Go Takamine’s first theatrical feature is a pioneering work of Okinawan cinema, filmed almost entirely in Okinawan dialect. Taking place shortly before the resumption of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa, Takamine’s film tacitly addresses the island prefecture’s complicated history of occupation and feelings of dislocation through the story of a small community and its preparations for a wedding between a local girl and a Japanese teacher. On the periphery of these events is Reishu (Kaoru Kobayashi), who quits his job on a US military base and uses the extra time to catch snakes and play with ants – and get the bride-to-be pregnant. Takamine’s leisurely-paced film is full of uniquely Okinawan touches that mix in aspects of the island’s folklore, accompanied by Haruomi Hosono’s spare and evocative score.
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Joshua Then and Now
Based on a novel by Mordecai Richler, allegedly his autobiography, it tells the story of a Jewish writer, from his life as a young boy in Montreal to his more complicated grown-up life.
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Chocky’s Children
A year has passed since Matthew said goodbye to his alien friend, and in the summer holidays he meets Albertine, a mathematical prodigy, with whom he discovers he can communicate telepathically. One day Chocky returns to warn Matthew that they are both in danger. When he returns to tell Albertine, he finds she has disappeared.
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Onnanam Kunnil Oradi Kunnil
Nithin and Anand, two jobless youths, try various tricks to impress women and get caught in hilarious situations.
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Midarana nikutai: Seikan jigoku
Yakumaru is researching an aphrodisiac to cure his impotence. He happens to meet Mitsuko, who also has an impotent husband, and Yakumaru gives Mitsuko the medicine he is researching. The next day, the two meet again to hear the results, but Mitsuko seems strange. Mitsuko, who was frustrated that her husband did not cooperate and did not take her medicine, ended up taking the medicine herself.
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The Flying Mr. B
A professor accidentally creates a pill that essentially makes him Superman. Soon everybody, from a soccer team to a gang boss, wants those pills and the clever complications compound until it’s up to a fast-thinking “Super Girl” to save the day.
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Joshidai-ryô: SEX Nozoki shokku
One day, Reiko, a female college student who aims to be active in the world of mass media, is asked to investigate the actual situation regarding sex among female college students. Reiko infiltrates the girls’ dormitory, but as soon as she moves in, Kyoko, who manages her dormitory, forces her to attend a party on Saturday night…
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Plenty
David Hare’s account of a one-time French freedom fighter who gradually realizes that her post-war life is not meeting her expectations.
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Killzone
A troubled Vietnam vet snaps during a training exercise at a survivalist-type military camp and thinks he’s back in Vietnam. He kills several of the staff members who he thinks are Vietcong. The other participants set out to track him down and capture him before he hurts or kills anyone else. However, the camp’s owner, who knows he’ll be in trouble if word of this incident gets out, has no intention of capturing the man; he plans on killing him.