Noboru Mitani

The Ark in the Mirage (2016)

A young man, involved with a gang of hoodlum exploiting vulnerable elderly men to steal their retirement money, experiences social disenchantment, alienation and confusion mostly due to a lack of dreams and fulfillment of ambition. ...

Play Cards When You Die (2009)

Ichiro Sasaki, 35, is working for a small training school in Tokyo. Though his work and his life are rather dull, he at least gets along somewhat well with his young daughter. He recieves a phone call one day, informing him of the sudden death of one of hi ...

Looking for Cherry Blossoms (2009)

Three strangers gather in search of an elusive cherry blossom. The tree hardly matters after a while, though, as they stumble into one funny and revealing episode after another. ...

Kissho Tennyo (2007)

A story about Sayoko Kano, a junior high school student, who is believed to be a descendent of an Indian goddess. Sayoko is a kind of femme fatale, who uses her supernatural power to control people, especially men. ...

The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia (2007)

A freelance writer is given a bizarre assignment by the sexy editor of "Black Book Monthly": find a bug with the power to bring humans back from the dead, in order to report on the afterlife. With his trusty companion Endo in tow, he sets off on a quest fo ...

Under the Same Moon (2005)

When Tetsuya (Yosuke Kubozuka) was 10-years-old he met Emi (Meisa Kuroki), who suffered from a heart disease. In hopes to cure Emi's condition, Tetsuya decided to become a doctor. Following through on his dreams, Tetsuya is now a doctor and is about to mar ...

Summer of Ubume (2005)

Kyogokudo is a used book seller who doubles as an onmyouji, or Heian style occultist. His friend Sekiguchi brings him the story of a woman who has been pregnant for twenty months. Sekiguchi investigates further with the help of his friend Enokizu, a detect ...

In the Pool (2005)

A free-spirited psychiatrist exudes a magnetic attraction for patients with out-of-the-ordinary neuroses and odd conditions brought about by stress. ...

Déracine (2004)

A mysterious street-painter, Jouji, wanders aimlessly, homeless. Together with his homeless pals, he makes his living by selling his paintings on the street. His paintings, dynamically exploding on pieces of cardboard, catch the eyes of Kyoko, an art deale ...

Winter Days (2003)

An animated film based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the ...

Gozamareji (2003)

Living Hell (2000)

Family is the source of all evil, in this aspiring horror film which traces its descent from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre gore and the atmospheric Hammer films. Chiyo, an old woman and her granddaughter, Yuki, are the sole survivors of a horrendous crime wh ...

Dora-heita (2000)

A new magistrate in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his opponents' own misperceptions and prejudices to defeat his enemies and uproot corruption. ...

Autumn Blossoms (1999)

The Geisha House (1999)

Set in a Kyoto geisha house during the post-WWII era, the young Omocha begins her rigorous apprenticeship within the traditional community of geiko and maiko. She must navigate complex internal rivalries and a strict social hierarchy while the house strugg ...

Glassy Ocean (1998)

On what apparently is a parallel world, time flows in a much slower pace than normal. The ocean remains on a solid state of matter as the eccentric individuals who inhabit this land casually wander over it. ...

The Key (1997)

Ikuko is a mature, reserved Kyoto woman married for many years to a respectable, now-middle-aged man. The only problem in their relationship has been that her husband is dissatisfied with her lack of passion during lovemaking. All this changes after they m ...

King of Sha-kin (1997)

In late 90s Osaka, three people from various walks of life meet by chance. They team up to orchestrate a complex financial con targeting crooked businessmen in an attempt to solve their respective financial woes. ...

Woman in Witness Protection (1997)

Vain, middle-aged actress Biwako is placed in witness protection while authorities investigate the brutal murder she witnessed. Under the watch of two dedicated cops, Biwako struggles to maintain her career, her public image, and her personal life as she p ...

