Encyclopedia of a Drifter (1998)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo drive a red convertible across the Mojave desert to Las Vegas with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race. As their consumption of drugs increases at an alarming rate, the stoned duo trash their hotel room and fear legal repercussions. Duke begins to drive back to L.A., but after an odd run-in with a cop, he returns to Sin City and continues his wild drug binge.

Memoirs of a Geisha

In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

Night Swimming

A night in the woods, and its aftermath, helps Otter with a major life decision. He's a high school senior, hanging out with Darby - the local alpha male - and Darby's girlfriend Amber. Their public displays of affection irritate Otter.

Downfall

Kaoru Fukazawa is a manga artist. His manga series was published for eight years, but has now finished. He doesn't have any ideas for his next work. His situation seems bleak, with his editor seeming to not care about him anymore and his relationship with his wife Nozomi Machida being troubled. He spends his days in despair and darkness. Kaoru visits a business that provides sexual services and meets a prostitute named Chifuyu, who attracts him. They decide to head to Chifuyu's hometown together.

The Way of Drama

The Way of Drama unfolds in the world of kabuki in Osaka, but also addresses the politics of popular culture and the rivalry between theatrical styles like those used by amateur actors to dramatise contemporary events.

Mothra vs. Godzilla

Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.

When Love Is Lust

A decadent countess, middle-aged but still attractive, forces her young and timid daughter to marry a rich butcher. But the couple’s sexual relation is troubled, because the girl has her fair share of inhibitions. So she abandons her house and seeks refuge at her sister’s place. During her absence, her husband finds consolation in his mother in law’s arms.

The Hidden Fortress

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

Y Tu Mamá También

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Thelma & Louise

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

Pieces of April

Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.

Ninpu Sentai Hurricaneger Degozaru! Shushuuto 20th Anniversary

It is the Edo Period. Younosuke, Nami, and Koutaro of the Hayate School and Ikkaku and Ikki of the Ikazuchi School are confronted by Oiranda and Aunja of the "Seven Spears of Darkness" and then Teruhime, whom the two Ikazuchi School members guard, is attacked. They were after the "Tenshoishi" ("Ascension Stone"), a stone said to be capable of destroying the world, which was in Teruhime's possession. Just when all seemed to be lost, the Hurricangers and the Gouraigers suddenly appear, having traveled back in time from the future, and a fierce battle ensues.

Miss Hokusai

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.

Beautiful Mystery

Shinohara, a young bodybuilder, joins a para-military sect in northern Japan. His instructor, Takizawa, takes a liking to the new recruit. After an early “special” training session the two develop a lasting and loving relationship.

Rain Man

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

Childish Things

A 30-year-old musician questions his resolve to marry his longtime girlfriend when he meets a free-spirited woman on his cross-country roadtrip.

Ana

Ana meets Rafa in a chance encounter and they embark on a road trip to try and save him from bankruptcy, or worse.

Breakdown

On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.

Gordon Family Tree

Freemont Gordon isn't passionate about his successful job as an architect in Los Angeles. After turning 30, he finds his job isn't enough, so he quits and takes a road trip—and along the way meets some amazing and generous people. Freemont shows his thanks for their hospitality by building secret tree houses for the families in the hope of giving their kids fun places to play. Ultimately, he finds that doing what he loves—is what matters most.

Blood Road

Blood Road follows the journey of ultra-endurance mountain bike athlete Rebecca Rusch and her Vietnamese riding partner, Huyen Nguyen, as they pedal 1,200 miles along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail through the dense jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Their goal: to reach the site where Rebecca’s father, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was shot down in Laos more than 40 years earlier.

Flags of Our Fathers

There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.

The Naked Island

A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.

Throne of Blood

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Red Beard

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

Ikiru

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Sanjuro

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifully composed "Sanjuro." In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

Sandakan No. 8

A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.

The Twilight Samurai

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

Sugar Glass Bottle

Near-future Tokyo. Kou, through the help of his high school best friend, finds a surprising way to express his mounting frustration at the insidious forces of commercialism that are forcing out the neighbors he cares most about. Initially inspired by a prank that the writer-director Neo Sora (The Chicken, 2020) had pulled on him in his childhood, a sense of warm nostalgia and cold, material reality intermingle to tell a tale set in the not-so-distant future about disappearing spaces and the forces of policing and gentrification that drills this process forward.

