Movies by Sakura Ando
Godzilla Minus One
In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.
Monster
When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what's going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher, and child, the truth gradually emerges.
The Imaginary
Amanda and her imaginary friend Rudger go on thrilling make-believe adventures. But when Rudger finds himself alone, he faces a mysterious threat.
Shoplifters
After one of their shoplifting sessions, Osamu and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold. At first reluctant to shelter the girl, Osamu’s wife agrees to take care of her after learning of the hardships she faces. Although the family is poor, barely making enough money to survive through petty crime, they seem to live happily together until an unforeseen incident reveals hidden secrets, testing the bonds that unite them.
Love Exposure
The story of a teenage boy named Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while working as an "up-skirt" photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing – which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian – dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.
Homeland
Jiro Sawada is a sophomore in high school when a false accusation drives him out his hometown: a small village in Fukushima Prefecture. The entire village is abandoned after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, but Jiro returns there to live. Before long, members of his family come and join him.
Our Homeland
From the late 1950s through the '70s, more than 90,000 of the ethnic Koreans in Japan emigrated to North Korea, a country that promised them affluence, justice, and an end to discrimination. KAZOKU NO KUNI tells the story of one of their number, who returns for just a short period. For the first time in 25 years, Sonho is reunited with his family in Tokyo after being allowed to undergo an operation there. Sonho’s younger sister Rie is at the centre of the film, and is not hard to recognise as the director’s alter-ego. In her documentaries DE...
The Great Yokai War: Guardians
Kei Watanabe is a fifth grade elementary school student. He has inherited the hunter's blood to hunt yōkai. To save the world from being destroyed, Kei Watanabe challenges a war against the yōkai.
0.5 mm
Sawa, a home helper for a middle class family with an elderly infirm grandfather, is forced to stretch her morals to keep her job. As a result, she finds herself broke and out on the street. She survives her first night by striking up an ambiguous friendship with a kindly old man, gaining access to a portion of the immense wealth held by Japan's aging population. She continues with similar encounters, and while these begin as scams or revenge on rampant sexism, they ultimately become vulnerable intergenerational exchanges.
Climbing to Spring
Toru grew up in alpine countryside around Mount Tate. As a child, he resented the yearly trek up the mountain with his father to prepare their mountain hut for the summer season of climbers. When Toru grows up, he leaves his hometown and enters the working world as a stock trader. One day, Toru receives word that his father has passed away. He returns to Mount Tate once again, and becomes conscious of a new calling. But, does Toru have what it takes to follow in his father footsteps?
孤独のグルメ2019大晦日スペシャル 緊急指令! 成田~福岡~釜山 弾丸出張編!
Make the Last Wish
Koike Minami returns from USA to Japan to accomplish her deceased twin sister's wish to win a competition and sing with Avril Lavigne on the stage in a concert in Tokyo.
Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura
Set in an alternate universe, the ancient capital of Kamakura is a vibrant town where fantastical creatures live alongside humans. Akiko is a cheerful publishing assistant who moves into town after marrying Masakazu, a popular mystery writer. Akiko is surprised by the unusual town but enjoys the new curiosities surrounding her. However, just as she was beginning to settle in, a trifling incident sweeps her spirit to the underworld too soon. Convinced that destiny has something else in store for his wife, Masakazu journeys into the underworld...
Sound of Waves
Umi’s hearing is so sensitive that even notes played slightly out-of-tune give her a headache. Violinist Yuko arrives from Tokyo to play a concert on Umi’s small island near Okinawa, and gradually befriends the girl. Both struggle with friendships and family relationships, but are brought together by music.
Reminiscence
A detective in Toyama is forced to confront his painful past when he takes on a murder case involving his two estranged childhood friends.
Tornado Girl
Koroki is a 35-year old man who admires Japanese singer-songwriter Tamio Okuda and aspires to live like him. He works as an editor at the lifestyle magazine "Mare," where he meets Akari Amami, a mischievous fashion press writer, and falls in love with her at first sight.
Ryuukou Kanbou
The novelist Shiga Naoya lives with his wife Haruko and their 4-year-old daughter Saeko. He is paranoid about Saeko’s health, making her wear heavy clothes even in summer in order to prevent her from catching a cold. Their child before Saeko died due to an epidemic, and he believes thorough enforcement is a natural consequence. In 1918, the Spanish flu reaches Japan. As the number of infected people grows, Shiga starts to suspect their servant Ishi might have gone to watch a travelling entertainment troupe’s performance which drew a great nu...
The Stork Nest
A small clinic in Kumamoto Prefecture begins accepting anonymous drop-offs of unwanted newborn babies at a residential building. The name of the controversial new program is "Stork Nest."
Her Granddaughter
Tsugumi Dozono works at a large electronics company in Tokyo. She likes to spend long vacations at her grandmother’s house in the countryside. When her grandmother dies, Tsugumi Dozono decides to live in the house full-time, and to work from there as well. However, one day she encounters a middle-aged man in the house, who tells Tsugumi that her grandmother gave him a key to the annex house when he was her student. The two share the property, although Tsugumi still does not know the exact relationship that her grandmother had with this man.
Korosuna
Kotani Zenzaemon, a ronin who has a side job making brushes in a tenement house in the back alley, is watching Omine, who lives with him, from Kichizo, a resident of the same tenement house and a boatman. is asked to Kichizo and Mine have eloped and got married, but she feels empty in her boring daily life, and she wants to take a break by crossing the bridge over the river. On the other hand, Kichizo forbids him from crossing the bridge, fearing that his whereabouts will be known to others. Zenzaemon superimposes the appearance of these two...