JAPANESE

Rev. 10-10-08 JAPANESE ** All feature-length movies have English subtitles, unless otherwise noted. EDUCATIONAL/TEXTBOOK VIDEOS Counting --An educational film about counting in Japanese. VHS format Note: In Japanese, not subtitled How to Write Kanji --An educational film that shows how to write Kanji. VHS format Note: In Japanese, not subtitled Japanese Children Series --From an educational children’s TV show similar to Sesame Street; completely in Japanese with out English translation. VHS format, SAN has 9 VHS cassettes Note: In Japanese, not subtitled OC OC SAN Japan Unveiled: Business Savvy, 24 min. SAN --Through the life of a typical businessman, this video presents vital information on the structure of Japanese society as well as business manners and practices. VHS format Note: Narrative style, In English Japan Unveiled: Getting Acquainted, 28 min. SAN --Made for both foreigners living in Japan and for those planning to visit, this video explores the realities of everyday life in Japan from various angles. VHS format Note: Narrative style, In English Japanese History and Literature (1996), 3 video cassettes --A nice set of educational programs from Columbia University that tell the history of Japan and its culture. --vol. 1: Classical Japan and the Tale of Genji (552-1185) --vol. 2: Medieval Japan and Buddhism in Literature (1185-1600) --vol. 3: Tokugawa Japan and Puppet Theater, Novels, and the Haiku (16001868) VHS format 1 Rev. 10-10-08 Japanese Culture on Campus (1999) 80 min. SAN --A production that the students of MiraCosta College put on that has music, the tea ceremony and dance. VHS format Let's Learn Japanese (60 min. per tape) --Series of educational tapes, with explanations in English. VHS format both campuses Note: SAN has lessons 1-26, Music --Music in Japanese VHS format Standard Japanese Course 1-25 Three separate video cassettes --For students in Japanese 101/102. VHS format Note: Not subtitled in English. SAN OC, SAN OC FEATURE MOVIES ** All feature-length movies have English subtitles, unless otherwise noted. A Ghost Story (Kaidan) / the Theater of Life (Jinsei Gekijo), 52 min. OC --A Ghost Story: Some 800 years ago, a great battle took place between the Genji and Heili families. The Heiki family suffered a terrible defeat... --The Theater of Life: In 1905, Hyokichi overcomes his fears with the help of Orin, the girl next door. As they grow up, he goes off to a distant school and she goes to Tokyo--to become a Geisha. VHS format Note: This is an animated film. After Life (Japan, 1998), 118 min. OC, SAN --"After Life" is set in a half-way point between heaven and earth where the newly dead spend a short time sifting through the memories of their lives. With the help of a "guide," the newly dead must choose a single defining moment from their lives to take with them to heaven. The film discovers that defining an entire life in a single memory is an extremely difficult task. Through the memories of hundreds of elderly Japanese people, the film recounts not only the experiences of individuals, but also the collective history of post-war Japan. DVD format both campuses Not rated 2 Rev. 10-10-08 All about Lily Chou-Chou (Japan, 2001), 146 min. OC --A delicate and startling look at teenage alienation, violence and pop music from Shunji Iwai. Yuichi, a lonely boy with a rough home life who suffers daily at the hands of a school bully, finds solace in the music of Lily Chou-Chou, a melancholy pop singer. Through a website devoted to the singer, Yuichi escapes from his life with other obsessive fans, where he meets another lonely soul like himself. "One of the most haunting, viciously honest coming-ofage films in recent memory." ~Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly DVD format Not rated Angel Dust (1994), 116 min. OC --In this Japanese "Silence of the Lambs on acid" (Andrew Sarris, New York Observer), a mysterious serial killer is murdering women with a lethal needle on the Tokyo subway system. VHS format Not rated A Taxing Woman (1987), 127 min. OC, SAN --Romantic comedy about Tokyo's hardest working female tax inspector. VHS format both campuses Not rated A Taxing Woman's Return (1989), 127 min. --A tenacious tax inspector investigates a corrupt fundamentalist religious order in this humorous satire. VHS format SAN Audition (1999), 113 min. OC -- Cult director Takashi Miike's cinematic outrage is an unforgettable horror shocker. A middle-aged widower is encouraged to start dating again, and his TV producer pal sets up a phony project so his friend can "audition" potential mates. He seems to find a perfect match with a shy, beautiful young woman, but she is not who she appears to be. VHS format WARNING: Rated R for violence/torture/sexuality. 