Tony Takitani - DVD

Twenty years ago, Toni (Camille Cottin, star of Call My Agent) was on the verge of pop stardom with a chart-topping single. Though she still performs at local bars to support her family, Toni's dreams of fame have long since faded with the obligations of parenthood. Now, at 43, her life revolves around raising her five teenage children as a single parent, itself a full-time job. But as her two eldest children prepare to leave for university, Toni's familiar domestic routines are suddenly called into question. After years of putting her family first, what would it mean to pursue her own future? Grounded by Camille Cotton's quietly moving performance, director Nathan Ambrosioni's sophomore feature, TONI, is a richly observed character study of life in transition.

Former NBA star Tony Greene is a depressed alcoholic whose wife was violently murdered. After getting a DUI, he begins coaching a women's college basketball team where he meets Destiny, a basketball phenom with a bad attitude and an incredible jump shot. Their personalities clash, but Tony sees her potential. Just when Tony thought he had lost it all, his star player helps him find his destiny.

In 1944, after their vessel was scuttled by American air power, a dozen Japanese merchant seamen found themselves shipwrecked on the small Mariana isle of Anatahan-with the sole population being a deserter (Tadashi Suganuma) and his beautiful common-law wife (Akemi Nigishi). For the next seven years, the sailors would remain oblivious to WWII's end, and find their ordered discipline fatefully fraying over the woman's presence. Josef von Sternberg's fact-inspired, late-career curio co-stars Kisaburo Sawamura, Shôji Nakayama. 93 min. Standard; Soundtrack Japanese and English; Subtitles English; 94 min. Uncensored 1958 edit; featurettes; newsreel footage; theatrical trailer. In Japanese and English with English subtitles.