Black Suit Legend (1997)

In Roppongi, university student Koshiro is fascinated by the world of "black suits" when he meets Club Legend's number 1 hostess Miho and top staff member Hideto, and decides to join the world by getting a job at the high-class club himself. ...

Parasite Eve (1997)

A scientist realizes his dead wife is an organization of mitochondria bent on making a new species that will wipe out humanity. ...

Molester Diary: A Man Who Kept Stroking Ass 2 (1995)

The familiar Chikan group members who bite into the buttocks of women in the crowd of crowded trains and are absorbed in lewd acts without discipline today. Leader Kawasaki and Gum man, and a manga artist I. For some reason, I took on the role of a bodygu ...

A Quiet Life (1995)

A melodrama about the life of a mentally disabled young man and his devoted sister after their famous novelist father and housewife mother go to Australia on a business trip. ...

Elephant Song (1994)

Coffee-shop waitress Kanako, divorced with a young son, finds herself obliged to honour a rash promise she made to a long-time customer. He always wanted to be buried in the land rather than a cemetery, so that his body would be 'useful' - and now he's dea ...

Hold Me and Kiss Me (1992)

Keiko's life is turned upside down when she discovers that she has been infected with HIV. As she struggles to cope with the situation and resist the infection, she finds new friendship and companionship with a journalist named Miyuki and a man named Akira ...

The Dream of Russia (1992)

Sumptuous filming of the journey of a shipwrecked Japanese expedition from the Pacific Ocean across Siberia to the court of Catherine the Great of Russia. A Russo-Japanese co-production of a unique event in history which was the hit of Cannes and other fil ...

Minbo, or The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1992)

An upscale Japanese hotel hires Mahiru Inoue, a lawyer adept at dealing with the Yakuza, to help them rid their hotel of the local gangsters so they can get a contract for a meeting of important foreign officials. ...

Big Boobs Buster 2: Adventure Summer (1990)

Sequel to 'Big Boobs Buster' ...

A Paucity of Flying Dreams (1990)

A man in a hospital starts having a sexual conversation with a woman he cannot see. After that, they keep meeting, and something about her keeps changing. ...

Monster Heaven: Ghost Hero (1990)

A major electronics company on the verge of developing technology to create a 3D image that can be physically handled is thrown into turmoil when a murderous demon is unleashed in the headquarters office. Can the slow witted son of the company founder and ...

Buddies (1989)

Based on a celebrated book by Kuniko Mukoda, this film directed by Yasuo Furuhata tells of a close friendship undone by love. ...

Sweet Home (1989)

Working on a documentary about infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro, a TV crew filming at his old home come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife. ...

Pretty Body: Frankenstein's Love (1988)

Izumi has moved to an apartment near the shore. Dr. Takasaki's and his assistant Kyouko also lives near by. They became friends to each others. One day, Izumi enters Takasaki's laboratory during his absence, and she meets a monster, then, falls in love wit ...

Tomorrow (1988)

On August 9, 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. This film, based on a story by Mitsukaru Inoue, describes the daily life of people in Nagasaki the day before that fateful event. It presents the human drama of people's lives, and their ...

Evil Dead Trap (1988)

A talk show hostess takes a camera crew out to an abandoned factory to investigate a purported snuff film that was made there. As she gets closer to the truth, she and her friends are subjected to a brutal nightmare. ...

A Taxing Woman's Return (1988)

Ryōko Itakura returns as the tough-as-nails government taxing agent. This time she must figure out a way to expose a fanatical religious cult lead by a corrupt sociopath. ...

Makeup (1987)

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The Gentlemen’s Alliance (1986)

Etsuko, a female college student, tries to beat the con artists at their own game after she gets scammed one after another. ...

Baby Elephant Story: The angel who descended to earth (1986)

In the winter of 1945, Sakura the elephant gave birth to a baby elephant at Tokyo Fujimi Zoo under the watchful eye of the zookeeper Shota Tanabe. Around the same time, Shota's wife, Setsuko, also gave birth to a son. Hanako, the baby elephant, grows up wh ...

