Time Within Memory

Auto-racing crews prepare for the Indy car race near Fuji in this Japanese documentary. Award-winning director Hiroshi Teshigahara compares the celebrated event with the enthusiasm of the youth of the time to the sport. Narration is provided by Shoichi Ozawa and compliments a well-crafted feature that will only appeal to die-hard auto-racing fans.

Epic saga of an idealistic land-owning family dealing with militarism, war, social change and economic reform.

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

Successful and married with children, paper-mill owner Jihei knows better than to contradict the strict social and moral codes of 18th-century Japan. But when he meets the lovely courtesan Koharu, he becomes a man obsessed. Koharu returns his love, even foregoing other customers while Jihei schemes to somehow buy her freedom. His efforts yield ruinous consequences for his business and his family life, and Koharu is meanwhile purchased by another client.

Yoshida's first feature follows the lives of young students against a background of jazz, emptiness and boredom. The plot is fairly simple: a "good-for-nothing" from a poor background falls in love with the young secretary of his rich friend's father. The woman senses good in him and tries to lead him on the right path.

Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, works as a bar hostess at night. She begins a passionate affair with one of her regulars, but his changing demeanor and constant demands for money lead Yoshie down a dark path.

Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.

This movie is based on an immortal literary work "The Snow Country," a story about a life of geisha Komako who lives in a region with heavy snowfalls.

Experienced shipyard worker Shimazaki gets an offer of free lodging from his employer in the company seaside rest house if he agrees to see to its running. After moving in, Shimazaki finds out that this will also mean taking care of a flock of youngsters, and he soon becomes their none-too-successful warden. At work the boys are disciplined, as soon as they return to their dormitory however they turn into an unmanageable mob.

In this Japanese drama, a dry goods merchant's daughter is surprised to discover that she has a twin sister. In rural Japan it was thought that twins bring bad luck, so the sister was abandoned at birth. Later her parents tell her that her sister was kidnapped. The woman doesn't believe this and when she eventually meets her twin, both women are involved in love affairs. The merchant's daughter is seeing an educated fellow. Trouble ensues when she begins suspecting that he may be more interested in her sister.

Just after WW2, a romance between an innkeeper and a man with tuberculosis unravels near a thermal spring.

An employee in an assurance company threatens to commit suicide when management announces a massive layoff, the company uses this threat to its own advantage by turning the incident into an advertising campaign. With the success of the campaign, however, he is no longer a desperate man pointing a gun to his head, but a potential leader who wishes to take advantage of his failed suicide.

An opportunistic department store clerk gets involved with three women and attempts to manipulate them so he can move up the social ladder.

When a man chases down his stolen movie camera, the thief commits suicide by jumping off a building. But after the police take the camera as evidence, it becomes unclear if there was ever a thief in the first place.

As Japan is preparing to host the Olympics, a gang member wanting to go to America is sought after by the police after helping his friend conduct a robbery.