's Revenge(ja)

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

An Actor's Revenge(ja)

An onnagata (female impersonator) of a Kabuki troupe avenges his parents' deaths. Remade in 1963 as Yukinojô Henge.

Two Portraits of MIYAGINO(ja)

In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master’s shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle. A mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance of the artist Sharaku. Helmed by Cannes-selected director Tatsuji Yamazaki, the film employs kabuki-inspired sequences and stylised sets.

Chūshingura Urabanashi: Nakazō Kyōran(ja)

Nakazo is forced by his foster mother, Shun, to practice dance intensively. He is bullied in the Kabuki world, and worries about his future as an actor.

Kokuho(ja)

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of a famous kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of kabuki.

Kabuki Akadō Suzunosuke(ja)

Two young swordsmen, Akado Suzunosuke and Tatsumaki Rainoshin, arrive at the city of Edo in their quest to test and improve their skills. Soon they become involved in a conflict against a mysterious group of demonic criminals led by the king of hell, Taira no Masakado — a strugle to which both were destined since the moment they were born.

Irohagana Yotsuya Kaidan(ja)

Yotsuya Kaidan(ja)

Oiwa Nagaya(ja)

Shin Yotsuya Ghost Story(ja)

Shaman Star(ja)

Hanbei (Arata Furuta), the boss of the labor agency Fujitsuboya is known to the underworld as the leader of the 'Last Rite Givers' (Indouya), an organization that deals with disposing of criminals for the sake of the people and society. However, in reality, he is merely a timid and mild-mannered man, too gentle to even harm a fly, whose fearsome appearance is what earned him his position. In both his public and secret life, the true leader is his wife, Oise. One day, a wandering assassin known as the 'mad dog', Yoiyami Ginji (Taichi Saotome), appears—someone who will kill anyone, regardless of who they are, as long as the price is right. Under the orders of the 'Black Blade' gang, who aim to destroy the 'Last Rite Givers' and monopolize the underground business, Ginji awaits to ambush and kill Hanbei. However, at that moment, as if by the curse of the 'Tengosei' star, a violent lightning strike causing the bodies of Hanbei and Ginji to switch.

Yotsuya Kaidan Oiwâ(ja)

Ehon Taikōki - Amagasaki Kankyo(ja)

The play "Ehon Taikōki" was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in 1799 in Ōsaka at the Toyotakeza. It was adapted for Kabuki the next year by Nagawa Tokusuke I. The play consisted originally of thirteen acts, one act for each day that passed between Akechi Mitsuhide's murder of Oda Nobunaga and his death at the hand of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The tenth act is the only one which has survived. This act tells of an incident during the battle in which Mitsuhide was finally defeated.

Murder in a Hell of Oil(ja)

Based on a true incident, this is a timeless story of a hot-headed young man who rebels against his parents and is forced into desperate straits, eventually losing himself in madness.

Jack the Mouse: Noda Version(ja)

Nezumi, Jack the Mouse is a Japanese urban legend. His passion for money drives a cynical, duplicitous coffin maker to take on Nezumi’s mantle. In this kaleidoscope of disguise and deception, society’s pretenses are destroyed in a melting pot of farce, social satire and courtroom drama. The mighty are brought low to everyone’s delight. Contemporary theatre genius Hideki Noda collaborates with Kabuki theatre at the invitation of celebrated actor Kanzaburo.

Irohagana Yotsuya Kaidan(ja)