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Japanese films
9/6/2005 16:40

INSTALL
Synopsis: After dropping school, the seventeen-year-old Asako move to a new place with all her properties. It is in the new environment that she encounters Kazuyoshi, a ten-year-old boy. Conceiving that he is only a common boy, Asako is astonished after seeing his own websites. Her view of the little boy is therefore changed and they together work together to try to do something that they never imagined before...


ONE MISSED CALL 2
Synopsis: Amid the gloomy rains of Tokyo in July, nursery school teacher, Kyoko, takes care of the children in her charge. Recently, busy with her ongoing studies in child therapy, she hasn't had time to see her boyfriend, Naoto, an aspiring photographer. One day she decides to drop by the Chinese restaurant where Naoto works part-time to trade a little encouragement in their mutual pursuit of their dreams. No sooner does she arrive, than an eerie ring-tone plays on her cell-phone. They both recognize it as the tone that heralded the "death forecast" call scare of the previous year. They remember the incident...the recording of one's own voice...the inevitability of the end.
It's not long before gruesome death enters Naoto and Kyoko's world and it becomes apparent that the curse is not ended. Reporter, Takako, has been studying the differences between the current incident and the one of the previous year caused by Mimiko Mizunuma's curse. Just when she thinks she's getting to the bottom of things, she comes across Kyoko and Naoto.
Kyoko is paralyzed with fear but Naoto promises not to let her die. Kyoko, naoto and Takako team up to find the key to the mystery. To do so, they must plumb the deepest depths of horror and tap into one young girl's abject misery.

SCHOLL WARS:HERO
Synopsis: A battle between endlessly destructive students and their passionate teacher, a former member of the Japanese national rugby team.
In 1947, a new teacher arrived at a high school wrecked by a storm of violence. Seven years later, his rugby team pulled itself from the abyss to become the number-one team in Japan. Behind the glory was a story of love, tears, and daily struggles between the students and their teacher... A true, moving story of a passionate teacher who threw his heart and soul to rebuild a ruined school and his students who proved worthy of his trust.


LAST QUARTER
Synopsis: On the night of her 19th birthday, Mizuki is celebrating in style at a club with her boyfriend Tomoki. Their blissful scene is ruined by a friend who reveals that she has been sleeping with the habitually promiscuous Tomoki, which shocks Mizuki profoundly. After the suicide of her mother and her difficulty adjusting to her father's remarriage, he was the only person in the world that she felt she could rely on. Utterly dejected, she flees into the night and stumbles upon a dilapidated estate bathed in the ethereal glow of the moon in its last quarter. Drifting on the still air is a strangely familiar melody being played on a guitar, emanating from somewhere inside the mansion. She follows the music inside to a darkened room and a mysterious young man named Adam (HYDE). He claims to have written the song especially for her even though she has never met him before. Feeling an inexplicably strong bond to this charismatic stranger, Mizuki returns home and collects her belongings in order to begin a new life with him but is involved in an accident. Suddenly she finds herself back at the gates of the mansion, unable to leave its precincts, and with no memory of what has happened or who she is.
Hotaru, an inquisitive young girl recently discharged from hospital, is searching for her runaway cat, followed by her reticent school friend Miura. They enter the overgrown grounds of a deserted manor and hear piano music coming from within, enticing Hotaru to venture inside where she discovers a solitary young woman suffering from amnesia who claims to be awaiting the return of someone called Adam. When Miura enters the room, they are astounded to find that this girl can only be seen by Hotaru and is prevented by some strange force from leaving the mansion. Together they try to discover her identity and unravel the mystery surrounding her, and gradually come to the realization that it is all somehow connected to the tragic past of a family who once lived in the mansion, a rare phase of the moon that occurs only once every 19 years, and an enigmatic musician by the name of Adam...

BEAT KIDS
Synopsis: Transfer student Eiji Yokoyama, a young boy from the rough Kishiwada area of Osaka, is pressuredinto the school's brass band by Nanao Kanno. Nanao is an outstanding musician, and when she plays, she seems obsessed with creating the perfect sound. However, there's something troubling her. Eiji is forcedinto playing the large drum, but soon becomes a captive of its sonic boom. Nanao too is influenced by Eiji, particularly by his big-hearted character and his natural kindness. Under Nanao's guidance, the brass band plays well in the local competition, but soon dissolves after Nanao comes into conflict with the band's teacher. Nqnao, who had long been thinking about going to New York, pursues her dream and decides to go. Inspired by Nanao, Eiji forms his own band, the BEAT KIDS. After the new band gives an impromptu live in a park, another indie band throws down the gauntlet...
A coming of age film filled with emotion and beat of young kids, accompanied by the powerful music of rock.

