Hirokazu Koreeda

Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother and beautiful ex-wife seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a lasting place in the life of his young son.

In Kore-eda'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.

Hirokazu Kore-eda's revelatory international breakthrough is a bittersweet fantasia in which the recently deceased find themselves in a limbo realm where they must select a single cherished moment from their life.

Leading attorney Shigemori takes on the defense of murder-robbery suspect Misumi who served jail time for another murder 30 years ago. Shigemori's chances of winning the case seem low; his client freely admits his guilt, despite facing the death penalty if he is convicted. As he digs deeper into the case, as he hears the testimonies of the victim's family and Misumi himself, the once confident Shigemori begins to doubt whether his client is the murderer...

Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother many years before, a beautiful young mother (Makiko Esumi as Yumiko) struggles to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband. Yumiko remarries and with her young son moves to her new husband's home in a remote village on the wild, untamed Sea of Japan. There, with time, she awakens to find love, understanding, happiness and a sense of peace.

A dark comedy that deconstructs the legend of the samurai with a subtle mix of laughter and emotion. Strangers living 18th century Japan come together as an adopted family to help Soza, the reluctant and uncoordinated samurai avenge his father's death.

Every year, the Yokoyama clan gets together to honor the life of eldest son Junpei, drowned 15 years earlier while saving a man from drowning. Retired physician father Shohei still mourns, while his wife Toshiko has become a passive-aggressive domestic goddess, the two bicker continually. Surviving son Ryota has married at last-his new wife Yukari is a widow with a young son. Daughter Chinami and her car-salesman husband have their two kids in tow....