Atami Murder Case (1986)

Chief Detective KIMURA Denbei, fondly referred to as Smoky Denbei, is a legendary figure at the Metropolitan Police Department. Transferred to Denbei's Criminal Investigation Division 1, Detective KUMADA Tomekichi arrives from the Toyama Prefectural Police ...

Congratulatory Speech (1985)

Love Letter (1985)

A drama depicting the conflict between a man that ran to an old lover suffering from advanced leukemia, his wife and child that were left behind, and the friendship that develops between his wife and his former lover. ...

The Second Is a Christian (1985)

The story of beautiful Christian nun, Kyoko who is the object of affection for two very different men - one the happy-go-lucky yakuza gangster, Haruhiko who is the next-in-line to takeover the ragtag "Tenryu Gumi" gang and the other bumbling police detecti ...

I Go to Tokyo (1985)

A young man working as a cameraman in Tokyo is visited for three days by his parents from the countryside. ...

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985)

A shady music mogul brings together two wannabe stars—punk rock rebel Kan and new-wave crooner Shingo—and transforms them into the Stardust Brothers, a girl-friendly, silver-jumpsuited, synth-pop sensation. Along with their #1 fan, who herself dreams o ...

Big Magnum Kuroiwa (1985)

Kuroiwa, a high school teacher who carries a "Big Magnum 44" gun is sent to a school that is full of violence. Can Kuroiwa reform the students with the gun? ...

Shanghai Rhapsody (1984)

Set in the 1930s in the international city of Shanghai, the film follows the extravagant life and times of a group of jazz musicians, living from one advance paycheck to the next, as the country teeters over the brink into the Second Sino-Japanese War. ...

Jugyo Sankan no Onna (1984)

One spring, Tasaka, an elementary school teacher, receives a new class of first graders. While taking the children's attendance, Tasaka is surprised to see a call girl he once had an encounter with standing among the parents in the back of the classroom. A ...

Dansen (1983)

Based on crime fiction novel written by Seicho Matsumoto. ...

Choji Snack Bar (1983)

Eiji lives a quiet life running a small Izakaya with his wife. He spends his days cooking for and serving the lively residents of his small hometown. ...

Tsumiki kuzushi (1983)

A conflict between parents and their delinquent daughter. ...

Nozoki (1983)

An old married couple with bedroom problems become upset over the sexual antics of their daughter and a visiting randy couple. But then the part-time lovers of the couple show up and complications ensue. ...

Sexual Crime (1983)

Three people whose lives have taken a turn for the worse retreat into a world of erotic dreams made flesh in this drama from director Sai Yoichi. An executive with a large industrial corporation finds his job and his future is on the line when his firm is ...

Detective Story (1983)

A private detective and a college student find themselves in hot water while investigating the murder of a night club owner. ...

Summer Secrets (1982)

Two high school girls get mixed up in murder while investigating the disappearance of a classmate. ...

Goyou Sen Enjou (1982)

Tasogare ni hyōteki o ute (1982)

Angel Guts: Red Porno (1981)

Nami is a department store worker who agrees to stand in for a friend in a magazine photo shoot, which turns out to be for an S&M magazine. ...

Flame of Father and Son (1981)

Yokomizo, a police officer in the traffic police force, is looking forward to watching his son Kazuhiko grow up. However, Kazuhiko rebels against his perfectionist father and turns to delinquency. Kazuhiko teams up with his bad friend Teshima to rob 300 mi ...

Lonely Heart (1981)

A police procedural surrounding murder at a bookstore and the private lives of the cops trying to solve the case. ...

Love Letter (1981)

Yuko is in love with an old poet who happens to be also a married man. She waits patiently for him and only him, yet she is constantly being lust by others. ...

