Movies: Aki Takejo

In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mounta...

While combing through the belongings of his recently deceased aunt, Matsuko, nephew Sho pieces together the crucial events that sank Matsuko's life into a despairing tragedy....

Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a...

Eiji lives a quiet life running a small Izakaya with his wife. He spends his days cooking for and serving the lively residents of his small hometown....

Tora-san visits brother-in-law Hiroshi's hometown to attend a memorial service for his late father. When the local temple priest becomes intoxicated, Tora-san wearing the priest's robe delivers the memorial speech, much to his family's surprise. Thin...

A high school boy with violent impulsive tendencies begins a troubled relationship with an older woman he sees at a funeral....

Shuji was once a feared member of the Yakuza crime syndicate, but he's reformed his ways, abandoned his old life and left the city for a small coastal fishing town where he's become an honest fisherman....

A struggling Japanese neighborhood supermarket manager chances upon an old classmate, who has plenty of ideas for revitalizing his business....

After a friend and business colleague dies, Tora-san visits the man's daughter, then takes her to Tokyo so she can study for a night school exam....

Koji Wakamatsu adapted Kouhei Tsuka's play of the same name into a human comedy about the members of a traveling acting troupe....

With the help of the real-life pachislot gambling group "Capone," the film depicts the friendship between a man who gambles and a man who lives in the underworld....

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Vain, middle-aged actress Biwako is placed in witness protection while authorities investigate the brutal murder she witnessed. Under the watch of two dedicated cops, Biwako struggles to maintain her career, her public image, and her personal life as...

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The story of a teacher who comes to a village on the Inland Sea and the relationship that develops between her and her 12 pupils....

This film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Hisashi Inoue, which tells the story of a comedian who teams up with a strange man he meets while traveling, and the two become very popular in Asakusa while performing their unusual acts....

Master director Sadao Nakajima brings to life the adventures of Shohachi, a ronin (masterless samurai) searching for his father's enemy. O-Tama, the star of a light acrobatics hut in the back mountains of Asakusa, falls in love at first sight with a...

Oshin comes from a family of poor rice farmers. Her father and brother must work in the fields and her grandmother and mother, who is expecting another child, barely have enough to eat. In order to make ends meet for her family, 7-year-old Oshin give...

If you loved movies such as Shonen Merikensack and GS Wonderland, then this one, which predates the former, will impress you as well. The story is set in the 80s rock scene and revolves around Nakajima (Kazunobu Mineta), the lead singer of a band cal...

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