Akira EmotoFilmography

John Rabe

Actors: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Bruehl, Dagmar Manzel, Steve Buscemi, Anne Consigny, Zhang Jingchu, Teruyuki Kagawa, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: Oscar-winning director Florian Gallenberger explores the crucial role that foreigners played in helping countless Chinese escape a fate worse than death in this period docudrama concerning the 1937 invasion of Nanking by the ruthless Japanese Imperial Army. Casually known by historians as the Read More

The Chasing World

Actors: Takuya Ishida, Akira Emoto, Shunsuke Daito, Mitsuki Tanimura, Mitsuru Fukikoshi

Synopsis: Director Issei Shibata delivers this adrenalin-fueled thriller about a rash of murders all involving people with the surname "Sato," and a desperate high school student with that name who becomes trapped in a parallel world while being forced to participate in a lethal game of tag. All across Read More

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit

Actors: Shota Matsuda, Takashi Tsukamoto, Takayuki Yamada, Riko Narumi, Jun Fubuki, Akira Emoto, Takashi Sasano

Synopsis: Imagine an ugly future in which the government randomly selects individuals under the age of 24 for sudden death - and taps others to deliver the death warrants. Such is the vile realm on display in Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit, a dark and disturbing Japanese science-fiction saga from director Read More

All Around Us

Actors: Lily Franky, Tae Kimura, Akira Emoto, Susumu Terajima, Ryo Kase, Mitsuko Gaisyo

Synopsis: A courtroom sketch artists takes in the parade of sensationalist trials at work while simultaneously contending with a tragic loss at home in director Ryosuke Hashiguchi's affecting portrait of human fragility. Taciturn Kanao (Lily Franky) has recently wed his high school sweetheart Shoko (Tae Read More

Zebraman

Actors: Sho Aikawa, Kyoka Suzuki, Teruyoshi Uchimura, Yui Ichikawa

Synopsis: A nebbish father and schoolteacher finds the courage to face both his personal issues and a horde of invading aliens after assuming the guise of an unpopular television superhero in maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike's warmhearted comedy. Nice guy Shinichi (Sho Aikawa) just can't seem to Read More

Scrap Heaven

Actors: Ryo Kase, Jô Odagiri, Chiaki Kuriyama

Synopsis: A violent and outrageous revenge comedy with a thoughtful undercurrent, director Lee Sang-il's Scrap Heaven opens with three characters united by fate on the same city bus: toilet cleaner Tetsu (Jô Odagiri); police department administrative assistant Kasuya (Ryo Kase), who wants to work his way up Read More

Three for the Road

Actors: Kyoko Koizumi, Kanzaburo Nakamura, Akira Emoto, Takato Sasano, Jun Kunimura

Synopsis: A high-class prostitute and two misfit admirers are on the run in 19th Century Japan in this comedy from director Hideyuki Hirayama. Okino (Kyoko Koizumi) is a courtesan edging into her forties who wants to give up the business, but her "managers" demand more money than she can pay for her Read More

The Go Master

Actors: Chang Chen, Sylvia Chang, Ayumi Ito, Akira Emoto, Keiko Matsuzaka

Synopsis: The material and spiritual sides of one man's life are reflected in a game that allowed him to become a hero in this historical drama from Chinese director Tian Zhuangzhuang. Wu Qingyuan (Chang Chen) was born to a wealthy family in China, and as a boy he revealed a remarkable talent for the Read More

Life Can Be So Wonderful

Actors: Miyuki Matsuda, Akira Emoto, Hitomi Katayama, Ryuhei Matsuda, Mikako Ichikawa

Synopsis: Five short stories of life's joys and sorrows are brought together in this omnibus drama from Japan. In the first segment, we eavesdrop on the thoughts of a woman edging into her forties (Miyuki Matsuda) as she goes through her paces as a nude model working for an artist. Next, an elderly man Read More

Memories of Matsuko

Actors: Eita, Miki Nakatani, Yusuke Iseya, Mikako Ichikawa, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: An aimless twenty-year old drowning himself in booze after a recent break-up begins to come around while piecing together the life of the aunt he never knew he had in director Tetsuya Nakashima's adaptation of Muneki Yamada's original novel. Unable to deal with his latest break-up, Sho Kawajiri Read More