3 Rev. 10-10-08 Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (Japan, 2006), 96 min SAN -- Takashi Miike has made his reputation over the last several years as one of the most fearless, audacious, and absurdly prolific filmmakers in the world. With over sixty films under his belt, he is naturally remembered best for his most excessive moments. The family satire/catalogue of transgressive perversity Visitor Q. Yakuza violence and sickness exponentially multiplied in Ichi the Killer and Dead or Alive. ~ George Booker Big Bang Love, Juvenile A is full of metaphors and symbolism I don't even dare to analyze: Mayan pyramids; a rocket ship; a butterfly; apocalyptic dreamscapes; and tattoos on Ando's body that seem to appear and vanish depending on the mood he displays on screen. The film is as much a murder mystery as it is Miike's concoction of a Brechtian nightmare that explores themes of friendship, desire, abuse, and alienation. The total lack of music only heightens the austere mood which is reflected in the discontent of Matsuda and Ando's characters. ~ RUDY JOGGERST DVD format Not Rated Chaos (1999), 104 min. OC -- Unsettling, riveting, hallucinatory, suspenseful and erotic, Chaos is masterful entertainment that breaks new ground with every twist. DVD format Not rated Dark Water (USA, 2005), 105 min SAN, OC -- A mother and daughter, still wounded from a bitter custody dispute, hold up in a run-down apartment building. Adding further drama to their plight, they are targeted by the ghost of former resident. DVD format both campuses PG-13 Note: This movie is mostly in English Dark Tales of Japan (Japan, 2005) 94 min. OC -- Dark Tales of Japan offers a smorgasbord of traditional scares and creeps in a contemporary setting, all bundled into one tight anthology, although the budget constraints of digital shooting coupled with the usual problems of character development do take their toll. DVD format Not Rated 4 Rev. 10-10-08 Devil Hunter Yohko (1990) 45 min. --Yohko Mano, a typical Japanese high school student, discovers that she really is the 108th generation of a family of professional devil hunters. VHS format Warning: Rated R Note: This film is animated OC Fall Guy (Japan, 1982) 108 min. OC -- A has-been samurai movie star takes unfair advantage of the loyalty of one of his devoted fans in this Japanese comedy-drama. The star uses the fan's help to escape a number of sticky situations and eventually hatches a plan to use them as a double during a dangerous stunt. ~ Judd Blaise DVD format Note: A sex scene in the beginning of the movie Firefly Dreams (2004) 105 min. OC, SAN -- Naomi, a seventeen year-old city brat from Nagoya, finds her world turned upside down after the breakup of her parents' marriage. Packed off to the country, she reluctantly works at her aunt's inn until being asked to care for Mrs. Koide, an aging relative with Alzheimer's disease. At first, Naomi dislikes looking after the old woman, but over the course of the summer, the two develop an extraordinary friendship that transcends age and experience. DVD format both campuses Not Rated Hana & Alice (Japan, 2004), 135 min OC -- Hana & Alice is a delicate comedy about two childhood friends who fall for the same guy. Secretly following Miyamoto after school one day, Hana sees him inadvertently run into a wall, and then collapse senseless on the ground. When he awakens, she convinces him that the bump on the head has given him amnesia, and that she is his girlfriend. In order to keep the fiction alive, Hana is forced to tell Miyamoto more lies, one of which leads to his falling for her best friend Alice. Caught between love and friendship, the girls’ relationship takes on a new tone as the two find themselves maturing into young adults. DVD format Not rated Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), 119 min. OC --Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. DVD format PG Note: This film is animated 5 Rev. 10-10-08 Hula Girls (Iwaki, Japan, 2006), 120 min OC -- A melodrama from the Japanese-born, ethnically Korean director Lee Sangil, aims to be “The Full Monty” in grass skirts. It’s set in Iwaki, Japan, in 1965. With the local coal industry in decline, the town elders hope to exploit international fascination with Polynesian culture by building a Hawaiian-theme resort as bait for Japanese tourists and promoting it by training local girls as hula dancers and sending them on a bus tour across Japan.