‘Inubu: The Dog Club’: Puppy love with a heavy dose of advocacy
Drawing from a novel based on true events, “Inubu” shows the barriers activists fighting for the humane treatment of animals face, their own physical and financial limits among them.
‘Restart’: There’s no place like home for second chances
Director Hiroshi Shinagawa, who endured his own struggles as a young comic, shows the darker side of showbiz, as well as the welcoming beauty of Shimokawa, Hokkaido Prefecture.
‘Tokyo Kurds’: A sobering look at lives in limbo
Fumiari Hyuga’s documentary about asylum seekers in Japan is an intimate portrait of life with freedom hanging in the balance.
‘A Dobugawa Dream’: An escape from isolation to a personal fantasyland
Asato Watanabe’s debut feature about a man grappling with depression treads the line between reality and fantasy, with comic antics thrown in.
‘The Asian Angel’: A road movie with a touch of the divine
Two dysfunctional families from Japan and South Korea take a cross-country road trip in Yuya Ishii’s “The Asian Angel.”
‘The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea’: A coming-of-age tale told with talent and lyricism
Miyu Ogawa displays gravity and vulnerability in Sara Ogawa’s first theatrical feature, which centers on a teenager who lives in a group home and coaxes a new arrival out of her shell.
‘The Door into Summer’: Some doors are best left closed
An orphaned genius travels to the future and back in Takahiro Miki’s treacly sci-fi, “The Door Into Summer,” based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein.
‘Ito’: Ren Komai strums the right notes
Satoko Yokohama’s drama, set in the director’s native Aomori Prefecture, features a troubled teen whose talent for playing the shamisen is hindered by grief.
‘Around the Table’: A feast for the eyes that doesn’t quite satisfy
In this coming-of-age film, the story itself is nearly overshadowed by the beautifully decorated sets with items from North European-style everyday goods site, Hokuoh Kurashi no Doguten.
‘Mari and Mari’: A perfect couple comes undone
Tatsuya Yamanishi’s intriguing debut feature takes a cynical view of relationships, with a premise that’s like something out of an early Haruki Murakami story.
‘Colorless’: A layered love affair with an enigmatic woman
Despite its theme of duplicity in love, the film is not an exercise in black-comic cynicism.
‘Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko’: What it lacks in conflict, it makes up for with heart
Ayumu Watanabe’s latest anime feature employs some stereotypes, but the supportive and heartwarming relationship between its central mother-daughter pair forms the backbone of the film.
