Bright Future 2003 N/R, 92 min. Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Cast: Jo Odagiri, Tadanobu Asano, Tatsuya Fuji, Takashi Sasano, Marumi Shiraishi, Ryo Kase, Miyako Kawahara, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Sayuri Oyamada, Ken Takagi, Tetsu Sawaki
Frustrated with their boring lives, plant workers Yuji Nimura and Mamoru Arita (Jo Odagiri and Tadanobu Asano) form a bond that is based on rage. Mamoru tries to acclimate a poisonous jellyfish from salt water to fresh water, and when he is sent to jail, he gives the jellyfish to Yuji with instructions to keep acclimating the fish to fresh water. Yuji tries, but accidentally releases the jellyfish into Tokyo's water supply, panics, and then realizes that the jellyfish will be follow him to the ends of the Earth.
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Happiness of the Katakuris 2001 R, 113 min. Genre: Foreign / Comedy
Director: Takashi Miike Cast: Kenji Sawada, Naomi Nishida, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Tetsuro Tamba, Naoto Takenaka, Kiyoshiro Imawano, Moeko Ezawa, Tamaki Miyazaki, Takashi Matsuzaki, Kenichi Endo, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Yoshiki Arizono, Chihiro Asakawa, Yumeki Kanazawa
This dark musical comedy concerns the dysfunctional Katakuri family as they renovate and then open a lodge in a remote part of Japan. It is expected that tourism will boom when the projected highway is built. But the problems start with the first guest, a sickly man, who commits suicide. Not wanting bad publicity, they bury the body in the backyard. The next guest, likewise, dies–of a heart attack, and so it goes with guest after guest, and the ground fills with bodies. Still no highway, but the nearby volcano adds to their problems.
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| 1. Bright Future (2003)
2. Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
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