
Acting
With parents in show business, perhaps it is not surprising that Sakura Ando became an actress and, moreover, later married an actor. She was born to actor/director Okuda Eiji and celebrity Kazu Ando on 18 February 1986. Her great-grandfather was Prime Minister Tsuyoshi. Her older sister is director Ando Momoko. She saw her father on stage at age five and decided to become an actress while in second grade. She was often ill as a child; her illness made her dizzy, caused balance problems, and at times her brain would shut down. She chose her mother's maiden surname for her professional career. Sono Sion cast her in his film Love Exposure and gave her a major break on the big screen. She won Best Supporting Actress for that role at the 31st Yokohama Film Festival. Earlier, her father cast her in his film Kaze No Sotogawa (Outside the Wind) alongside her mother and sister. She has since appeared in multiple films and TV series and won several more awards. She married actor Emoto Tasuku in 2012; they met on a train in 2008 and she had obtained her father's permission to date and marry. She was a boxer in 100 Yen Love, which suited her because she had practiced boxing at age fourteen. She gave birth to her first child, a girl, in 2017. She won Best Actress at the 42nd Japan Academy Prize for her work in 2018's Shoplifters. By then she was considered one of the top young actresses in Japan alongside Yu Aoi, Miyazaki Aoi, and possibly Aso Kumiko. Interestingly, she had earlier decided to retire and focus on raising her child. She is a graduate of Gakushuin Women's College.

The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while working as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing – which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian – dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with Catholic guilt.

Based on the semibiographical novel by Jun Miura, Oh My Buddha is the classic summer coming-of-age story that is burned to a crisp with teenage angst, youthful dreams and that warm sense of folk zeitgeist of the 70s. The narrator is a first-year student at an all-boys Buddhist school. Jaded by his dull, ordinary life, he longs for the type of creative, liberal and forward life his idol Bob Dylan leads, writing rock songs alone in his room, imitating his hero's signature croon, until one day he got invited on an island trip of sexual liberation with his fellow liberal friend.

17 year-old Hiruma is desperate to get laid and takes out his sexual urges on Anpai, a fat boy who has "boobs." His classmate Tomono, a sickly loner, is in a serious relationship with their married teacher.

A grifter and her loose-cannon brother get their hands on a massive amount of money, but their ill-gotten gains puts a huge target on their back.


A Crowd of Three tells the story of two men, Kenta & Jun, who grew up as almost brothers at a children's facility. Kenta & Jun now works as part of a demolition crew but become fed up with their jobs. The friends then decide to take a road trip up north to visit Kenta's brother at the Abashiri prison.

From the late 1950s through the '70s, more than 90,000 of the ethnic Koreans in Japan emigrated to North Korea, a country that promised them affluence, justice, and an end to discrimination. KAZOKU NO KUNI tells the story of one of their number, who returns for just a short period. For the first time in 25 years, Sonho is reunited with his family in Tokyo after being allowed to undergo an operation there. Sonho’s younger sister Rie is at the centre of the film, and is not hard to recognise as the director’s alter-ego. In her documentaries DEAR PYONGYANG and SONA, THE OTHER MYSELF, Yang Yonghi told the story of her own life, and how, at age six, she experienced the departure of her three older brothers, who left their family for Pyongyang.

Troubled high school student Makoto arrives in Tokyo to exact revenge from a past incident. He then falls in love at first sight with Ai, a daughter raised in a wholesome family. Around Makoto and Ai are Iwashimizu, who has feelings for Ai and Gamuko, a gang member who eyes Makoto.

Three men, born in 1987, are from the yutori ("relaxed") generation, and they continue their attempts at finding love, friendship, and success. Masakazu Sakama stopped working for a large company and took over his family business, but it's not doing well. Kazutoyo Yamaji is a sweet and sincere man. He works as an elementary school teacher, but he doesn't have experience in romantic relationships. For 11 years, Maribu Michigami took the college entrance exam for the university he wanted to attend. He finally made it and attended the school. After graduation, his launched his own business in China, but that failed. He now supports himself working part-time jobs.

Five years after a hit-and-run accident kills his wife, a distraught metalworker comes face to face with the man behind the steering wheel.





