EAST FILM

Thirteen years after abandoning his wife and two sons by stepping out for a pack of cigarettes and never returning, deadbeat gambler Masato dies of stomach cancer. At his funeral, a motley crew of fellow mahjong players, pachinko parlor employees and former drinking buddies gather to pay their respects and tell stories, revealing aspects of Masato’s life that complicate his sons’ resentment towards him.

Three shorts and three supplements tackle the central theme of 'compliance'. A wanna-be actress findsherself trapped between her traditional loyalty to her parents and her strong-willed director; a police officer and his robot sidekick resort to unorthodox methods to fight crime; a structuring of a PSA to promote social sensitivity is taken to absurd extremes.

On a rainy day, a tired man is standing in the kitchen. He is preparing a special curry to eat on his wife's birthday three days later. It is an important dish that has become an annual event. The radio program he loves to listen to is encouraging listeners to send in their "secret recipes." The man picks up his phone and starts writing an email him about his special home cooking. (Source: sonocurry.com)