Actor Ryô Kase (1974)

Based on the book by Aileen Mioko Smith and W. Eugene Smith, Minamata (2020) is a powerful biographical drama directed by Andrew Levitas. It features Johnny Depp (also producer) as W. Eugene Smith, an American photographer renowned for his World War II photojournalism. The film focuses on his assignment to Minamata, Kumamoto, where he witnesses the devastating effects of mercury poisoning on the locals due to industrial negligence by the Chisso Corporation. Premiering at the ...

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) is a Japanese-language American war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood. It tells the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and serves as a complement to Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, which portrays the same battle from the American viewpoint. Both films were shot back to back. In 2005, Japanese archaeologists discover something in the dirt while exploring tunnels on Iwo Jima. The year is 1944. Private First Class Saigo, a conscripted baker who longs for his wife and newborn ...