The best Hiroshi Yamamoto’s drama movies

While combing through the belongings of his recently deceased aunt, Matsuko, nephew Sho pieces together the crucial events that sank Matsuko's life into a despairing tragedy.

An anthology of three short films by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-ho, each of whom offers an imaginative and trans-/super-natural glimpse into the Tokyo Megalopolis.

A young girl is sold into the red-light district Yoshiwara and is put under the care of the oiran (lead prostitute) of the Tamakiku house. The girl is rebellious, but the more experienced people in the household begin to think that she will be one day a great oiran, since an oiran needs not only beauty and talent, but she should also have the tenacity to maintain the position.

Shigemori is a lawyer tasked with defending Misumi in a murder trial. Misumi has previous convictions for murder and has confessed to the crime, but evidence in the case leads to Shigemori having doubts about what really happened.

On board at the boat Kanikosen, where fish and crabs preserves, forced workers to work under miserable conditions, with minimum wages. Some can not cope with conditions and even death from malnutrition, and is also the supervisor of the more vicious variety. Shinjo, one of the employees, trying to convince the others that they will get good luck and fortune in his next life, and persuades them because they commit suicide to get there faster. It ends, however, in a single major failure. Rather than flee Shinjo being picked up by a Russian ship. Once there, he is overwhelmed by the social conditions that are completely different from those he has just left and decided therefore to return to Kanikosen to save their employees.

The movie is centered around five friends as they end up spending the summer of 1962 shackled up together in a tiny studio apartment in Tokyo. The five friends are Eisuke - the manga artist, Shoichi - the singer, Ryuzo - the novelist, Kei - the painter and Yuji – the 5th wheel (?). The friends spend the summer in pursuit of their own ideals of personal freedom - being able to do what they want. In the process of pursuing their dream they learn firsthand that however ideal it may seem, its not as easy as they think.

A young man fights for his freedom after he is accused of groping a girl on train.

Real estate company employee Komachi and steelworks heir Kodama are both train aficionados. Their hobby proves useful for their burgeoning careers, but their romantic fortunes do not go as smoothly. Will the awkward Kodama and the indecisive Komachi find the loves of their lives?

In the final days of World War II, occupying Japanese forces in the Philippines face resistance from the local population and the American offensive. The dwindling Japanese soldiers attempt to survive through the horrors of war.

Traumatic incidents, conflicts, and bloody quarrels awaiting the Wago family members who return home to bury their parents. A one-horse town in central Japan does not look like the kind of place where passions would flare. The eccentric and selfish Sumika, who lives in Tokyo and wants to be an actress, arrives for the funeral of her parents, who have tragically died. Her younger sister Kiyomi, a talented cartoonist, is overtly afraid of her, and her stepbrother, Shinji, who has married an orphan named Machiko, is nervous and guarded around her. Each member of this dysfunctional family tries to find the meaning of life and love in their own way – but will they succeed? Shades of black humour mingle in the dialogues and actions of the individual characters; the drama of the past and conflicts of the present come to life in the comics caricatures, uncovering a bloody family strife and a collision of self-love.

Akiko, a young woman, comes to Vladivostok to meet Matsunaga, a young businessman she has met in Tokyo only once. Akiko finally finds Matsunaga. However, he leaves her again, warning her not to trust strangers in a foreign country. She tries to follow him, but she is attacked by thugs and dumped on the outskirts of town.

Akemi is unable to get over the death of his girlfriend, but a book leads to his encounter with Akane, a woman with a wonderful smile. He gradually falls for Akane, who soothes him with her positive outlook and cheerful disposition, but Akane has a boyfriend who has a limited amount of time left to live.

Shota Iwamatsu is a young man, who dreams of becoming an actor. He teaches stage play at a nursing home for the elderly. Due to an incident, he flees with Takara Yamashita, who also works at the same nursing home.

In Spring 1969, 21-year-old Megumi Yoshizumi goes to Wakamatsu Production. The company makes films popular with young people. Pink film director Koji Wakamatsu gathers there with young talented people who are all fascinated with movie making. When they are not making movies, they spend their time smoking, drinking alcohol, scouting for actresses and looking for material for their next film. When filming begins, everybody immerses themselves into the production and will do everything on the filming set from running, shouting to acting.

Newly divorced Naoko returns to her hometown to work at beauty salon Permanent Nobara, which is run by her mother. Permanent Nobara is situated in a small village by the sea and the only beauty salon in the area. The women from the village go to Permanent Nobara to talk about their love lives and troubles. Masako loves her husband, but her husband cheats on her. Tomo keeps dating other men, but is betrayed by the guys she dates. The other women tell Tomo that "it's better than not dating." Meanwhile, Naoko, who has returned to to her hometown with her daughter, begins a relationship with Kashima. Mr. Kashima is Naoko's first love and her high school teacher. They share a secret ....

The film begins in the present, with its heroine, Kaoru, a grown-up woman working as a real-estate agent, while helping out the folksy proprietor of a neighborhood fishing pond. There she meets a shy girl who needs her help baiting a hook and reminds her of herself in the fourth grade.

Twenty years have passed since the sudden disappearance of Amy, who was the femme fatale in her film studies group. Something that Naoko said triggers emotions that were frozen in time for the group's members, who see each other for the first time after a long absence: Asada Iida,Naoko,Okamoto,Miho,Goto and Kizuka.