Movies by Youki Kudoh

Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Death Note: L Change the World

Death Note: L Change the World

"The human whose name is written in the Death Note shall die." After making the hardest decision ever, another serious case confronts L. There are only 23 days left and without his best partner Watari, L has to solve the case all by himself for the very first time.

Snow Falling on Cedars

Snow Falling on Cedars

In the 1950s, a Japanese-American fisherman is suspected of killing his neighbour at sea. For Ishmael, a local reporter, the trial strikes a deep emotional chord when he finds his ex-lover is linked to the case. As he investigates the killing, he uncovers some startling clues that lead him to a shocking discovery.

Blood: The Last Vampire

Blood: The Last Vampire

In Japan, the vampire-hunter Saya, who is a powerful original, is sent by her liaison with the government, David, posed as a teenage student to the Yokota High School on the eve of Halloween to hunt down vampires. Saya asks David to give a new katana to her. Soon she saves the school nurse Makiho Amano from two vampires disguised of classmates and Makiho witnesses her fight against the powerful demon.

Imprint

Imprint

An American journalist travels through 19th-century Japan to find the prostitute he fell in love with but instead learns of the physical and existential horror that befell her after he left.

The Limits of Control

The Limits of Control

A mysterious stranger works outside the law and keeps his objectives hidden, trusting no one. While his demeanor is paradoxically focused and dreamlike all at once, he embarks on a journey that not only takes him across Spain, but also through his own consciousness.

Karakara

Karakara

Pierre, a retired professor in his early sixties ends up making a short, unsettling trip around Okinawa with Junko, a 40-year-old runaway wife. The confused intellectual would rather not get involved with this unlikely and unexpected lover but decides to follow his destiny, wherever it (she?) may take him.

Typhoon Club

Typhoon Club

Offering a caustic immersion into the lives of disaffected junior high students on the cusp of adulthood, the film takes place over the five-day period before, during, and after a ferocious, seemingly-liberating typhoon, which six of the students endure while marooned in their school.

This Country’s Sky

This Country’s Sky

Set in Tokyo, Japan near the end of World War II. 19-year-old Satoko (Fumi Nikaido) lives with her mother (Youki Kudoh) and her aunt. The war is turning more grave. Even though Satoko is near the age to get married, she can't even think of marriage due to the unstable situation. Satoko then begins to communicate with her neighbor, Ichikawa (Hiroki Hasegawa). He has avoided military service due to failing his physical test. As Satoko communicates with Ichikawa, she begins to awake as a woman.

We Are Little Zombies

We Are Little Zombies

Their parents are dead. They should be sad, but they can't cry. So they form a kick-ass band. This is the story of four 13-year-olds in search of their emotions.

We Are

We Are

Seven friends part ways after their last day at school. Some seek their fortune in Tokyo, others remain in their hometown Maebashi. Over the course of ten years, their paths keep crossing, and while they experience losses and broken dreams, they learn about the value of friendship. Director Michihito Fujii tells a timeless coming-of-age story in this outstanding ensemble drama.

Labyrinth Romanesque

Labyrinth Romanesque

A serial killing occurs at a port town brothel.

The Brighton Miracle

The Brighton Miracle

Inspired by true events, the story begins with Japanese rugby officials dwelling on a humiliating anniversary, a 145-17 defeat by the New Zealand All Blacks in the 1995 World Cup. Officials question their decision to appoint Eddie Jones, to coach their national team for the 2015 World Cup. Jones plans to defy convention in order to put a stop to Japan being the laughing stock of world rugby.