Briar-Rose or the Sleeping Beauty

On her fifteenth birthday the princess finds a diary written by her mother when she was young. The diary tells of the Queen's secret, early love. The Princess goes into the forest to meet her mother's former lover. When she looks into his eyes, she realizes why her mother had fallen in love...

Woman in the Dunes

A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.

Love of a Thousand Years - Story of Genji

Set in 900AD and tells the story of a famous female writer of the time, Murasaki Shikibu. Her story begins from the death of her husband, a Japanese noble, then moves on to her recruitment to train the Prince's young 'wives in waiting'. It is dotted throughout and actually composed mainly of one of the fictional stories she wrote, the tale of Genji. Genji is a rich playboy who falls in love and has a son to his stepmother. He falls in love often and has many wives whom are all completely subservient to him.

A Thousand and One Nights

Aldin, a vagabond water vendor, embarks of a series of fantastical and tragic misadventures through the Middle East in search of love, fortune, and power.

Rennyo and His Mother

Rennyo was the key figure responsible for the restoration of Shin Buddhism in Japan, in particular the Honganji lineage that had a slump in its fortunes during the Middle Ages. According to the legend, his motivation was a pivotal childhood incident at the age of six when his mother summoned him and told him about his destiny to revive the fortunes of the Honganji school to which he was the next in line. She then mysteriously disappeared from the temple. Taking her words to heart, from a background of great poverty and hardship, at the age o...

Detective Story

Naomi is a university student who is leaving for the US to study in a week; Shuichi is a washed-up gumshoe who's hired by Naomi's father to bodygard his daughter until she leaves. Shuichi finds the job annoying and wants to quit. But he also has a screwed-up ex and alimony to pay. Things go from bad to worse when Naomi and Shuichi stumble upon a murder which might involve the yakuza. They decide to find out who committed the murder but God knows what it will lead to.

Ten Dark Women

Kaze is a philandering TV producer. His wife and nine of his mistresses conspire to kill him. However each woman would rather keep him alive, as long as she was the only woman in his life.

Being Two Isn't Easy

The days leading up to a toddler's second birthday are seen alternately from the child's point of view as well as that of his parents.

The Inferno

Hell manifests itself through the sins, shame and desires of an upper class rural family and a mother's grief from beyond the grave.

Vengeance for Sale

In a world where vendettas are officially sanctioned, the people sometimes needed help in carrying out their vengeance. Sanada Hiroyuki stars as Sukeroku the Helper, a ‘cool and rambling yakuza’ that has made a business out of helping victims carry out their revenge. When he returns to his hometown to pay a visit to his mother’s grave he meets a deadly ronin who carries a secret which eventually leads him into a vendetta of his own.

The Lowest Man

A young offender who is already guilty of many crimes is sentenced again for rape. Upon his release from prison, a year later, the victim waits to kill him.

Tokyo Bordello

A ruined businessman was forced to sell his daughter, Hisano, to a brothel in Yoshiwara, the largest red-light district in Tokyo. The owner of the brothel has hopes to make her a great new addition which will attract the richest of customers. But after several months of training, she tries to flee Yoshiwara when the time has come for her to take her first customer...

Zodiac Killers

Hong Kong student Ben Lee becomes friends with his mainland Chinese classmate Chang Chih while studying abroad in Japan. Ben is unmotivated to study and only cares about money and on the other hand, whenever Chih encounters a Chinese person, he would ask whereabouts of his childhood sweetheart. Ming is also from Hong Kong and in order to elevate his social status, he becomes involved with a bar hostess and owner Yuriko, hoping to become Yakuza leader Yamada Ishikawa's brother in-law.

The School of Flesh

Nichiren

An epic drama about Nichiren's life. Nichiren was a Buddhist monk who lived for 60 years during the Kamakura period (1185-1333) in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment. Because of his devout belief, Nichiren is met with opposition throught his travels, with life on the line, can Nichiren accomplish his goal?

Dark hunter

Thief Yaheiji (Keizo Kanie) helped a dying young samurai (Hiroaki Murakami), after recovering, he lost his memory and returned to Edo under the name of Yataro Tanigawa. Yaheiji meets Yataro again in Edo, by which time Yataro has become a dark hunter (Hired Assassin). The boss of thieves to whom Yaheiji obeys is killed, and Yaheiji participates in the battle to take his place Yataro helps him defeat and save his life, and Yaheiji also tries to save Yataro from the world of assassins... The drama "Dark Hunter" is based on the novel by Shotaro...

A Tale of Young Elopement

A 30-year-old man's life gets up-ended when his girlfriend accepts an arranged marriage meeting with a more successful man.

Sapporo Winter Olympics

A documentary about the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan.

Human Zoo

A montage of scenes that describe how people can be as bad as animals.

The S.S. Happiness Sets Sail

Adaptation of a 1956 novel by Yukio Mishima.