Saki Takaoka

Ravens (2024)

Enigmatic, rejected, heartbroken. Masahisa Fukase must rebuild his life, overcome tradition, his inner demons and the pain of a broken marriage. The fascinating love story of the iconic Japanese photographer, his wife, his art and his family told for the v ...

A Day Begins (2024)

In Love and Deep Water (2023)

On a massive luxury cruise ship while at sea, the loyal butler and a mysterious woman cross paths as they try to uncover a murder-mystery that occurs on the ship. ...

Just Remembering (2022)

A former couple remembers their most intimate days, only to part once again. A bittersweet love story inspired by a Jim Jarmusch masterpiece, set in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

Masquerade Night (2021)

An anonymous letter is delivered to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The letter states that a criminal of a murder case will appear at the countdown party Masquerade Night that will be held at Hotel Cortesia Tokyo. Detective Kosuke Nitta must go u ...

Rika - Jisho 28 Sai no Junai Monster (2021)

A dead body in a suitcase is found on a mountain. The body is identified as Takao Honma. 3 years ago, he was kidnapped by Rika Amamiya and went missing. Detective Jiro Okuyama tries to catch Rika Amamiya. He uses a dating app, while using a fake name, and ...

First Love (2021)

A university student has the usual dreams and aspirations. It turns out to be a pipe dream and so she murders her own flesh and blood. The usual media heads seek an answer in order to sell copy. A psychologist is writing a book about the character and inci ...

Snow Flower (2019)

A terminally ill girl, who dreams of going to Finland to see the northern lights, falls in love ...

The Lowlife (2017)

Based on a 2016 novel by Mana Sakura, "The Lowlife" shows the stories of three women who work in Japan's adult video industry. ...

Fuyu no Hi (2015)

Detective Katherine (2015)

Katherine Turner initially accompanied her father, Vice President of the United States, on his official trip to Japan but decided to stay longer to study the Japanese art of flower arrangement for her business back in the States. Yukio Hamaguchi, Minister ...

Taxi Driver's Mystery Diary 38 (2015)

A Courtesan with Flowered Skin (2014)

Japan around 1860: popular courtesan Asagiri will be freed soon from her service, yet she cannot imagine any other existence. Until one day at a local festival, Asagiri meets the young artisan Hanjiro by chance – an encounter that changes her destiny. Wi ...

Midnight Diner (2014)

A restaurant opens at midnight. Both the menu offerings and personality of the owner draw a series of flawed patrons including Tamako, whose boyfriend has passed away, live-in worker Michiru, and ruckus-raising Kenzo. ...

25 (2014)

Detectives Shintarou Sakurai (Sho Aikawa) and Koichi Hikage (Susumu Terajima) are partners. They are also corrupt and often blackmail criminal groups and seize their money. One day, the Chief of Police becomes aware that 2.5 million yen in seized money is ...

Monster (2013)

A woman has an ugly face. She has been called 'monster' since childhood. A case occurs in her town that leads to her being ejected and a relocation to Tokyo. She obtains plastic surgery and begins working as a prostitute. She makes some dough and extends t ...

The Housekeeper (2012)

Nobuko is a plain, unattractive woman with disheveled hair, and is hired as a housekeeper in the Inamura residence in Tokyo. The Inamuras are a family of six. The father, Tatsuya, is the head of a university hospital's department of internal medicine. He l ...

Love for Beginners (2012)

Hibino Tsubaki is a young teenage girl with a talent for styling other people's hair. Yet, Tsubaki suffers from low self-esteem and isn't very comfortable styling her own hair. She also has a tendency to dress old-fashioned. She's teased at high school bec ...

Lesson of the Evil: Prologue (2012)

Follows high school teacher Seiji Hasumi's background history and in the process depicts the horror inherent in daily life. ...

The Harimaya Bridge (2009)

The Harimaya Bridge is a drama about an American man who must travel to rural Japan to claim some important items belonging to his late son, from whom he was estranged. While there, he learns several secrets his son left behind. ...

Waiting for Good News (2009)

General store manager Akio (Tetsuji Tamayama) lives a carefree live in Okinawa with his dog, Kafu. One day he receives a strange letter from a woman named Sachi, but that's not any person he's familiar with. It turns out that the letter was a response to a ...

The Short Films: We Were All Once Children (2008)

A dream collaboration between five directors who represent the modern Japanese film industry! An omnibus work composed of five short films has been created. "The Short Films: We Were All Once Children." The theme that runs through the five short films is " ...

Echo of Silence (2008)

In a small town of Hokkaido, Yunni, Fusako Kurokawa (Saki Takaoka), lives a quiet life with her father. Life here is very simple, but it is good enough and she is happy enough. Days go on as usual. with some coincidence, she meets this man one day, Wataru ...

Samurai Gangsters (2008)

Jirocho (Kiichi Nakai), a fledgling bakuto who left his wife, goes on a year-long training with his minions: right-hand man and military master Ohmasa (Kishibe Ittoku); stinky priest Daigoro (Takashi Sasano); well-known stranger Ishimatsu Mori (Yoichi Nuku ...

