Movies by Sumie Sasaki

Empire of Passion
In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.

Okinawa
A group of teenagers grow up in Okinawa amid the protests and resistance against the presence of the American base in the island.

The Oil-Hell Murder
The indolent son of an oil vendor becomes a regular customer of a prostitute, racks up a mountain of debt, and is disowned by his parents.

Yearning
Famed onnagata (a man who plays women's parts in Kabuki) Tamasaburo Bando follows up on the success of his directorial debut, Gekashitsu, with this soft-focused romance about love and obligation, based on a novel by Kafu Nagai. Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede (Sayuri Yoshinaga) is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant's family. The film opens with her working in a high-class brothel abutting Tokyo Bay. Though she has pas...

Gondola
Ryo works as a window washer for high-rise buildings in Tokyo, spending his days suspended in the air on a gondola by himself. Inside one of these apartments, 11-year-old Kagari lives with her neglecting mother and plays with her two pet birds. One day, Kagari finds one of the birds injured and Ryo, who happens to be washing her window outside, takes her to the veterinary hospital, ushering in an unlikely friendship and journey of self-discovery.