~ MATT ZOLLER SEITZ DVD Format Not rated Ikiru/ Special edition double-disc set (1952), 143 min. OC --A powerful, thought-provoking drama about a petty bureaucrat who discovers that he is dying of cancer. Coming to the realization that his life has been a meaningless quest for following petty company rules, he tries to create one thing of lasting worth. DVD Format Not rated Note: Black and white. The second disc features interviews with the director. Kagemusha (1980), 160 min. SAN --As the powerful warlord Shingen lies dying from his battle wounds, he orders his clan to find a double to replace him so his death can be kept secret. The man chosen (a shadow warrior or kagemusha) must somehow transform himself from a petty criminal to into a great leader- A milestone in the career of Akira Kurosawa. VHS format Not Rated Kamikaze Girls (2004), 103 min. OC -- Meet Momoko, a dreamer who fantasizes about fleeing her backcountry home and living life in 18th century Versailles. She meets a friend and the two form a friendship that nothing can break. DVD format Not rated Karas (Japan, 2005), 90 min SAN, OC -- Karas ("The Crow") is the guardian spirit of Tokyo, but the city is thrown into disarray when Eko, a former Karas, returns and attempts to seize power. DVD format both campuses Not rated 6 Rev. 10-10-08 Kanto Wanderer (1963), 96 min. OC, SAN -- Kanto Wanderer was the first of Suzuki's films to move away drastically from naturalism to embrace a highly stylized aesthetic that bordered on surrealism while at the same time never abandoning the Kabuki tradition it was actually derived from. The film was also Suzuki's first real ninkyo eiga (chivalry film) and the first to specifically deal with the traditional yakuza themes of jingi and giri-ninjo (duty and human feelings). The storyline is simple enough: a young stalwart yakuza bodyguard must balance the honor he has for his gang with the feelings that he has for a friend who has run afoul of a rival gang. A template used over and over again by Nikkatsu, and a blueprint that could offer up great possibilities when a director such as Suzuki or Kinji Fukasaku got their steely swords into it. ~ Derek Hill DVD format both campuses Not Rated Kikujiro (2000), 116 min. OC, SAN --A lonely nine-year-old boy leaves Tokyo in search of his mother, a woman he’s never met. He’s accompanied in his journey by a middle-aged petty crook, who is none too happy being the chaperone. VHS format both campuses PG-13 Leters from Iwo Jima (2004), 103 min. OC -- The scenes of combat, shot in desaturated color on the beaches of Iceland by the gifted Tom Stern and edited with grit and grace by Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, gain in terror and complexity from what we learn of these men. We watch in horror as soldiers bang their helmets with live grenades, preferring suicide to surrender. Eastwood's film burns into the memory by striving for authentic detail. The result is unique and unforgettable. DVD format Not rated Maborosi (1995), 110 min. OC, SAN --This is a story of great love, inexplicable loss and, at last, hope and regeneration, in which a beautiful young mother struggles to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband. VHS format both campuses Not rated 7 Rev. 10-10-08 Madadayo (Japan, 1993), 134 min SAN -- The title comes from a toast given during the parties. The guests ask "mahda-kai?", which means "are you ready (to die)?". And the sensei answers "madadayo," which means "not yet." The film, based on essays written by the real-life professor Hyakken Uchida, is a series of episodes, some lasting just a few minutes, others going on for up to a half-hour. The funniest documents the sensei's clever burglar alarm, and the most moving is the search for his lost cat, Nora. Other episodes show the aftermath of an air-raid in which the sensei's house is burned down, and the sensei's 60th, 61st, and 77th birthday parties, all of which turn into happy drunken mob scenes. ~ Jeffrey M Anderson DVD format Not rated Memories (1995), 114 min --This movie consists of three dazzling stories each delivered with its own astonishing style. DVD format PG-13 Note: This movie is animated OC Millennium Actress (2001), 87 min. OC, SAN --Past and present collide as a film director discovers a mysterious key that unlocks the secrets of a legendary actress who vanished at the height of her brilliant career. DVD format both campuses PG Note: This movie is animated Minbo or the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1994), 123 min SAN --Yakuza mobsters are pitted against a fearless female lawyer, who has been hired to protect a hotel against blackmailing. VHS format Not Rated Moon Child (2003), 119 min. --Moon Child follows a group of childhood friends as they advance in a futuristic criminal underworld. This is a science fiction movie that involves gothic vampire horror. DVD format Not rated OC 8 Rev. 10-10-08 Onmyoji (2003), 116 min. OC -- During Dark Age of demons and ghosts in the Heian period, the Emperor relies upon the imperial order of Onmyoji, who are the experts of the supernatural power, to protect the kingdom. However, as the birth of the emperor’s heir approaches, political intrigue and jealously will lead to the most dangerous of betrayals. DVD format Warning: Rated R Picture Bride (USA, 1995), 95 min. OC,SAN --A gripping drama based on a woman’s journey to a new life in Hawaii, where she travels to marry a man she has never met- Winner of Best Picture Award at