Films with: Koreeda, Hirokazu

Aruitemo Aruitemo Still walking /

Fashioned as a tribute to his parents, the film depicts one day in the life of the Yokoyamas, gathered together for a celebratory ritual that only gradually makes itself clear. Rather than focus on big dramatic moments, Kore-eda relies on simple gestures and domestic routines (especially cooking) to evoke a family's entire life, its deep regrets and its daily joys.

DVD 7926

Hana yori mo nao

Director Hirokazu Koreeda turns the popularly held conventions of the typical samurai revenge tale on their head with this story of a man whose quest to avenge the death of his father gradually takes a back seat to his emerging role as a key figure in the community. The year is 1702, and young samurai Sozaemon Aoki (Junichi Okada) has arrived in Edo to seek revenge against Jubei Kanazawa (Tadanobu Asano). Kanazawa is the man responsible for the death of Aoki's father, and now it's up to the grieving swordsman to settle the score. When Aoki begins teaching the children of Edo to read and write, however, his bloodlust slowly begins to subside as he comes to realize the true value of his useful place in society. Upon falling in love with the beautiful Osae (Rie Miyazawa), Aoki comes to realize that although the sword may be a powerful symbol of strength, allowing oneself to fall victim to its savage allure may not always be the best way to realize one's true heroism.

DVD 12318

Kiseki

Twelve-year-old Koichi, separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, begins to believe that Japan's new bullet train service will create a miracle when the first trains pass each other at top speed, and enlists a group of friends on an improbable mission.

DVD 12317

Our little sister

Three sisters, Sachi, Yoshino and Chika, live together in the city of Kamakura, Japan. When their father, absent from the family home for the last fifteen years, dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their shy, teenage half sister. Bonding quickly with the orphaned Suzu, they invite her to live with them. Suzu eagerly agrees and a new life of joyful discovery begins for the four siblings.

DVD 12319

Shoplifters

"On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft, and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love--not blood--that defines a family."--Container.

DVD 12937

Soshite chichi ni naru Like father, like son /

Affluent architects Ryota and his wife Midori face a terrible dilemma when they learn that their six-year-old son, Keita, was accidentally switched at birth and is not their biological child. In the wake of this revelation, Ryota's sense of fatherhood is shaken to the core as he witnesses both his wife's enduring devotion to Keita and his own conflicting feelings of nature versus nurture. Now his decision on which boy is truly his son will change the family's lives forever.

DVD 10701

Wandafuru raifu After life /

In Koreeda's thought-provoking vision, the newly deceased find themselves in a way station somewhere between Heaven and Earth. With the help of dedicated caseworkers, each soul is given three days to choose one cherished memory for their life that they will relive for eternity. As the film reveals, recognizing happiness and finding a life's worth of meaning in a single event is no simple task.

DVD 10602