Love's Whirlpool

A room in a fancy downtown apartment. The evening orgy kicks off with eight men and women meeting for the first time, including an unemployed guy who pays the 20,000 yen party fee with money from his parents, and a female college student whose run-of-the-mill appearance hides a voracious sexual appetite.

Intimacy

Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.

Yojimbo

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

Try Seventeen

Teenager Jones has opted not to go to college and is instead renting a room in a boarding house to work on his writing skills. Soon, Jones finds himself dividing his time between two women: a young actress named Lisa and a photographer named Jane. After Jane's ex-boyfriend arrives to help her recover from a car accident, Jones begins to understand just how much he cares for her.

The Last Detail

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.

The Snow Walker

A bush pilot in nothern Canada who with the aid of modernity thinks he can handle it all & knows it all. After reluctantly agreeing to transport a local indian girl to a medical facility his light plane crashes & they have to survive whilst finding their way back to civilization. Along the journey the man finds a new respect for the native ways as they battle to survive the elements.

Ugetsu

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection

Afro Samurai avenged his father and found a life of peace. But the legendary master is forced back into the game by a beautiful and deadly woman from his past. The sparks of violence dropped along Afro’s bloody path now burn out of control – and nowhere are the flames of hatred more intense than in the eyes of Sio.

Silk

French silkworm trader Hervé is married to the beautiful Hélène. When an outbreak of disease ravages European silkworms, Hervé must travel to Japan to retrieve healthy eggs. After a long journey, Hervé finally arrives at a village where he can buy them. He becomes infatuated with a young concubine and goes to great lengths to see her again. But, when war breaks out in Japan, the concubine flees, forcing Hervé to return home to his wife.

The Castle of Sand

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

Ushijima the Loan Shark

Mirai Suzuki (Yuko Oshima) becomes responsible for her mother's debt which is owed to loan shark Kaoru Ushijima (Takayuki Yamada). To begin paying off her mother's debt, Mirai begins working at a dating cafe. Meanwhile, Jun (Kento Hayashi) is the ambitious and greedy company president for an event group. To borrow money, Jun visits Kaukau Finance owned by Kaoru Ushijima.

Caledonian Road

Caledonian Road follows Seb, who decides to meet up with Corey one rainy night. Seb has never slept with a boy before, and plans to fulfil some dream of conquering his desire. Little does he know what’s in store for him when he enters Corey’s house, as he’s thrown into a strangely unreal night.

Tora-san of Goto

This documentary film follows for 22 years a nine-member family involved in the manufacturing of Udon in the Goto Islands, Nagasaki prefecture. Mr. Toru Inuzuka called by nickname "Tora-san" is making famous 'Goto Udon' and natural salt on the island on which the depopulation is progressing. Seven children get up at 5 o'clock every morning, helping to make udon, and go to school. Children's help is recorded on the time card, and it is pocket money for children. The film talks about children's growth, marriage, childbirth, homecoming, and parting. The 22 years of familiarity of the family is drawn.

White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Steven Okazaki presents a deeply moving look at the painful legacy of the first -- and hopefully last -- uses of nuclear weapons in war. Featuring interviews with fourteen atomic bomb survivors - many who have never spoken publicly before - and four Americans intimately involved in the bombings, White Light/Black Rain provides a detailed exploration of the bombings and their aftermath.

Bonobono

The first theatrical release, titled Bonobono, opened in theaters on 1993-11-13. The film has since been broadcast on domestic television in Japan, including on broadcast satellite channels such as NHK BS-2. The film has been released on VHS and DVD in Japan, including in a "no cut" edition.

9 Songs

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

Lost in Translation

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

Stand by Me

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

Zatoichi

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

Night on Earth

A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

Seven Samurai

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Contemporary Tales of Chivalry: The Traitor Shall Die

The ninth and final film in the Contemporary Tales of Chivalry series.

The Straight Story

A retired farmer and widower in his 70s, Alvin Straight learns one day that his distant brother Lyle has suffered a stroke and may not recover. Alvin is determined to make things right with Lyle while he still can, but his brother lives in Wisconsin, while Alvin is stuck in Iowa with no car and no driver's license. Then he hits on the idea of making the trip on his old lawnmower, thus beginning a picturesque and at times deeply spiritual odyssey.

La Strada

When Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto, the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.

My Own Private Idaho

In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

A member of an elite paramilitary counter-terrorism unit becomes traumatized after witnessing the suicide bombing of a young girl and is forced to undergo retraining. However, unbeknownst to him, he becomes a key player in a dispute between rival police divisions, as he finds himself increasingly involved with the sister of the girl he saw die.