Wakaba Irie

Labyrinth of Cinema (2020)

When lightning strikes a theater about to close its doors, three moviegoers are thrust back in time to the world inside the screen. ...

Hanagatami (2017)

Spring, 1941. Sixteen-year-old Toshihiko attends school in the coastal town of Karatsu, where his aunt cares for his ailing cousin. Immersed in the seaside's nature and culture, Toshihiko soon befriends the town's other extraordinary adolescents as they al ...

Soup Opera (2010)

Sakai plays Rui, a 35-year-old single woman forced to live alone after the aunt who raised her suddenly decides to get married and move out. Through an unexpected set of circumstances, she winds up becoming roommates with an aging ladies' man named Tony an ...

Kekkon shiyou yo (2008)

Switching – Goodbye Me (2007)

After his parent's divorce, Kazuo Saito moves with his mother from Onomichi and must leave his girlfriend behind. At his new school, Kazuo is surprised to reunite with his childhood friend Kazumi. ...

Glory to the Filmmaker! (2007)

Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he's a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project. ...

The Motive (2004)

Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family. ...

A Boy's Summer in 1945 (2002)

Commencing well-respected Nippon director Kazuo Kuroki's sixth decade behind the camera, "A Boy's Summer in 1945" (literally "A Beautiful Summer in Kirishima") is a lyric, novelistic drama set in the countryside in the last days before Japan's surrender en ...

The Stupid Teacher (2000)

Film director Mario Baba meets a mysterious gentleman, and realizes he is a important man from his boyhood. The two chase each other around, causing a lot of commotion. ...

One Summer's Day (1999)

Veteran filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi rounds out the second of his two trilogies about his hometown of Onomichi with this film about the budding relationship between a young lad and an eccentric old man. Fifth-grader Yuta (Takuro Atsugi) is a typical city ch ...

The Washing Machine (1999)

Kizaki, who moved to Tokyo from the Kansai region to become a manga artist, is assigned to work at a used electrical appliance store where he works part-time as a store keeper and repairman. One day, a woman comes to the store drenched from the rain. She i ...

I Want to Hear the Wind's Song (1998)

A heartwarming, based-on-true-story of how a hearing-impaired couple, Masahiro and Namiko, knew each other, got married and began participating in the Triathlon. The story is told in flashbacks as Namiko awaits childbirth. ...

Sada (1998)

The film follows the life of Sada Abe, who became a celebrity in 1936 after strangling her lover and slicing off his penis. ...

Secret Liaisons (1995)

Movie adaptation of a novel by Rampo Edogawa. ...

Goodbye for Tomorrow (1995)

People from all walks of life all receive mysterious messages from loved ones who were killed 3 months earlier in a shipwreck. They are instructed to go to a small island in the Inland Sea that evening. ...

Turning Point (1994)

A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials. ...

A Touch of Fever (1993)

Tatsuru and Shinichiro's relationship shifts from casual to complicated as love and emotions blur the lines between their work and personal lives. ...

Haruka, Nostalgia (1993)

Ayase Shinsuke, a popular writer of a series of girl novels, visits Otaru, the town he grew up in. He meets a strange boy who calls himself by the author's real name. ...

The Rocking Horsemen (1992)

It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life i ...

A Desirable Marriage (1991)

A human drama on the state of marriage today, following the battle between a mother and daughter over her marriage and humorous depictions of the people around them. When Mieko's husband passes away, she hopes to arrange a good marriage for her daughter No ...

Chizuko's Younger Sister (1991)

The Kitao family is coping with the loss of the eldest daughter, Chizuko, who was killed in a freak accident the year prior. When the other daughter Mika is suddenly in a dangerous situation, Chizuko returns as a ghost to save her; reunited with her sister ...

Love of Sawako (1990)

Sawako, working in a bank, tired of the usual everyday life, once she met the chef of French cuisine Yukio Goto and spent the night with him. Sawako pretends to be the daughter of an upscale hotel owner and has an affair with Yukio. ...

Beijing Watermelon (1989)

Shunzo is a popular greengrocer in a town near Tokyo. His life, and the lives of his wife Michi, and their two children, undergoes a dramatic change when he encounters Li, a poor college student from China. ...

My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1988)

A young woman moves in with her estranged father after her mother passes away. ...

The Discarnates (1988)

A recently divorced writer is reunited with the ghosts of his parents who died when he was a boy. However, every time he sees them he loses more life energy. Now, he must choose between starting a new life or staying forever in the past. ...

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 ...

Shiro and Marilyn (1988)

Based on a true story. Shiro, a dog who lives in an inn on Akajima in Okinawa, swims to the opposite shore on Zamami to see his love, a dog named Marilyn. Shiro is portrayed by the real-life Shiro. ...

Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast (1986)

During the fervently nationalist months leading up to World War II, a rebellious teenager is transferred to a new primary school in a small Inland Sea town. He vies with the school's reigning bully, who takes a romantic interest in his older stepsister. Wh ...

