Early Spring (1956)

AKA Soshun

Director:
Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:
Kôgo Noda
Yasujirô Ozu

The film starts on a typical working day in metropolitan Tokyo: office worker Shoji Sugiyama (Ryō Ikebe) wakes up to prepare to commute to work, attended to by his wife, Masako (Chikage Awashima). The couple is childless but used to have a young son who died years ago of an illness.

During a hiking trip with friends, Shoji spends moments alone on a hitchhiked lorry with a fellow worker, typist Kaneko (Keiko Kishi), nicknamed "Goldfish" for her large eyes. After the trip Kaneko makes advances at Shoji. The two has an affair. Masako suspects something is amiss behind her back but says nothing, even when Shoji spends extra time with Kaneko, his war comrades and a dying friend. The two becomes progressively estranged.

The friends too suspect something is going on between Shoji and Kaneko and finally confronts Kaneko during a gathering, advising her not to come between a married couple. Aggrieved, Kaneko goes to visit Shoji late in the night. The affair finally gets disclosed, and Masako and Shoji have a falling-out. Masako is angry enough with Shoji to leave for her mother's home the next morning.

Shoji accepts a job to go to Mitsuishi, at Okayama Prefecture, an out-of-the-way provincial town. Kaneko is upset that he is leaving but later accepts it. Meanwhile, Shoji begins to regret his affair and tries to bring his wife home, but Masako only goes back after he has left for Mitsuishi. The couple meet at Mitshuishi, where they promise to forget everything before and strive for marital happiness.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049784/

Taste of Cherry (1997)

AKA طعم گيلاس (Ta'm-e gīlās)

Directed by
Abbas Kiarostami

Writing credits
Abbas Kiarostami

 

Mr Badii (Homayon Ershadi), a middle-aged man, drives through Tehran looking for someone to do a job for him, and he offers a large amount of money in return. During his drives with prospective candidates, Badii reveals that he plans to kill himself and has already dug the grave. He needs someone to throw earth on his body, after his death. He does not discuss why he wants to commit suicide.

His first recruit is a young, shy Kurdish soldier, who refuses to do the job and flees from Badii's car. His second recruit is an Afghan seminarist, who also declines because he has religious objections against suicide. The third is an Azeri taxidermist. He is willing to help Badii because he needs the money for his sick child, but tries to talk him out of it; he reveals that he too wanted to commit suicide a long time ago but chose to live when he tasted mulberries. The Azeri promises to throw earth on Badii if he finds him dead in the morning. That night, Badii lies in his grave while a thunderstorm begins. After a long blackout, the film ends with camcorder footage of Kiarostami and the film crew filming Taste of Cherry.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120265/

Ken Park (2002)

Directed by
Larry Clark

Edward Lachman

Writing credits
Larry Clark

Harmony Korine

The film begins with the public suicide of Ken Park at a local skateboarding park. The film features four friends: Shawn, Tate, Peaches, and Claude. It covers their interactions with their families (or lack thereof), and their friends in a dysfunctional society. The film depicts controversial topics such as sexuality, sexual experimentation, incest, teenage suicide and, to a lesser extent, murder.

The title "Ken Park" does not refer to a location, but rather to a character in the film, whose death is used as a plot device at the end of the film. Although never directly stated, Ken Park appears to be set over several days, spanning Friday to Sunday. The plot of Ken Park is non-linear, and often switches between different characters over this time period.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209077/

Irreversible (2002)

AKA Irréversible

Directed by
Gaspar Noé

Writing credits
Gaspar Noé

Irréversible contains thirteen scenes presented in reverse chronological order. The film begins with two men in a small apartment suite. One of them is the "Butcher", the protagonist of Noé's previous film, I Stand Alone. In a drunken monologue, the Butcher reveals that he was arrested for having sex with his daughter. Their philosophical musings shift to the subject of a commotion in the streets outside, which is derisively attributed to the patrons of a nearby homosexual S&M nightclub called The Rectum. Minutes earlier, two men named Marcus and Pierre are escorted out of that nightclub by the police. Marcus is on a stretcher, apparently injured, and Pierre is in handcuffs. Men on the streets shout homophobic insults at them. Earlier that evening, Marcus and Pierre arrived at the club in a frantic search for somebody nicknamed le Tenia — "the Tapeworm". Marcus finds the man believed to be le Tenia and attacks him. The man pins Marcus down, then breaks his arm and attempts to rape him. Pierre rescues Marcus by bludgeoning the attacker's face using a fire extinguisher, fatally crushing the man's skull after repeated blows. Before entering the club, it is learned that Marcus and Pierre went in search of le Tenia after questioning several prostitutes. Apparently their goal is retribution for someone's rape. They track down a transsexual prostitute named Concha who identifies the rapist as le Tenia after Marcus threatens to slash her with a piece of broken glass. Concha also reveals that the rapist is likely to be found at a nightclub called The Rectum. Marcus and Pierre were aided in their search by a street thug named Mourad and his friend Layde. Mourad promised to help them find le Tenia for money so that Marcus could have his revenge, rather than leave the matter to the police. It is revealed that le Tenia anally raped Marcus' girlfriend Alex, and beat her so severely that she fell into a coma. The rape takes place after Alex encounters le Tenia beating Concha in a pedestrian underpass. Le Tenia then turns his attention on Alex and threatens her with a knife to her throat. He then proceeds to rape Alex, pinning her down on her stomach and threatening her. After raping Alex, le Tenia brutally beats her. From this scene, it becomes clear that Pierre and Marcus attack the wrong man later in the story. Le Tenia was in fact standing right next to the man Pierre killed in club Rectum. In the next scene, we see Alex, Marcus, and Pierre at a party. Alex is annoyed by Marcus' unrestrained use of drugs and alcohol and his flirtatious behavior with other women, and consequently decides to leave the party. The next scene shows the trio discussing sex in a metro station and in the train. It is revealed Pierre used to be Alex' lover. The penultimate scene shows Marcus and Alex lying in bed after sex. Alex reveals she might be pregnant, and Marcus is pleased with the possibility. To prepare for the party, Marcus leaves to buy wine and Alex has a shower. Alone, Alex uses a home pregnancy test that confirms she is now carrying a child, for which she is elated. She is shown sitting on the bed clothed, with her hand on her belly. A poster for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the tagline "The Ultimate Trip", is above the headboard. The final colorful scene shows Alex reading An Experiment with Time by John William Dunne in a park, surrounded by playing children. Beethoven's 7th Symphony is heard in the background. The camera spins around faster and faster until it blacks out into a strobe effect, accompanied by a pulsing, roaring sound. A rapidly-spinning image of the cosmos can be dimly perceived. The final title card reads: "Time destroys everything" — a phrase uttered in the film's first scene by one of the men in the apartment.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290673/