Memo (2008)

Mayuko Motohashi is a high-school student in Tokyo. She suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessively writing down everything that crosses her mind. The anxiety happens so often, that she has to buy large amounts of note pads every few days at ...

Love on Sunday: Last Words (2007)

Nagisa, a high school girl who has been given three months to live. Without telling her widowed father where she is going, she sets out from the city to the small town where she was born. She recalls her childhood memories, and her love for Satoshi begins ...

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2007)

Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū's problems slowly escalate as he is pursued ...

Baian Fujieda the Assassin (2006)

An adaptation of the Shotaro Ikenami novels, set in the historical Edo period, and centered on Fujieda Bayan, a medicine man and doctor by day, but ruthless killer for hire by night. His tools of the trade are the same in either job: acupuncture needles th ...

Kanashiki Tenshi (2006)

The body of a 59-year-old male is found on the banks of a river. The stepson, Kazuo, confesses to his involvement but also implicates his estranged sister Nami. Two detectives, Okishima Keisuke and Kono Kaoru, then travel to the resort district of Beppu to ...

A Long Walk (2006)

A lonely retired girl's High School Principal who's lost his wife to alcoholism moves to an old apartment in a country town. There he forms a relationship with a neglected little neighborhood girl. ...

Seicho Matsumoto Special: Fingers (2006)

Fukue Yumiko is a struggling actress who isn't afraid to lie, cheat, or exploit her own sexuality if it means her own success. But as she becomes a big star, one TV reporter decides that it's time someone uncovered her dark past and reveal just how far she ...

Desire (2005)

Yokubo from director Tetsuo Shinohara is based off of the award-winning love story by Mariko Koike. A young man searching for physical comfort and dumb lust, and the world-weary woman drowning in a sea of men that works with him. This is a fantastic new fi ...

Wet Red Thread (2005)

Shigeru meets Ichimi at a club and they get involved. Her yakuza husband complicates matters. ...

Female (2005)

'Female' is comprised of five short films adapted from five novels by female authors. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo Shinohara, Ryuichi Hiroki, Miwa Nishikawa, and Suzuki Matsuo. ...

Love Is Five Seven Five (2005)

A haiku club comprised of five unlikely students aim to win the national high school haiku tournament. ...

Higuchi Ichiyo Monogatari (2004)

Higuchi Ichiyo is the first female professional novelist in Japanese literature. This tanpatsu drama is a biography of her personal life. ...

Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan: The Movie (2004)

8 short stories comprise this anthology movie, based on the Tales of Terror TV series. The segments are, in order: The Night Watchman (directed by Akio Yoshida), Wisps of Smoke (Kosuke Suzuki), Gloves (Hirohisa Sasaki), The Weight (Kosuke Suzuki), Full-Len ...

Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan Volume 2 (2004)

An anthology series based on stories collected throughout Japan, mainly by writers Hirokatsu Kihara and Ichiro Nakayama. ...

Young Thugs: Nostalgia (1998)

Nostalgia is Takashi Miike's favorite film of his considerable body of work. Including biographical elements, Nostalgia centers around the home and school of a young boy, whose family mix the violent and dysfunctional with the comic and the loveable. Thoug ...

Happy People (1997)

Japanese anthology follows the depressing lives of several people just trying to keep going in a nihilistic world. Movie version of Kosuke Suzuki's previous SOV movie by the same title. ...

Dance with Me (1996)

As a child, Kyoko learned latin dance from Jose, a Cuban-American serviceman stationed in Japan. Years later, Kyoko travels to New York to see Jose again. After much searching, she finds Jose, only to discover that he is dying of AIDS and no longer remembe ...

Ocean Waves (1995)

As a young man returns home after his first year away at college he recalls his senior year of high school and the iron-willed, big city girl that turned his world upside down. ...

Crest of Betrayal (1994)

Weaving two storylines together: the first is the story of 18th-century shogunate intrigue and loyalty, and the second is a ghost story about a beautiful woman who falls victim to passion and evil. ...

The River with No Bridge (1992)

A widow and her two sons, Seitaro and Koji, live in the small town of Komori, where Buraku people are forced to reside. The two boys are continuously harassed by their teachers and classmates through their childhood as a result of their Buraku heritage. ...

Swimming Upstream (1990)

One day after school, Kaoru glances at Sonoko at the pool side. He falls in love with her at first sight and decides to join the swimming team even though he cannot swim. ...

cf Girl (1989)

The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same title by Takashi Kitajima. ...

Megazone 23 III - Part 1 - The Awakening of Eve (1989)

Years after the events of Megazone 23 II, the only city on Earth is the supposedly idyllic Eden. There lives Eiji Takanaka, a B Level hacker who has just been accepted into EX, the organization that controls Eden. However, before his first day on the job, ...