Keiko is a flaky and irresponsible single mother who sub-contracts all parental duties to her eldest boy, 12-year-old Akira, while taking off for days at a time with various boyfriends. Leaving behind an envelope of cash, one day she simply never comes back, leaving Akira unattended with his little siblings. Akira, his two sisters, Kyoko and Yuki, and their irrepressible younger brother, Shigeru are not quite aware of the horrific implications of...

Director Hirokazu Koreeda turns the popularly held conventions of the typical samurai evenge tale on their head with this story of a man whose quest to avenge the death of his father gradually takes a back seat to his emerging role as a key figure in the community. The year is 1702, and young samurai Sozaemon Aoki (Junichi Okada) has arrived in Edo to seek revenge against Jubei Kanazawa (Tadanoby Asano). Kanazawa is the man responsible for the death...