Autumn Sonata (1978)

AKA Höstsonaten

Director:
Ingmar Bergman

Writer:
Ingmar Bergman

 

The plot focuses on a prominent concert pianist, Charlotte Andergast (Ingrid Bergman), who has been neglectful and dismissive of her children, whom she has not seen in over seven years. Charlotte decides to make a visit to her eldest daughter, Eva (Liv Ullmann) at her remote house, where she lives with her husband, Viktor (Halvar Björk). Upon arrival, Charlotte discovers that her other daughter, Helena (Lena Nyman), who is mentally and physically disabled (and was placed in an institution by Charlotte) is living with and being taken care of by Eva. Wounded by the neglect and selfishness of her mother, Eva begins to spill all of the things she has ever wanted to say to Charlotte, and as the evening progresses, the tension culminates to a wave of harsh words and exposure of true feelings that change their mother-daughter relationship forever.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077711/

Eureka (2000)

Directed by
Shinji Aoyama

Writing credits
Shinji Aoyama

 

Eureka is a drama, set mainly in rural Japan, and is mostly shot in sepia tone. It tells the story of a young boy and girl, Naoki Tamura and Kozue Tamura who are on a bus when it is hijacked by a crazed killer. They, along with the bus driver, Makoto Sawai, are the only survivors and flee together. But upon their attempted return to their normal lives, Makoto becomes a suspect in a series of murders and the children become orphaned. These numerous unfortunate events bring the three, along with the orphans' cousin, Akihiko, back together, forming a family and working toward reconciliation from the shared hijacking experience.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243889/

Tokyo Twilight (1957)

AKA Tôkyô boshoku

Director:
Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:
Kôgo Noda
Yasujirô Ozu

Akiko Sugiyama (Ineko Arima) is a young college graduate girl learning English shorthand. Her elder sister Takako (Setsuko Hara), running away from an unhappy marriage, has returned home to stay with Akiko and their father Shukichi (Chishu Ryu) in Tokyo, together with her toddler girl. Akiko has a relationship with her college boyfriend Kenji, which results in an unwanted pregnancy. Later, Akiko has an abortion on learning her boyfriend is avoiding her.

While going to a mahjong parlour to look for Kenji, Akiko comes across its proprietress Kisako (Isuzu Yamada), who seems to know a lot about her family. Back at home, Takako hears about Kisako from Akiko, and pieces together the fact that she is their long-lost mother. Takako visits the parlour to ask Kisako not to reveal to Akiko who she really is – but the plan backfires. Akiko learns of her visit and goes to confront Takako. Takako then discloses to her Kisako is their mother, who has run away with another man when Akiko was still a toddler. Shaken, Akiko goes to confront Kisako to ask if she is the daughter of her father. She leaves in a huff, angered by Kisako abandoning her as a child, then goes to a Chinese noodle shop for some sake. Her boyfriend Kenji enters, and the two has a tiff. Akiko leaves angrily, but is hit by a train at an intersection just outside the shop.

Akiko is badly injured and she expresses the wish to live and start life over again in the presence of her father and sister. In the next scene however, in one of Ozu's famous ellipses, a bitter Takako goes to visit her mother to tell her the news of Akiko's death. Kisako is distraught, and agrees with her new husband that she will leave Tokyo for his new assignment. She goes to the Sugiyamas to offer her last condolescence, and to tell Takako of her decision. Unfortunately, Takako does not go to send her off at the railway station.

In the last scene of the film, Takako reveals to her father that she is going back to her husband to try to make their marriage work again. She does not want her toddler daughter to follow in the path of Akiko, who lacks the love of one parent. Shukuchi agrees with her decision.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051093/