Sundance Film Festival. VHS format OC, DVD SAN PG-13 Pitfall / Women in the Dunes / The face of Another; Box Set (Japan, 2004), OC --Pitfall (1962): Pitfall opens with a miner along with his young son and a friend fleeing a miner camp at night. With their fear of being caught and great caution when near lights, the trio seem to be more a group of prisoners instead of a couple of poor laborers and a child. However, their being prisoners are not too far from the truth because if they are caught they would be dragged back to the mines because of the nature of their contracts which they most likely were unable to read. The trio makes their way to work for a farmer, but leave soon to avoid deserter hunters and eventually arrive at another dilapidated mining camp. It is a vicious circle from which the miners are surely unable to escape because of their poverty and lack of education. --Women in the Dunes (1964): In order to escape his mundane life in Tokyo, the salary man Niki Junpei travels to a small seaside village to collect insects. Engrossed in his hobby Niki accidentally misses the last bus. In order to aid their visitor, the villagers suggest that Niki stay the night in one of their homes. Liking the idea of staying in a local's home and tasting the local cuisine, Junpei readily agrees to the proposal. Junpei is taken to house situated in a sandpit and there he meets a woman who dutifully prepares him dinner. Her home lacks not only electricity and water, but it is also quite ramshackle as well. The woman informs Junpei that the sand causes the wood to rot because of its moisture. --The Face of Another (1966): We all wear masks. In or day to day interactions we all put on different masks as we come in contact with others and along with these masks, our personalities can change as well. However, these masks are beneath the skin and our fleshy visages are what others see and often judge. Yet, what if the flesh was disfigured in some way? How would the personality change? This is the situation that Mr. Okuyama faces in Teshigahara Hiroshi's 1966 film The Face of Another which is based on the Abe Kobo novel of the same name. DVD format 9 Rev. 10-10-08 Princess Mononoke (2000), 134 min. OC --Inflicted with a deadly curse, a young warrior named Ashitaka sets out to the forests of the west in search of the cure that will save his life. DVD format PG-13 Note: this film is animated, in English Ran (Aso, Kokonoe, Japan1985), 160 min SAN -- With Ran, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reimagines Shakespeare’s King Lear as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan. Majestic in scope, the film is Kurosawa’s late-life masterpiece, a profound examination of the folly of war and the crumbling of one family under the weight of betrayal, greed, and the insatiable thirst for power. Note: The SAN Library has other movies by Kurosawa. VHS format RahXephon (Japan, 2004), 120 min. OC -- RahXephon: the Motion Picture opens with a seemingly typical anime love triangle at school after class: unrequited love girl walks in on boy she likes who is about to kiss the girl he likes (and who likes him back). A barrier that looks like the planet Jupiter suddenly rises around Tokyo (where else do things like this happen?), and the lovers are separated. DVD format PG-13 Remembering the Cosmos Flower (1999), 103 min. OC, SAN --A teenager girl, Akiko, returns to her small home town in Japan after seven years in South America and finds that her old friends and the rest of the town are afraid to go near her. Akiko had contracted the AIDS virus during a blood transfusion while she was away, and the news hit the town before she returned, causing fear and paranoia to envelop her village. DVD format both campuses Not rated Rhapsody in August (1991), 107 min. OC --Set in the countryside surrounding Nagasaki, this intimate drama directed by Akira Kurosawa traces the reaction of a Japanese family once torn apart by war and now facing personal demons brought by their first contact with an American cousin. VHS format PG 10 Rev. 10-10-08 Séance (Japan, 2000), 97 min. OC -- Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a fatalist whose strange and unsettling films often marry the supernatural with the metaphysical. In the deliberately paced but chilling Séance, Kurosawa skillfully twists the narrative screws around his protagonists, a thirty something couple who become irrevocably entwined in the kidnapping of a little girl through sheer happenstance. A master at evoking dread in the most ordinary of settings, Kurosawa puts his peculiar stamp on this adaptation of the novel Séance on a Wet Afternoon, which was previously adapted for the screen by Bryan Forbes in 1963.