Descended from a long lineage of Buddhist priests, young punk rocker Yohei (Masahiro Motoki) finds himself obligated to carry on the family name—shaving his (already half-shaven) head, bidding adieu to girlfriend Masoho (Honami Suzuki) and trading in his mod suits for monastic robes—as he reluctantly joins a Zen temple to train as a novitiate for one year. Relocating to a remote mountainside temple where the day-to-day activities include a range of ascetic practices, rites and observances, Yohei’s outward rejection of…

New York Premiere. The final film by Nobuhiko Obayashi finds the late director returning to the subject of Japan’s history of warfare following the completion of his “War Trilogy,” which ended with Hanagatami (JC 2018). On the last night of its existence, a small movie theater in Onomichi—the seaside town of Obayashi’s youth where he shot nearly a dozen films—screens an all-night marathon of Japanese war films. When lightning strikes the theater, three young men are transported into the world…

International Premiere. Amid a power struggle within major publishing company Kunpu, cocky industry operator Akira (Yo Oizumi) gets assigned to lead its failing culture magazine Trinity as editor-in-chief. Enlisting the help of earnest rookie editor Megumi (Mayu Matsuoka), Akira attempts to revitalize Trinity by securing the commitment of a celebrated author, breaking out new literary talent and taking risks—all of which are backed by a new CEO (Koichi Sato) who has his own ideas about Kunpu’s future. Meanwhile, Megumi tries…

U.S. Premiere. In cult director Takashi Miike’s long-awaited return to the phantasmagorical realm of yokai, a vengeful mass of sea spirits arise in the Nagano region of Japan and transform into Yokaiju, a destructive force of nature that leaves nothing but calamity and devastation in its wake. Hoping to prevent the unstoppable Yokaiju from reaching Tokyo (and thus breaking a spiritual barrier that staves off the revival of a nameless evil), the yokai summon the long-forgotten descendent of legendary samurai…