Samurai Reincarnation (1981)

After surviving the slaughter of many Christians 350 years ago, a samurai denounces God for ignoring the pleas of believers. He sells his soul to Satan and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him in a murderous rampage. ...

Female Teacher: Dirty Afternoon (1981)

A teacher, Sakiko Kurata, receives a phone call regarding one of her former students. Young Sueko is accused of being a prostitute and has requested Sakiko's help. This minx seduces random strangers for sex, but does not ask for payment. Sakiko has moved t ...

The Bear Storm (1980)

An adaptation of Akira Yoshimura's original suspense novel starring Rentaro Mikuni. 4th year of the Taishō era. About 15 families who moved in search of agricultural land to the land of the pioneers in Hokkaido led a peaceful life. One day, one of the pio ...

The Detective Journey (1980)

A comedy directed by Mitsumasa Saito about a pair of clumsy detectives who solve a case they become involved in by chance. Shosuke Ikashima and Ryuji Kabaya, who repeatedly screw things up, encounter a real robbery during a bank robbery simulation training ...

Dreamy Fifteen (1980)

Aspiring to be admitted to a good university and to become a lawyer, Tasiro Yuusuke, a tenth-grader from Kyushu, enrolls in a prestigious high school in Tokyo. Plans are made for him to live in his uncle's house, part of which is rented out while his uncle ...

Uno Kôichirô no Kai kurabe (1980)

Nikkatsu Roman Porno ...

Path of the Beast (1980)

17 year old Saki lives in a run-down shack with her mom, who survives by pushing a food cart from dawn to dusk. Saki has dropped out of school, and when she's not helping her mother selling noodles in the streets, she's playing flesh-games with boyfriend S ...

Star of David: Beauty Hunting (1979)

The life of Tatsuya, a young man of proper yet mysterious descent, whose outward respectability hides his urges for rape and torture. ...

A 5,000 Kilometer Run under The Scorching Sun (1979)

Ninth movie in the Torakku Yarō series. Momojiro travels to Nagano to take Jonathan's place driving logging freight through the mountains. There he meets the wild and beautiful Natsu. ...

The Rivals (1979)

Dog of Fortune (1979)

From Hokkaido to Tokyo, hunting dog Goro embarks on a long and grueling journey to reach home. With the loss of his master who held a secret to a weapons smuggling case and the corruptions of those who are involved, Goro's adventure unfolds. ...

Marital War in Kibogaoka (1979)

1979 Nikkatsu Roman Porno film. Senkichi, a middle-aged salaryman, started to feel lonely just by repaying a mortgage. This black humor Roman Porno depicts him with a subtle touch as he tries to gain sex freedom from his wife. Based on a novella by Akio ...

The House of Hanging (1979)

This time, Kousuke investigates a murder in a hospital. The murderer leaves misleading evidence to divert Kousuke's attention on the case. Suspicion and doubt clouds Kousuke's mind. ...

No Grave for Us (1979)

A plot to steal money from gangsters leads to trouble... ...

The Woman with Red Hair (1979)

Junko Miyashita plays a mysterious hitchhiker picked up by a brute of a construction worker named Kenzo who takes her back to his run-down and cramped apartment in a not so good part of town. Claiming that she is running away from an abusive husband, she s ...

Devil's Flute (1979)

Famous detective Kindaichi solves a series of mysterious murders in a wealthy family. An excellent blend of intrigue and betrayal, set against the backdrop of wealth, this film is loaded with twists and turns and surprises at every corner. ...

The Demon (1978)

When Sokichi stops providing his long-time lover Kikuyo enough money to pay for the care of their three young children, Kikuyo leaves the children with Sokichi - and his very surprised and angry wife Oume - and disappears. ...

Young Beast: Secret Pleasures (1978)

Yasuji Hajima runs a butcher shop. When he was younger, he was just as interested in the sex as the next man but lately he has a hard time satisfying his wife who is still oversexed at her age. The Hajimas have one son, Shuichi, who is studying to enter To ...