~ Tim Knight DVD format Not Rated Seven Samurai (1954), 208 min Two VHS OC th --Set in 16 -century Japan, the plot revolves around seven mercenaries hired to defend a peasant community against marauding bandits. This Kurosawa classic is also celebrated for its timeless themes of personal bravery and the incommutability of the human spirit. VHS format Not rated Shall We Dance? (1996), 119 min. OC --A charming comedy about a middle-aged workaholic accountant whose life takes a funny turn when he signs up for a ballroom dance class. VHS format PG Sleepy Heads (1996), 119 min SAN -- A slapstick comedy about three Japanese immigrants trying to navigate the madness of New York, made all the more crazy when they run afoul of the mob and one of their friends appears to die from a drug overdose. Wishing to avoid deportment, they try to dispose of the body, while one character still finds time for romance. VHS format Warning: Rated R Spirited Away (2002), 125 min. OC, SAN --A young girl, Chihiro, is trapped in a strange new world of spirits and must call on all her courage to free herself and her family in this epic adventure by Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animated cinema. DVD format both campuses PG 11 Rev. 10-10-08 Taboo (1999), 100 min. OC, SAN --Set in 1865 Kyoto, the story centers on a samurai militia unit that enlists Kano, a young and fierce less warriors whose good looks intrigue his fellow samurai. DVD format in OC, VHS SAN Warning: contains adult themes and violence. Tampopo/ Dandelion (Tokyo, 1987), 114 min. OC (2), SAN (2) --This is a hilarious movie about noodles. A woman named Tampopo wants to be the best noodle chef in town. She seeks help from a Clint Eastwood like character who plays a Japanese cowboy. The film is packed with take offs on American movies; Sylvester Stalone’s Cobra, the Zen master in Karate Kid, and the love scene in Nine and a Half Weeks. You must see the scene where a gluttonous man chokes on his noodle meal and the waitress sucks out the noodles from his throat with a vacuum cleaner. ~Siskel and Ebert VHS format both campuses, DVD SAN, OC Not rated The Bad Sleep Well (Toho Studios, Tokyo, 1960), 150 min. OC -- Koichi Nishi wants revenge for his father's death. Nishi is a complex man, playing the troubled Hamletesque character, who lets his father's past destroy his own future. Nishi is the easiest character to draw parallels with Shakespeare's play. Nishi seeks to avenge the unnatural death of his father. Maysayuki Mori's performance as the evil Iwabuchi resembles Claudius. The only other clearly corresponding character between Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well and Hamlet is Horatio with Nishi's accomplice. Nevertheless, the underlying themes of circumstance, revenge, and justice, connect the film and play. DVD format Not Rated The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2000), 94 min. OC, SAN --In an empire ruled by fear, the people’s only hope is the ultimate weapon: Zatoichi, a blind, nomadic samurai whose sword has made him a hero and whose courage has made him a legend! DVD format both campuses Warning: Rated R violence 12 Rev. 10-10-08 The Eel (1997), 117 min OC, SAN --Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, this masterpiece from Shohei Imamura is a bold, frequently offbeat exploration of crime and punishment, guilt and redemption, and the elusive possibility of salvation through love. Koji Yakusho stars as an ex-con, paroled after eight years in prison for killing his adulterous wife. VHS format both campuses Warning: Contains nudity and some sexual content The Harp of Burma (Biruma No Tategoto), parts 1 & 2, 52 min. OC --A platoon of Japanese soldiers is struggling through the mountains of Burma when notification of the end of World War II and of Japan's surrender is received. VHS format Note: This is an animated film The Izu Dancer (Izu No Odoriko) / the Dancing Girl (Maihime), 52 min. OC --The Izu Dancer: Mizuhara, a student from Tokyo traveling through the countryside, falls in love with Kaoru, a young dancing girl from a troupe of entertainers. --The Dancing Girl: Personal conflict and romance in a tale set in Berlin in the early 1900's. VHS format Note: This is an animated film The Mystery of Rampo (1994), 101 min. OC -- A famous mystery writer continually pushes the bounds of taste with his fiction in this atmospheric thriller from Japan which is filled with eroticism and suspense. As one of the writer's characters suddenly comes to life, he is pushed into ever more surreal and dangerous situations. VHS format Not rated The Season of the Sun (Taiyo No Kisetsu) / Student Days (Gakusei Jidai) / Grave of the Wild Chrysanthemum (Nogiku No Haka), 78 min SAN --The season...: A love story set in post-war Japan. --Student Days: It's exam time and Kenkichi knows he must study hard is he is to be accepted at the prestigious Ichiko School. --The Grave...: Masao Saito is 15 years old and lives with his sickly mother on their farm. A tale of adolescent love and resolve VHS format Not Rated 13 Rev. 10-10-08 