Category: Biography

February 11, 2024 / Biography

Between October 11 and November 5 of 1968, teenager Norio Nagayama murdered four people in a killing spree across Japan with a shotgun stolen from a U.S. Army base. Adachi Masao, together with cultural theorist Matsuda Masao, scriptwriter Sasaki Mamoru and other collaborators, set out to trace the young man’s footsteps with a camera in hand. The result is an experimental documentary comprised purely of landscape shots, each of which shows scenery that Nagayama may or may not have seen during his upbringing and journey. Seeking an alternative to the sensationalism found in the media’s depiction of serial killers (which continues to this day), Adachi’s sparse voice-over provides only the hard facts while the increasing number of billboards in the landscapes slowly reveal the hegemony of capitalism in contemporary Japan.

November 21, 2023 / Biography

A puppy was born in Akita Prefecture and sent as a gift to Professor Ueno of Tokyo University. Although professor’s wife does not want keep the dog. Professor Ueno loves the puppy so much and names it Hachi. Professor goes to work by railways everyday. Hachi walks to Shibuya Station with Professor each morning and greets him in the evening, no matter what the weather is. One day, Professor Ueno has a stroke and passed away. His family sold the house and moved to another city, but Hachi keeps visiting the house and waiting at the Shibuya station, believing his master will return. Based on a true story of Hidesaburo Ueno and his Akita breed dog “Hachiko.”

November 18, 2023 / Biography

An exploration of certain conspiracy theories surrounding the JFK assassination from Jack Ruby’s perspective. Ruby owns a run-down strip club in Dallas, and does what he can for credibility, both by giving information to the FBI and by doing the odd favor for his mafia contacts. When hitman Action Jackson is hit, Louie Vitali asks him to help get crime boss Santos out of a Cuban jail. When they get back, the bosses take his headliner Candy Cane under their wing to develop her career in Vegas. A mysterious government man named Maxwell expresses his displeasure to Ruby over his Cuban activities. Slowly all the pieces of a massive conspiracy begin to emerge to Ruby, who can do nothing to stop it.

November 18, 2023 / Biography

Joey Deacon, born in 1920 with brain damage, grew up with severe cerebral palsy, unable to talk or walk. When, in 1928, his mother died, he was sent to an institution where he lived for years, quite unable to make himself understood. Then, in 1941, he met Ernie Roberts who had one remarkable skill – he could understand Joey. This led to a new and richer life, and this film tells Joey’s remarkable story. Based on Joey Deacon’s book “Tongue tied”.

October 13, 2023 / Biography

Set in 1894, when Oscar Wilde’s close friendship with Bosie Douglas provokes a quarrel with Bosie’s father, Lord Queensberry. Oscar eventually charges Lord Queensberry with criminal libel. However, the libel suit spectacularly backfires. This BBC miniseries charts the steady slide into disrepute of the notable author and playwright, and stars (a very young) Michael Gambon in the title role.

October 12, 2023 / Biography

Piano Solo tells the story of Luca Flores, a brilliant Italian musician. In Florence, Luca graduates with top honors in piano, but his destiny is not to become a classical pianist. He is curious to explore other worlds and meets young jazz enthusiasts who transmit their passion to him. Luca’s great talent, combined with constant practice, leads him to play with the greatest jazz musicians of the time, including Chet Baker. The film not only portrays his professional journey but also explores his loves, struggles, and inner turmoil as a young man who cannot come to terms with the ghosts of his past, ultimately leading to a tragic explosion of madness.

September 15, 2023 / Biography

The lives of Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman are set against the golden era of Hollywood, HUAC and the issue of McCarthyism of the 1950s. This intimate look at the lives of two of this century’s literary titans follows their tumultuous affair, drinking bouts, career highs and lows, and activities in support of left-wing causes including Hammett’s public avowal of Communism and his membership in the Communist Party and Hellman’s sympathies for the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union before World War II.

September 11, 2023 / Biography

This movie tells the story of the early life and rise to fame and fortune of French fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, beginning with her upbringing in an orphanage and training as a milliner, but concentrating on her relationship with Etienne de Balsan and her tempestuous love affair with his friend Boy Capel, and the role the two men played in setting her up as an independent business woman.