Starfish Hotel

Actors: Koichi Sato, Kiki, Akira Emoto, Tae Kimura, Kazuyoshi Kushida

Synopsis: British-born filmmaker John Williams directs this semi-surreal Japanese-language drama that blurs the lines between reality and fantasy while detailing a mystery fiction-loving salaryman's search for his missing wife. There was a time when Ariso (Koichi Sato) longed to become a writer, but these Read More

Zatoichi

Actors: Beat Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Okusa, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka

Synopsis: Beat Takeshi Kitano directs and plays the title role in this tribute to the wildly popular "blind swordsman" of Japanese cinema who was the hero of more than 20 movies and a television series from the early '60s to the late '80s. In Kitano's version, Zatôichi wanders into a town harassed by Read More

Lakeside Murder Case

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hiroko Yakushima, Akira Emoto, Etsushi Toyokawa

Moon and Cherry

Actors: Noriko Eguchi, Tasuku Nagoaka, Misato Hirata, Akira Emoto

Doppelganger

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hiromi Nagasaku, Nagasaku Hiromi, Yusuke Santamaria, Masahiro Toda, Hiromi Sato

Synopsis: Yuka (Hiromi Nagasaku) is an attractive young woman whose brother has recently died under mysterious circumstances. Shortly before his untimely death, Yuka got her first glimpse of his double, who has since moved into their apartment and taken his place. Hayasaki (Koji Yakusho) is a brilliant but Read More

Fukuro

Actors: Shinobu Otake, Ayumi Ito, Katsumi Kiba, Akira Emoto, Daijiro Harada

Yudan Taiteki

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Akira Emoto, Yui Natsukawa, Eiji Okuda, Masahiko Tsugawa

Synopsis: Jin (Koji Yakusho of Shall We Dance?), a straight-laced but unfocused cop, works in the robbery division. A widower for two years, Jin does his best to be there for his young daughter, Misaki (Rio Sugano), while remaining dedicated to his work. One day, Misaki is in the park and a kindly older man Read More

KT

Actors: Koichi Sato, Kim Kab-soo, Kim Byong-se, Yoshio Harada, Choi Il-hwa

Synopsis: Junji Sakamoto directs this taut spy thriller about the real-life abduction of Kim Dae Jung -- who would later be elected president of South Korea -- from a Tokyo hotel in 1973. Major Tomita (Koichi Sato) is a Japanese intelligence officer specializing in Korean matters. While tailing a North Read More

Waterboys

Actors: Satoshi Tsumabuki

Synopsis: Can five teenage boys overcome clumsiness, inexperience, and the taunts of their classmates to become a champion team of synchronized swimmers? That's the key question in this comedy from Japan. Suzuki (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is an enthusiastic competitive swimmer who is the linchpin of his high Read More

Onmyoji

Actors: Mansai Nomura, Hideaki Ito, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyoko Koizumi, Eriko Imai

Synopsis: In a time when demons and ghosts threaten to bring total devastation to a powerful kingdom, betrayal from within the powerful ranks of the ruling emperor threatens to bring an entire civilization to its knees in this supernaturally charged martial arts epic from director Yojiro Takita. As dark Read More

The City of Lost Souls

Actors: Teah, Michelle Reis, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Koji Kikkawa

Synopsis: The fantastically prolific Takashi Miike directs this dizzyingly stylish thriller -- one of four in the year 2000 alone -- about love, cocaine, and exile. In the film's near-wordless opening, half-Japanese Brazil Mario (Teah) wipes out a room full of his fellow criminals in a bar in Sao Paolo and Read More

Ikitai

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, who was 86 at the time of making this film, tackles the graying of Japan's population. The film opens with Yasukichi (Rentaro Mikuni), a retired chemist who lives with his middle-aged daughter, Tokuko (Shinobu Otake), drunkenly decrying the younger generation's Read More

Dr. Akagi

Actors: Akira Emoto, Kumiko Aso, Juro Kara, Masanori Sera, Jacques Gamblin

Synopsis: Following up on his acclaimed and Cannes Grand Prix-winning Unagi, veteran iconoclast Shohei Imamura directs this gleefully ragged tale about one very dedicated, though defiantly eccentric, doctor during the waning days of the Second World War. Dr. Akagi (Akira Emoto) is a small-town physician who Read More

The Eel

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker and perennial iconoclast Shohei Imamura directs this darkly comic tale about love, redemption, and a man's beloved pet eel. The film opens with Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho), a seemingly normal salaryman, learning that his wife might be having an affair. When he catches the Read More

