BASHING
Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes in 2005, Masahiro Kobayashi's Bashing is a heartbreaking film based on real-life events. The narration begins after Japanese aid worker Yuko...LEARN MORE.
BOOTLEG FILM
Shot in black-and-white, Bootleg Film is a darkly comic road movie about two men, Tatsuo (Emoto Akira) and Kiyoshi (Shiina Kippei), who are the best of friends despite being on opposite...LEARN MORE.
MAN WALKING ON SNOW
Ken Ogata (Mishima) delivers a wonderful performance as Honma Nobuo, a lonely, elderly widower who lives with his youngest son, Yasuo (Hayashi Yasufumi), in a remote...LEARN MORE.
NORTH KOREA: A DAY IN THE LIFE
For this rare look inside North Korea, director Pieter Fleury gained unprecedented access to a country generally cloaked in secrecy. Using "a day in the life" format, Fleury follows the daily...LEARN MORE.
PARODY PACK: AN EXCLUSIVE FACETS 2-PACK, THE
A pairing of foreign comedies that spoof American film noir and science fiction with style to spare. The hip, action-packed detective thriller, Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name (Shinji Aoyama, Japan, 2002, 71 mins.), follows private eye Mike Yokohama (Masatoshi Nagase) as he dons Elvis-esque attire and agrees to help a wealthy businessman find his daughter. "A tasty blend of Japanese and American pop culture... Nagase is a thoroughly engaging hero" (Variety). This is joined by the Czech New Wave classic, Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (Vaclav Vorlicek/Milos Macourek, Czechoslovakia, 1965, 80 mins.), a zany film about a scientist who invents a machine that enables a sleeping person's dreams to be viewed through a projector. Trouble ensues when she uses the device to watch her husband's dreams. In Japanese and Czech with English subtitles. 2-DVD set.
Shinji Aoyama/Vaclav Vorlicek/Milos Macourek---Japan/Czechoslovakia---2002/1965---151 mins.
REBIRTH, THE
Acclaimed Japanese indie filmmaker Masahiro Kobayashi (Bashing; Man Walking on Snow) directs himself in this stark drama about a widower grieving for his daughter, who was stabbed...LEARN MORE.
THE KOBAYASHI FOUR
With his stripped-down style and minimalist aesthetic, director Masahiro Kobayashi offers a clean, cool vibe for a new era of Japanese cinema...LEARN MORE.