This page is
intended to list major DVDs
that relate to Japan/East Asia
and that are all or partly in English. DVD formats differ from country
to
country and maker to maker. We
link to Amazon.com; be sure that you read
the DVD details as explained by Amazon. Your
suggestions and
recommendations on DVDs are welcome. IMC does not stock DVDs at our
office. The links often give you a choice of additional products; for
example, there may be other DVD versions of a movie, music, or books.
Buy only what you want and are sure you can use.
Capote
Starring Philip S Hoffman, Catherine Keener Director Bennett
Miller Rating R
In 1959, Truman Capote, a popular writer for The New Yorker, learns
about the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Halcomb,
Kansas. Inspired by the story material, Capote and his partner, Harper
Lee, travel to the town to research for an article. However, as Capote
digs deeper into the story, he is inspired to expand the project into
what would be his greatest work, In Cold Blood. To that end, he
arranges extensive interviews with the prisoners, especially with Perry
Smith, a quiet and articulate man with a troubled history. As he works
on his book, Capote feels some compassion for Perry which in part
prompts him to help the prisoners to some degree. However, that feeling
deeply conflicts with his need for closure for his book which only an
execution can provide. That conflict and the mixed motives for both
interviewer and subject make for a troubling experience that would
produce an literary account that would redefine modern non-fiction.
ENRON
Starring: John Beard, Jim Chanos Director: Alex Gibney Rating R
Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters
Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a multidimensional study of one of the
biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a
look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history, in which
top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away
with over one billion dollars, leaving investors and employees with
nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio
and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron
hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate
philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles
a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face
of our economy and ethical code for years to come.
Howl's
Moving Castle
Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC Walt
Disney Video 119 minutes
Actors: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashuin,
Ryunosuke Kamiki Director: Hayao Miyazaki
A love story between an 18-year-old girl named Sofî, cursed
by a witch into an old woman's body, and a magician named Hauru. Under
the curse, Sofî sets out to seek her fortune, which takes
her to Hauru's strange moving castle. In the castle, Sophie meets
Hauru's fire demon, named Karishifâ. Seeing that she is
under a curse, the demon makes a deal with Sophie--if she breaks the
contract he is under with Hauru, then Karushifâ will lift
the curse that Sophie is under, and she will return to her 18-year-old
shape.
Memoirs
of a Geisha
Starring: Suzuka Ohgo, Ziyi Zhang Director: Rob Marshall Rating
PG13
In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing
village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and
subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha
Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of
Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of
Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo
becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social
skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a
renowned geisha she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and
political intrigue. As World War II looms Japan and the geisha's world
are forever changed by the onslaught of history.
My
Neighbor Totoro
Starring: Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Rating G
Two young girls, Satsuke and her younger sister Mei, move into a house
in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized
mother. Satsuke and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by
magical creatures called Totoros (pronounced toe-toe-ro). They soon
befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures.
Porco
Rosso
Starring: Shichiro Moriyama, Tokiko Kato Director: Hayao
Miyazaki Rating PG
In Early 1930's era Italy, air pirates, bounty hunters and high flyers
of all sorts rule the skies. The most cunning and skilled of these
pilots is Porco Rosso, a man cursed with the head of a pig after
watching the spirits of the pilots killed in the last air battle he
fought in rise to the heavens. He now makes a living taking jobs, such
as rescuing those kidnapped by air pirates. Donald Curtis, Porco's
rival in the air and in catching the affections of women, provides a
constant challenge to the hero, culminating in a hilarious, action
packed finale.
Princess
Mononoke
Starring: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida Director:
Hayao Miyazaki Rating PG13
A prince is infected with an incurable disease by a possessed boar/god.
He is to die unless he can find a cure to rid the curse from his body.
It seems that his only hope is to travel to the far east. When he
arrives to get help from the deer god, he finds himself in the middle
of a battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron
mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. Leading the
forest animals in the battle is a human raised by wolves, Princess
Mononoko.
Whisper
of the Heart Actors: Youko Honna, Kazuo Takahashi, Takashi
Tachibana, Shigeru Muroi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi Directors: Yoshifumi
Kondo Rating G A young girl finds that all the books she chooses in
the library have been previously checked out by the same boy. Later she
meets a very infuriating fellow... could it be her "friend" from the
library? The boy's grandfather has a violin sales and service shop. The
boy wants to be a violin maker like his grandfather.
If looking for Japan related DVDs, type "Japan" in the search box,
or try other words that may find what you want.
