5 Movies Starring Hidetaka Yoshioka

The Sea Is Watching

The Sea Is Watching

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2002-07-27

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

119 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (1337 Reviews)

Director:

Kei Kumai

Genres:

RomanceDrama

Cast:

Writer:

Kei Kumai (screenplay)

Akira Kurosawa (original screenplay)

Shègorè Yamamoto (novels)

Fullplot:

19th century. Oshin is a prostitute in a brothel of a red-light district. A disgraced samurai, Fusanosuke, rushes in the brothel seeking for a refuge, because he had wounded a powerful samurai. Oshin hides him from the authorities and falls in love with him, against an older prostitute's, Kikuno's, misgiving. Fusanosuke advises Oshin to cleanse herself by giving up her line of work. Believing falsely that this is a promise for marriage, she turns her customers over to the other prostitutes, who are happy to help her. Funasukoke leaves to be reconciled to his family, but, when he returns, he reveals that he is engaged and is going to marry his fiancè. Some time later a desperate itinerant, Ryosuke, appears and Oshin falls in love again. Meanwhile, an older man asks Kikuno to buy her contract and marry her, but she is entangled with an old abusive customer of hers. One night, while the madam of the brothel is away to thermal baths, a storm hits the area and everybody tries to flee. Ryosuke kills Kikuno's customer who tries to steal madam's money and runs away. Oshin and Kikuno stay at the roof hoping for a rescue from the flood. Ryosuke returns by a boat.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-11-20

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

91 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (7237 Reviews)

Director:

Makoto Shinkai

Cast:

Writer:

Makoto Shinkai (story)

Makoto Shinkai (screenplay)

Steven Foster (adaptation)

Fullplot:

The story takes place in a alternate postwar period, in 1996, where Japan is divided. Hokkaido is ruled by the "Union" while Honshu and other southern islands are under US authority. A tall tower was built on Hokkaido, which could even be seen from Tokyo. In the summer of 1996, three middle-school students make a promise that they'll cross the border with a self-constructed plane and unravel the tower's secret, but their project was abandoned after the girl, Sayuri Sawatari, became mysteriously ill and transferred to Tokyo. Years later on the brink of another war Hiroki Fujisawa finds out that Sayuri had been in coma since then, and he asks Takuya Shirakawa to help him finding a way to wake her up.

The Hidden Blade

The Hidden Blade

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-10-30

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

132 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (4468 Reviews)

Director:

Yèji Yamada

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Yèji Yamada (screenplay)

Yoshitaka Asama (screenplay)

Shèhei Fujisawa (short stories "Kakushi ken oni no tsume" and "Yuki akari")

Fullplot:

During the time of change of the mid-19th Century, Yaichiro is bid farewell by his fellow samurai friends Munezo and Samon as he leaves their clan's fiefdom on the northwest coast of Japan (Unasaka) to take an important position within the shogunate in far away Edo. Munezo has lived modestly with his mother and sister Shino after his father was forced into suicide after the failure of a bridge project. Kie, a farm girl serves them as a maid in their house. As time passes, Munezo's sister marries Samon, his mother dies, Kie is married into a merchant family, and he is required to learn western methods of warfare such as the use of artillery and firearms from an official sent from Edo. Learning that Kie is ill due to abuse, he rescues her from her husband's family. Although sharing mutual affection and respect, a marriage between Munezo and Kie is still impossible due to different castes, and when he, now a bachelor, is criticized for her serving in his house, Munezo sends her back to her father's farm. After being caught in a failed political intrigue, Yaichiro is sent home in disgrace and imprisoned in solitary confinement. After Yaichiro escapes, Munezo is ordered to prove his innocence from complicity by killing his old friend, and he seeks the help of his old teacher, the sword master Kansai Toda. Although Yaichiro had been the better swordsman when they studied together, Toda entrusted the secret of the "Hidden Blade" only to Munezo. Toda now teaches him a new technique to use as he prepares to face Yaichiro, who has taken hostages in a farm house.

Always - Sunset on Third Street

Always - Sunset on Third Street

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-11-05

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

133 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (1565 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaFamily

Cast:

Writer:

Ryèhei Saigan (comic)

Takashi Yamazaki (screenplay)

Ryèta Kosawa (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Leaving her provincial home, teenage Mutsuko arrives in Tokyo by train to take a job in a major automotive company but finds that she is employed by a small auto repair shop owned by Norifumi Suzuki. Suzuki's hair-trigger temper is held somewhat in check by the motherly instincts of his wife, Tomoe, and his young son Ippei immediately bonds with Mutsuko as if she were his older sister. The Suzuki shop lies almost in the shadow of the Tokyo Tower as it rises steadily above the skyline during construction in 1958. Others in the neighborhood also are striving to better themselves as Japan continues to emerge from the shadow of war. Hiromi has just abandoned her shady life as a dancer to start a sake bar. Abandoned by his single mother, young Junnosuke is first handed off to Hiromi but she passes him off to Ryunosuke Chagawa, a struggling writer who runs a candy shop and only manages to sell adventure stories for boys as his serious novels continue to be rejected. Junnosuke is an avid reader of Chagawa's stories and begins to idolize him upon learning about his authorship. Junnosuke also writes stories, and makes friends with Ippei and others when they discover his tales that show Japan in the hi-tech future of the 21st century.

The Professor and His Beloved Equation

The Professor and His Beloved Equation

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-01-21

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

117 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.5 (489 Reviews)

Director:

Takashi Koizumi

Cast:

Writer:

Takashi Koizumi (screenplay)

Yoko Ogawa (novel)

Fullplot:

This is the story between single mother housekeeper and mathematics professor,who has a brain damage.

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