April Fish (1986)

A Francophile filmmaker in a creative rut tries to pass off a free-spirited young actress as his movie-star wife in order to fool a chief from the South Seas. ...

His Motorbike, Her Island (1986)

Ko, a motorbike enthusiast from the city wandering the Japanese countryside, falls for the carefree local Miyo and teaches her how to ride. When Miyo proves herself a biker prodigy, Ko begins to fear she's destined to crash. ...

Four Sisters (1985)

Four sisters with no consanguinity are living together since childhood. When facing misfortune and grievances in lives, they give support and encouragement to each other, even sacrifice oneself to help others. ...

Mattemashita tenkousei! (1985)

The son of wandering actors, also a budding actor, little Akira is forced to change school often and, after having attended thirty-two different institutes, he now has tried-and-true strategies to avoid bullies and not have problems with various schoolmate ...

Lonely Heart (1985)

Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real? ...

The Island Closest to Heaven (1984)

A Japanese teenager travels to New Caledonia in search of the fabled "island closest to heaven" that her late father had told her about. ...

Ningyo Sashichi: The Cat’s Golden Claws of Death (1984)

Sashichi is a dapper and handsome man. He is called a doll Sashichi because he is "a nice man like a doll." On top of that, he is a considerable young boss. This is a story in that Kanda solves the murder spree in Edo where a famous boss of Otamaga pond, S ...

The Deserted City (1984)

After noticing in the news there was a fire in an old canal town, Eguchi recalls visiting there a decade ago as a university student. ...

Legend of the Cat Monster (1983)

A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter is tasked with writing her comeback film, which leads the two to live under the same roof. ...

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1983)

Kazuko Yoshiyama is a third-year junior-high-school student. One day, while cleaning the lab, she smells lavender and faints. From then on, she has the power to travel through time. ...

Zokubutsu zukan (1982)

I Are You, You Am Me (1982)

9th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the ...

Barefoot Gen Part 3: Battle of Hiroshima (1980)

Second live action "Barefoot Gen" sequel. ...

The Domain: White Blade (1967)

The Domain: White Blade ...

Sazen Tange and The Secret of the Urn (1966)

Loyal samurai Samanosuke is attacked, mutilated, and left for dead while carrying out a mission for his clan. He recovers but has lost an eye and an arm. Taking a new identity as Tange Sazen, he searches for a stolen urn which has hidden significance to hi ...

Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro (1965)

The fifth and final installment with the build up of the epic battle between Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi. With all the familiar characters making appearances: Otsu (Musashi's great love), Akemi, Matahachi (his former fellow soldier), old lady Osugi ...

Three Yakuza (1965)

A tale of three Yakuza gamblers who traveled Japan during the samurai era living by their wits and sword skills. Told in 3 separate vignettes, each part tells the story of a different drifter's life. Part 1: A man is on the run after killing two Hasshu Off ...

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan (1965)

Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money. ...

The Third Contest (1965)

Mondonosuke, a young sword student, has a bad dream about his sensei being killed in a duel.Consequently, he quickly returns to his sensei's dojo in Edo, where he has not set foot in three years. ...

The Domain: The Naniwa Story (1965)

Second film of Makino's Nihon Kyokakuden series set in Osaka's harbor. The series also known as "The Domain" Each a stand alone film in it's own, none are connected other than starring the famous Ken Takakura as the main Character. This story begins with K ...

Black Thief (1964)

Organized thieves battle against the Shogun's ruthless ruling in attempt to get back their land. ...

Giant Rumble (1964)

In this gritty tale of gamblers battling in the samurai era, Okawa Hashizo gives perhaps his greatest performance as a gambler returning to his home town. Swearing allegiance to his fiancée's father, a decent boss, he had taken to the road after a gang fi ...

Jakoman and Tetsu (1964)

In a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts. ...

The Lord's spy (1964)

Maeda Tsunanori, the lord of Kaga Domain, had two young princes - Katsumaru, the son of his legitimate wife, who died, and Yasunosuke, the son of his concubine. However, Katsumaru suddenly lost his mind and appealed to the shogunate to hand over the reins ...

Miyamoto Musashi IV: The Duel at Ichijo-ji Temple (1964)

In the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the functionaries of a treac ...

The Coin Thrower Zenigata (1963)

The film tells about a young detective Zenigata Heiji who successfully solves a disgusting and unusual case involving the manufacture of counterfeit money. ...

Young Master Yakuza: Edoite Goblin (1963)

Miyamoto Musashi III: Birth of Two Sword Style (1963)

In the third installment of Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, things continue from the 2nd film at the end of battle, where Miyamoto continues on a mission of learning; with the introduction of his arch-rival Sasaki Kojiro; and lastly the large cast of characters ...

Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights (1962)

The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete ...

Miyamoto Musashi (1961)

In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the hist ...