The Most Terrible Time in My Life 1993  N/R, 92 min.
Genre: Foreign / Comedy
Director: Kaizo Hayashi
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Shiro Sano, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Yang Haitin, Hou De Jian, Kaho Minami, Akaji Maro, Shinya Tsukamoto, Jo Shishido, Haruko Wanibuchi
Private eye Maiku Hama (Masatoshi Nagase) is plying his trade in Yokohama when he agrees to track down the brother of a waiter (Yang Haitin). Too late, Maiku Hama finds himself at the center of a gang war. There are sequels ("The Stairway to the Distant Past" and "The Trap").
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Mystery Train 1989 R, 113 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, Screamin Jay Hawkins, Cinque Lee, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth Bracco, Sy Richardson, Rick Aviles, Steve Buscemi, Joe Strummer
Three stories are told, with the common thread being a rundown hotel in Memphis and its two-person staff who watch after the assorted strange people that come and go. Segments include two touring Japanese teens obsessed with 1950s rock 'n roll; an Italian woman, who is taking her dead husband home, sees the ghost of Elvis; and three men who stay at the hotel after too much to drink results in a shooting.
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Pistol Opera 2001  N/R, 112 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Cast: Makiko Esumi, Sayoko Yamaguchi, Kan Hanae, Masatoshi Nagase, Mikijiro Hira, Kirin Kiki, Kenji Sawada, Haruko Kato, Tomio Aoki, Yeong-he Han
"Stray Cat" (Makiko Esumi) is the #3-ranked Japanese assassin, and the erotic killer shows no mercy in her quest to be #1. Cult director Seijun Suzuki came out of retirement to rework and remake his 1967 "Branded to Kill."
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The Sea Is Watching 2002 R, 119 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
aka: The Sea Watches
Director: Kei Kumai
Cast: Misa Shimizu, Nagiko Tono, Masatoshi Nagase, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Eiji Okuda, Renji Ishibashi, Miho Tsumiki, Michiko Kawai, Yumiko Nogawa, Tenshi Kamogawa, Yukiya Kitamura, Kumiko Tsuchiya
A naive hooker, Oshin (Nagiko Tono), works in the red-light district of Okabasho, Japan. One night she hides a fugitive samurai (Hidetaka Yoshioka), falls in love with him, and a broken heart results when she learns that love cannot overcome the strong caste system.
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The Stairway to the Distant Planet 1994 N/R, 101 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Kaizo Hayashi
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Haruko Wanibuchi, Shiro Sano, Eiji Okada, Tetta Sugimoto, Mika Ohmine, Shinya Tsukamoto, Jo Shishido, Akaji Maro, Sumiko Sakamoto, Noriko Sengoku
This is the second of three Detective Hama films (preceded by "The Most Terrible Time of My Life" and followed by "The Trap"). This time around, Mike Hama (Masatoshi Nagase) investigates the true identity of a crime lord known as the White Man (Eiji Okada) and, in the process, uncovers surprising information about his own father.
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Three Businessmen 1998  N/R, 82 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Alex Cox
Cast: Miguel Sandoval, Alex Cox, Robert Wisdom, Isabel Ampudia, Andrew Schofield, John McMartin, Masatoshi Nagase, Tomorowo Taguchi, Ryoko Takizawa, Adrian Henri
Another unusual Alex Cox film comes our way in this fantasy/comedy. Bennie (Miguel Sandoval) and Frank (Alex Cox), one an American art dealer and the other a British art dealer, meet at the dank, Liverpool hotel where they are staying. Unable to get a dinner at the hotel, they take off through the deserted streets in search of a meal. But that's not easy, since everything seems to be closed. They get lost and end up is such places as Tokyo, Hong Kong, and a desert still in search of dinner.
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The Trap 1996 N/R, 106 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Kaizo Hayashi
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Yui Natsukawa, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Kiyotaka Nanbara, Shiro Sano, Akaji Maro, Jo Shishido, Mika Ohmine, Hiro Arai, Tetta Sugimoto
This is the last of the Detective Maiku Hama trilogy (preceded by "The Most Terrible Time in My Life" and "The Stairway to the Distant Past"), and Masatoshi Nagase is back in his role playing that bungling detective. This time around Maiku Hama's fingerprints are appearing on the corpses of murdered women, and he must work hard to clear his name.
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| 1. Cold Fever (1996)
2. Gojoe (2000)
3. The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1993)
4. Mystery Train (1989)
5. Pistol Opera (2001)
6. The Sea Is Watching (2002)
aka: The Sea Watches
7. The Stairway to the Distant Planet (1994)
8. Three Businessmen (1998)
9. The Trap (1996)
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