Bootleg Film

Actors: Akira Emoto, Kippei Shiina, Maika, Wakaba Nakano, Kazue Takani

Synopsis: A stark drama awash in post-modern nihilism, Bootleg Film follows two friends who are driving to a funeral -- Tatsuo (Akira Emoto), a low-level criminal, and Seiji (Kippei Shiina), a police officer. The dearly departed was Ayako (Tamaki), a woman who at one time was married to Seiji and at another Read More

Kagi

Actors: Naomi Kawashima, Akira Emoto, Mikio Osawa, Kaori Tsuji, Kenji Imai

Synopsis: This is the fifth adaptation of Junichiro Tanizaki's erotic novel about middle-aged professor Soichiro Anzai (Akira Emoto of Shall We Dance?). Anzai's diary reveals his frustrating interactions with his sexually repressed young wife Ikuko (Naomi Kawashima). To communicate to her, he leaves the Read More

Maborosi

Actors: Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: Japanese documentarian Hirokazu Kore-eda made his first dramatic feature with this austere drama, which recalls the visual and narrative style of Yasujiro Ozu. Yukimo (Makiko Esumi) is married to Ikuo (Tadanobu Asano), a happy and humble man who loves her very much. While Yukimo and Ikuo are Read More

Shall We Dance?

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eriko Watanabe, Hideko Hara, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: Reminiscent of the Australian hit Strictly Ballroom (1992), this romantic comedy from Japan was a hit in its country of origin, despite (or perhaps because of) its tacit criticisms of the restrictive aspects of Japanese culture. Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho) is a typically strait-laced Japanese Read More

Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla

Actors: Jun Hashizume, Megumi Odaka, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: Godzilla must once again fight to protect his island domain (gee, you'd think he'd have installed a security system by now!) in this sci-fi adventure from Japan. While Godzilla has a new adversary in Mogera, a mechanical monster created to keep the Big G at bay, this gigantic robot is no match for Read More

Shino Funjatta

Actors: Masahiro Motoki, Misa Shimizu, Akira Emoto, Hiromasa Taguchi

Synopsis: Shusei has a problem. When he graduates from college, he has a fine job waiting for him. Family connections have made certain of that. However, in order to graduate, his thesis professor has to certify him. Since his professor, a former sumo wrestler, is the not-so-unofficial patron of the Read More

Harukanaru Koshien

Actors: Tomokazu Miura, Hitoshi Ueki, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: In 1964, an outbreak of the so-called "German" measles in Okinawa struck a U.S. military base and swiftly spread to the local population. One result of that outbreak was that a number of Okinawan children became deaf or were otherwise handicapped. This uplifting movie, based on a novel and a comic Read More

Pekin Teki Suika

Actors: Bengal, Toru Minegishi, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: Nobuhiko Obayashi spins this warm-hearted tale about Chinese exchange students and a rural vegetable vendor. The film centers on Haruzo Horikoshi (Bengal) and his wife, Michiko (Masako Motai), who manage an unassuming vegetable stand in Chiba Prefecture, not far from Tokyo. One day, a skinny Read More

Otoko wa Tsurai Yo: Torajiro Kokoro no Tabiji

Actors: Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho, Masami Shimojo, Chieko Misaki

Synopsis: Kiyoshi Atsumi plays Tora-San, a legendary Japanese "everyman" whose seriocomic adventures have been documented in dozens of films. While taking a train trip, the Chaplinesque Tora-San comes to the aid of suicidal businessman Akira Emoto. When the businessman expresses a desire to visit Vienna Read More

Battle Heater

Actors: Bakufu-Slump, Pappara Kawai, Sunplaza Nakano, New Funky Sueyoshi, Barbecue Wasada

Synopsis: A junk collector picks up a common household heater that proves to have a mind of it's own in this punk-infused horror film from director George Ida. Most days, Hama and his assistant Michio can be found rummaging through the local junkyards and rubbish piles in search of buried treasure. When Read More

Hipokuratesu-Tachi

Actors: Masato Furuoya, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: The trauma of medical school and residency provides the fodder for this story of the lives of a few students on their way to becoming doctors. One student's girlfriend is crippled because of a botched abortion, and he fights an emotional breakdown in order to stick with his training and finish. A Read More