Movies: Kaoru Kobayashi

Daikichi is a 70-year-old man and lives on a small island. Since his wife died, he has lived with his cat Tama. Daikichi was born and raised on the small island and enjoys relaxing days with his childhood friends including Iwao and his cat Tama. Dai...

Kizaki, who moved to Tokyo from the Kansai region to become a manga artist, is assigned to work at a used electrical appliance store where he works part-time as a store keeper and repairman. One day, a woman comes to the store drenched from the rain....

A humorous wedding story fueled by a rather no-good father and son, disguised as the old and new “good guys.” The father Nobuo, and his son Tamio, are unable to mature, unable to break the parent-child roles, have no sense of responsibility, and keep...

Go Takamine's first theatrical feature is a pioneering work of Okinawan cinema, filmed almost entirely in Okinawan dialect. Taking place shortly before the resumption of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa, Takamine’s film tacitly addresses the island ...

A five-part comedy and horror anthology...

Based on the novel of the same name by Yoshio Kataoka....

Middle-aged widower Tetsuro finds an unconscious, homeless young man on the riverbank in his small seaside town. Offering him room in his home, Tetsuro and the man who calls himself Shinichi develop a father-son dynamic, despite the secrets that ling...

A special drama starring Masahiro Nakai of SMAP, which was aired on Fuji TV six times from 1996 to 2005. The original is a comic of the same name by Yuji Aoki. The script was written by Ryoichi Kimizuka of "Bayside Shakedown", and it is a comical and...

A woman who has not seen her father for several years and does not have a good relationship with him. An unsociable man who lives near her father's house. Slowly the relationship between the woman, her father, and the man changes....

Two TV salarymen uphold their duty by taking on a rival talent agency during the late-'80s bubble economy....

Kuwahata Chokichi used to be a famous actor, but now he's suspected to be suffering from dementia. He is betrayed by his older daughter, Yukiko, her husband-cum-his-former-disciple, Ikuo, and Yukiko's lover, a mysterious driver, and gets sent to a hi...

Keiko Tsuruoka’s film is at once traditional and contemporary: it gently mixes present-day gender and sexuality politics with the old-fashioned Japanese domestic drama. Traditional lacquerwork kitchenware is the Aoki family’s legacy, handed down to p...

Daisuke is supposed to be out looking for a respectable job and equally respectable wife. He is 30 years old and devotes his attention to music and literature; his family is wealthy and can support his interests. When his friend Hiraoka returns with ...

In Kagoshima, in the final days of World War II, an offer of marriage comes to Etsuko Kamiya, who lives with her brother and his wife. The offer comes from Nagayo, but Etsuko is attracted to his friend, Akashi....

Set in Kyokuhoku Citizen Hospital in Hokkaido, Japan. "Kyokuhoku Rhapsody" follows the life of a young doctor for a one year period. Yoshio Imanaka works at the Kyokuhoku Hospital that is losing staff members and facing bankruptcy. During this diffic...

The prison guards working in penitentiaries where death row inmates are locked up are forced to spend their daily lives constantly facing death....

Based on the novel of the same name by Shizuka Ijûin. Played as a double feature with Crepe (1993)....

An ex-cop suffering from dementia is marked by detectives pursuing a murder case. It is a case that he does not remember at all, but he has a strong motive for committing the crime... Is he really the murderer?...

Thirty years after graduation, a man and a woman meet again at an alumni reunion. They are no longer young, but the moment she sees him, memories of her first love are revived. Her love for him has never faded even though she married another man and ...

Autumn 2023. Akutsu, an elderly inmate serving life in prison, is on the verge of a lonely death in his single cell. A talking Housenka flower says to him, "What a rotten life you had." Akutsu starts reflecting on his past. Summer 1986. Akutsu is liv...