LETTER FROM NIRAIKANAI
Synopsis: Fuki who lives with her grandfather Shoei in Taketomi Island, Okinawa, dreams of becoming a cameraman. In her childhood, her mother Masami left Fuki to live in Tokyo. Although Masami has not come back, Fuki receives birthday cards from Masami every year on her birthday. On Fuki's fourteenth birthday, Masami promises to confess everything when Fuki becomes 20 years old. After her graduation from high school, Fuki moves to Tokyo to work as a cameraman assistant. Fuki starts off her hectic life in Tokyo, and soon, her nineteenth birthday comes. As usual, she receives a birthday card from Masmi. A year later...

TORA-SAN OUR LAVEABLE TRUMP
Synopsis: Rough but good-hearted, Tora, long out in the world, hears that his parents have died. He returns to find that his sister, now living with her uncle and aunt, is to be married. Tora has not thought a suitable brother-in-law and the marriage is cancelled. Sometime later when his sister is again in love, Tora is careful to behave himself. His real reason is that he himself has fallen in love. The young lady does not realize this and innocently announces her plans to marry another. Tora again leaves home. Sometime later, the girl already a happy mother, she receives a letter from Tora just to let her know he is as rough and wild as ever.

FINAL TAKE
Synopsis: In the early 1930s, when silent movies were being replaced by talkies, Ogura has become famous for making popular flickers and comedies. His young assistant, Kenjiro, despises his practice and wishes to make art films. Ogura finds a pretty candy seller, Koharu, and casts her as a bit player. But as she ruins take after take, she goes home and determines never to become an actress.
Kenjiro is later falsely charge of being a communist. He learns in prison that flickers have a genuine appeal to the masses. After release, he returns to the studio and determines to make a flicker, entitled "Floating Weeds". At the same time, famous arthouse director Ogata succeeded in making an actress out of Koharu. So Kenjiro has chosen Koharu as the lead actress when the popular actress elopes with her lover. Production goes smoothly until the final take...

WHERE SPRING COMES LATE
Synopsis: In order to fulfill husband's dream, the whole family departed from their peaceful island, moving towards a distant village. Their journey was exciting while troubled. They experienced tempting city life, met strange people, and tried many fresh things they had never touched before. However, unfortunately their lovely daughter died on the way and their grandpa passed away soon after they arrived in the village. It was winter over there. Everything was gloomy, covered with snow, and so were their moods. They were desperate and giving up hope, but the villagers offered them warm support and generous help, making them regain their living confidence. The spring came to this village in June. Green pastures, sweet breeze, newly born babies, kind villagers, all these were so fresh and fascinating. To them, this was their new hometown where spring came late, but they enjoyed the new life over there and tasted the happiness of life.

THE HIDDEN BLADE
Synopsis: In the mid-19th century, during the final days of the Shoguns and the Samurais:
Munezo Katagiri's home is a modest dwelling but a place of warmth and laughter he shares with his mother, his younger sister Shino and Kie, a pretty farm girl working as a maid.
Three years pass, in which time Munezo's mother has died, his sister has married Samon, and Kie has married into the Iseya, a family of oil wholesalers, and Munezo assumes she is living happily. Encountering her out shopping one winter's day, he notices that she has grown thin and sad, and feels a tug at his heart as he watches her walk away through the snow. Several months later, hearing that Kie is ill, Munezo hurry to the Iseya, finds her lying half-dead in a dimly lit storeroom and then carries her back to his own home. Gradually she recovers, Munezo's house once again becomes a place of gaiety and laughter. The presence of Kie in Munezo's home makes him the subject of criticism.
However, a plot by members of the clan in Edo against its leaders is brought to light, and fearful that this will come to the attention of the Shogun's government, those responsible are ordered to commit suicide. Yaichiro is also implicated, and he is 'sent down' to the clan's domain, where he is imprisoned in a small hut deep in the mountains. Munezo and Yaichiro were two of the best students of Kansai Toda, former fencing instructor to the clan. Yaichiro was actually the better of the two, but for some reason Toda chose to impart his secret 'Oni No Tsume (devil's claw)' technique to Munezo.
The end of the samurai's world is now in sight, but that world is not yet ready to let Munezo go free.


The Lovable Tramp
Synopsis: Gengoro, somewhat wild but very good-hearted, makes friends with the man's wife and son. It is while on a walk with the latter that they discover a girl about to commit suicide. They rescue her. She stays at the man's house and Gengoro often comes to visit. It is obvious he has fallen deeply in love with her and is arrested. After that no more is heard of them for a time. One day, however, the man meets her again on a train. Shortly, her husband appears. It is Gengoro himself.




 Source:www.siff.com