The Sea is Watching (2002), 119 min. OC, SAN --Set in Japan's Edo period, this acclaimed art-house drama follows a young samurai who seeks refuge in the company of a prostitute after injuring a powerful Samurai during an argument. DVD format both campuses Warning: Rated R The Taste of Tea (Japan, 2004), 143 min. OC --A film that depicts the eccentric lives of the Haruno family in their quiet country home, from the young daughter passively hounded by a giant doppelganger of herself to the feisty grandpa with a blast of unruly white hair and a tuning fork he pulls out at the slightest thought of a song. There's also a lovesick teenage son, an animator mom, a hypnotist husband and a visiting uncle who slips right into their rhythm. Events minor and momentous are observed with the same lazy pacing and contemplative air, while the understated whimsy plays around the edges. The imagery is joyous, delightfully imaginative, serene and beautiful, and ultimately enchanting. ~ Sean Axmaker DVD format Not Rated Three Times (Taiwan, 2005), 139 min SAN -- Three stories of women and men: in 1966, "A Time for Love," a soldier searches for a young woman he met one afternoon playing pool; "A Time for Freedom," set in a bordello in 1911, revolves around a singer's longing to escape her surroundings; in 2005 in Taipei, "A Time for Youth" dramatizes a triangle in which a singer has an affair with a photographer while her partner suffers. In the first two stories, letters are crucial to the outcome; in the third, its cell-phone calls, text messages, and a computer file. Over the years between the tales, as sexual intimacy becomes more likely and words more free, communication recedes.~ jhailey@hotmail.com DVD format Not rated The Twilight Samurai (2002), 129 min. OC -- Seibel Iguchi is a low ranking samurai of the Unasaka clan in Shonai Province of northeast Japan. The divorce of his childhood friend Tomoe leads him into a confrontation with her violent ex-husband, a high ranking samurai, just as Seibel begins to dream that despite his impoverishment he might win the hand of long loved Tomoe, he is caught in the shifting turmoil of the times and is assigned, against his wishes, to confront and kill a renowned warrior on the wrong side of a clan power struggle. DVD format Not Rated 14 Rev. 10-10-08 The Hidden Blade (Japan, 2004), 132 min. SAN, OC -- Set in 1861 at the tail end of Japanese feudalism, "The Hidden Blade" focuses on Katagiri (Masatoshi Nagase), a gentle samurai troubled by his forbidden love for a low-caste servant girl (Takako Matsu) and confused by his clan's transition from swords to Western artillery. DVD format both campuses Warning: Rated R 2LDK (2002), 70 min. OC --Two struggling actresses share a Tokyo apartment. As they compete for the same film role ant the same boyfriend, their petty squabbles soon turn into allout war and when they break out the power tools and electrocution devices, you know these two ladies have forfeited more than their security deposit. DVD format Not rated Tokyo Godfathers (Japan, 2003), 93 min. OC -- Christmas in Tokyo, Japan. Three homeless friends: a young girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged bum. While foraging through some trash, they find an abandoned newborn. Hana, the transvestite with delusions of being a mother, convinces the others to keep it overnight. The next day, using a key found with the baby, they start tracking down the parents, with many adventures along the way. ~ Jon Reeves DVD format Note: This is an animated film PG-13 Tony Takitani (Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, 2005), 75 min. OC -- Adapted from a short story by Haruki Murakami, this lyrical, anguished drama explores the traumatic pitfalls of falling in love. Issey Ogata stars as a solemn technical illustrator and jazz enthusiast who keeps mostly to himself. When he meets a radiant woman, he's drawn out of his shell for the first time in years. "Shot in a wan, neutral palette that emphasizes its protagonist's muted desolation, Ichikawa's film is, in more ways than one, a model of economy." ~Dennis Lim DVD format Not rated Warm Water under a Red Bridge (2001), 119 min. OC --A frustrated unemployed architect learns of a treasure hidden inside an old house near a red bridge in a remote fishing village. Upon arriving he encounters a beautiful young woman with an “unusual” condition who lives with her grandmother in the old house. Be it chance or fate, the relationship that builds between them becomes both vital and volatile. VHS format Not rated 15 Rev. 10-10-08 Wandering Days (Horoki) / Growing Up (Takekurabe), 52 min. SAN --Wandering Days: In the early 1900's, a young girl wanders the country with her family, peddling medicine to earn a livelihood. --Growing Up: A story of conflict, gangs, and the search for individuality set in the red light district of Yoshiwara. VHS format Not rated 16