Sweet Bitter Candy

After causing a major incident, police officer Daigo Agawa takes his wife and daughter to live in the remote mountain village of Kuge. It seems the perfect place to recover from the ordeal, despite the mysterious disappearance of a previous officer posted there. One day, the body of an old woman is found on the mountain. The Goto family says she was attacked by a bear, but Daigo notices a human bite mark. It soon becomes clear that not all is as it seems in the village.

In summer, Nagisa and Natsuo meet by the sea. Their vacant gazes reflect each other as they exchange awkward words and wade into the rain-drenched ocean. In winter, Li, a screenwriter, travels to a snow-covered village. There, she finds a guesthouse run by Benzo.

A pair of siblings battling poverty and disabilities turn to prostitution, learning how to eat, fight, and love.

Not satisfied with his achievements as a child actor, Yat (Kaito Yoshimura) is now pursuing his dream to be a musician. His high school friends Takuma (Kodai Asaka), a photographer, and Yumika (Yukino Kishii), Takuma's ex, are also feeling discontent with their lives and with thoughts they cannot tell each other. With unforgettable singing by Yoshimura and vivid performances by up-and-coming stars, director Yutaro Nakamura has created a raw, "now-or-never" film.

Aki was practically born and raised in a mahjong parlor. At the age of 15, she goes to Tokyo during winter and although she is knocked around by the harshness of the big city, she is determined to survive by the one-and-only weapon she possesses: mahjong. However, standing in Aki's way are unscrupulous adults and the realities of city life.

Takaya and Sakura have been living in the same apartment splitting the rent. But Sakura wants to move out of there as soon as possible. In addition, Takaya was recently fired from his part-time job, so Sakura has to work harder, even more when Takaya is not motivated to do anything.

This is the question posited by director Nakamura Yutaro at the start of his latest film, a series of vignettes that bleed into each other. Memories? dreams? Whatever they are, they belong to highschooler Hikari who, along with a friend named Yujiro, get involved with an emotionally unstable man named Takaya. Flash-forward a decade or so and they are all 20-somethings bumbling around on New Year’s Eve night. Hikari has picked up an admirer, Kotaro, while Takaya is shacked up with a young woman named Anzu. A tumultuous night together leads to a quarrel and a truly bizarre New Year’s Day. It’s not a straightforward experience as we surf through these experiences and question whether they are imagined but the feeling of airy freedom and endless possibilities at the end is pleasant.