Female Japanese directors were once like those rare species periodically discovered in Asian jungles and immediately labeled endangered. This year, however, in their highly individual ways, they made some of Japan's strongest, most ambitious films. By now the only thing endangered is local industry prejudice about their range and abilities.
1. "Kazoku no Kuni (Our Homeland)": Zainichi (ethnic Korean) director Yang Yong Hi used her own family's troubled history in making this debut feature about a zainichi man (Arata Iura) visiting his family in Japan 25 years after being sent to the "paradise" of North Korea by his father. Seriously ill, he fiercely resents his situation and those who have placed him in it. Yang draws performances from her veteran cast raw in their intensity, but superbly crafted.
2. "Yume Uru Futari (Dreams for Sale)": Miwa Nishikawa returns to her favorite theme — the varieties of human duplicity — with a story about a couple (Takako Matsu and Sadao Abe) who trick unsuspecting single women with offers of marriage to raise money for a new izakaya (pub) after their old one burns down. Despite the caper-comedy setup, the film is an unblinking, unsparing investigation of how the couple's serial deceptions eat into their relationship — and their souls.