Assistant Director
Asami, a junior-college student two months from graduation, lends a red umbrella one day to Mayama, a Psychology instructor. Her artlessly forward approach leaves Mayama embarrassed and confused. She has, in fact, been watching him for some time. Meanwhile Mayama’s girlfriend Izumi, unable to find her own place in his heart, has resolved to leave him. Seeing Mayama in torment, tied to his past, Asami decides to set his heart free. Set in present-day Tokyo, this story of the wandering and revival of souls beset by feelings of loss is brought quietly and gently to the screen by the outstanding talent of Nagasawa Masahiko.
Assistant Director
An anthology film based on the works of manga artist Yoshiharu Tsuge. The main character in all four segments is a fledgling cartoonist named Tsube . In the first segment, Tsube encounters a dotty old man named Ri after renting a tumble-down cottage in the country. The following day, Ri, his equally weird wife, and his two squalid children move into his house. Soon the wife is stealing the cucumbers in his garden while the two kids devour all the food in the house.
