Assistant Director
40살 불혹의 나이를 앞둔 3명의 동창생이 다시 고향에 가까이 모여 지내게 되고, 여전히 인생의 쓴맛을 맛보며 팍팍하게 살아가는 모습을 보인다는 스토리. SM AP 탈퇴 이후 간만에 본 이나가키 고로 주연. 가업을 물려받아 숯을 만드는 고된 일을 하는 타카무라(이나 가키 고로)는 무뚝뚝한 성미로 묵묵하게 일만하는 가장. 아들이 왕따 문제를 겪으며 힘들어하는 걸 알면서 도 뻣뻣하게 마음을 몰라주는 통에 사이가 나빠져있다. 자위대를 돌연 관두고 수년만에 귀향한 나카야마 (하세가와 히로키)는 마찬가지로 무뚝뚝한 성미의 사나이. 자위대 시절의 무거운 마음의 짐을 안고 있다. 그런 두사람의 관계를 이어붙이고 어떻게든 유연하게 사이를 끌고가려는 것이 노총각 이와이(시부카와 키요 히코). 40살이 먹도록 서투르게 인생을 살아가는 세 남자의 이야기가 헛헛하고 쓸쓸하게 그려졌다.
Assistant Director
A failed director is trying to get his next movie off the ground, while dealing with his cranky brother and his estranged wife.
Assistant Director
Mars Canal - Within absolute silence, a naked man wanders through a dark and depressing landscape recalling the excruciating details of his last encounter with his former lover. Mirror Hell - When a series of women are discovered with their faces burnt and skulls charred, a young detective investigates, discovering that a unique hand mirror is always found at the scene. Caterpillar - A war hero returns home with no limbs and only his eyesight remaining. His beautiful wife, tired of taking care of him, turns to torturing her crippled husband for amusement. Crawling Bugs - A sexy actress is returning home from a successful night on stage, until her limo driver decides that she should be coming home with him.
Assistant Director
Three short films with the theme of death and dead ends in common.
Assistant Director
It is 1980. Sadatomo is at a secondary school in a small town. His parents barely take any notice of him. The strict teacher Kobayashi has hung up a 'humanity index' in the classroom, divided into the categories 'delinquents', 'scum' and 'people'. In each category he has hung name-cards of pupils. One day Kobayashi finds out that Sadatomo and his friends have stolen some things from a shop for fun. Their fathers are informed and as punishment, the children have to write a 'self-critical' essay of no less than thirty pages. For the first time, Sadatomo is beaten by his father. Shocked, he writes a piece entitled 'I am an onion', in which the teacher thinks he can detect a first sign of humanity. That is the start of a confusing situation in which it gets hard to distinguish lies, truth, justified self-criticism and opportunist wheeler dealing, even for the boys.