Message from Space (1978)

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipi ...

Teacher Deer (1978)

Mejika, reputed for her iron discipline, is hired as a biology teacher at a renowned high school. But her provocative attitude starts to worry the school's administration as she reveals vice and corruption that are running rampant in the school. ...

Island of Hell (1977)

A scruffy detective investigates the murders of three sisters on a small Japanese island in 1946. ...

Yumeno Kyusaku's Girl Hell (1977)

Utae and Aiko attend an all-girl private school where the devoutly religious principal seems to be raping some of the students, including Utae. ...

Curse of the Dog God (1977)

A trio of young scientists investigate a source of uranium at the base of a sacred mountain, and after running over a dog, find themselves cursed by the locals. ...

Dan-no-ura Night (1977)

Taken out of the pages of history itself, this is the story of the sizzling love between Kenreimon-in of the Taira Clan and Yoshitsuné of the Minamoto Clan. When the Taira Clan had met ignominious defeat at the hands of Yoshitsuné, Kenreimon-in had jumpe ...

The Japanese Belly Button (1977)

Helen and her associates stage a confession play in order to remedy stuttering, but things go amiss. ...

The Inugami Family (1976)

When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood. ...

Kyukei no Koya (1975)

A film adaptation of Seicho Matsumoto's novel of the same title, starring Muga Takewaki and Yoko Shimada. Set in Japan at the end of the war, the film depicts the fate of a diplomat who abandoned his country, his wife and children, and risked everything to ...

Bôkenshatachi (1975)

A group of young men go treasure hunting in the sea. ...

Great Jailbreak (1975)

A group of prisoners attempts to break the Abashiri prison. This film can be considered a sequel to the Abashiri Bangaichi series, written and directed by Ishii Teruo. The friendship between two men on death row, a fleeting love affair with a traveling da ...

Graveyard of Honor (1975)

A self-destructive man becomes a powerful member of the yakuza but quickly loses his self-control. Based on the true story of Rikio Ishikawa. ...

Fighting Dragon (1975)

Lung Yen Fei returns from Japan to investigate the cause of his teachers' death. ...

The Black Battlefront Kidnappers (1973)

A taut, economical policier-cum-gang-hostage thriller. ...

Graveyard of Masks (1973)

In a struggling small theater troupe, director Inuo pressures an actor to perform a death role with extreme intensity, resulting in a fatal accident. Despite the tragedy, Inuo attempts to proceed with the scheduled performance. Legendary underground theate ...

Music (1972)

A young woman undergoes psychiatric treatment after she no longer hears music and develops sexual hang-ups. ...

Outlaw Killers: Three Mad Dog Brothers (1972)

The great Bunta stars as a gangster who is sent to jail for the sake of his gang, but when he's released he finds everything completely changed and his gang has swept him aside for being too violent. ...

Street Mobster (1972)

After serving time, a defiant street thug is incensed to find his town overrun by two yakuza factions. He gathers his crew and takes them on. ...

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)

A war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-six years after ...

Shiosai (1971)

Lonely youth Shinji meets Hatsue, a pretty pearl diver, on the beach and the two fall in love. But Shinji has a rival for Hatsue's affections, Yasuo. Yasuo spreads unpleasant gossip about his rival, and Hatsue's father forbids her to see Shinji. But when t ...

Kigeki: Onna ikitemasu (1971)

Comedy centered on a stripper agency ...

Dodes'ka-den (1970)

On a Tokyo dump's shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who "drives" an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindne ...

Song of the Horse (1970)

Akira Kurosawa's only television work—a lyrical documentary that follows a thoroughbred from birth and training to the Japan Derby—framed by a grandfather's narration to his grandson about the fading bond between people and horses. ...

A Thousand and One Nights (1969)

Aldin, a vagabond water vendor, embarks of a series of fantastical and tragic misadventures through the Middle East in search of love, fortune, and power. ...