Ryutaro Nakagawa
Director, screenwriter, poet, and essayist.
Works
Yakushima's Illusion
Corry, a French coordinator of pediatric heart transplants is sent to Japan where organ donation remains taboo. As she fights to save a young boy, her partner Jin, a photographer from Yakushima, suddenly vanishes.
Release Date2025-11-07
Charactersd Hitomi's father
The Deepest Space in Us
Kaori, an allomantic and asexual woman, is left shattered after her fiancé Takeru’s sudden suicide. Seeking closure, she embarks on a journey with Nakano, Takeru’s best friend, to the place of his death—unraveling hidden layers of love, identity, and the Takeru they never truly knew.
Release Date2025-11-28
DepartmentWriting
JobIdea
Charactersd Nakano
Nevertheless: The Shapes of Love
After a painful breakup, Miu vows to focus on art and avoid love — until an encounter with an aloof, charming artist stirs her deepest instincts.
Release Date2024-12-09
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Episode Count8
Vote Count13
MY (K)NIGHT
Three women in Yokohama who have their own troubles and thoughts and are seeking salvation. They relied on the “date therapists” to heal the women, save the world, and be lovers for one night.
Release Date2023-12-01
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count2
Mio on the Shore
Mio is 20 years old. Having lost her parents early, she and her grandmother run a traditional inn in Nagano. However, her grandmother gets sick. Mio moves to Tokyo and lives with her father’s best friend, Kyosuke. He runs a public bath. She begins to work at the public bath, but it is scheduled to be demolished to make way for redevelopment.
Release Date2019-11-15
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count12
One Day, You Will Reach the Sea
This work is a 12-year story of Mana, a woman who cannot accept the death of her best friend, staring at her as she tries to step forward while having deep sorrow.
Release Date2022-04-01
DepartmentWriting
JobScreenplay
Vote Count21
Summer Blooms
27-year-old Hatsumi Takimoto is a former teacher and now waitress. She holds a secret. Three years after her boyfriend died, she receives a letter from him. After meeting a former student, Hatsumi Takimoto confesses about her past.
Release Date2018-05-12
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count14
It Stopped Raining
A young bioarchaeologist Yukisuke is attracted to a girl Koyomi, who runs a small stand of taiyaki pastry that he often buys. Koyomi is hospitalized, however, by a car accident on a rainy day after they go out together, and wakes up with short term memory loss, where she cannot remember anything beyond the present day. Yukisuke tries to live close to her as before but the lack of collective memory starts to stagger him.
Release Date2020-02-07
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count10
Lonely Glory
Haruka, a young recognized female entrepreneur, was forced to retire from her company due to the abuse of her authority. For her pride, she attempts to sell her family home and starts her new business, despite her two brothers and a sister living and running a small restaurant at the house.
Release Date2023-03-31
DepartmentWriting
JobOriginal Story
Vote Count8
Kamata Prelude
A four-part film done in the unique style of each director, Matusbayashi Urara gives a portrayal of a struggling actress named Machiko who lives in Kamata. Machiko is the central axis of the movie as the film comically depicts what it means to be a "woman" and an "actress" in society through showing the patterns of life as conducted by her and the people that surround her.
Release Date2020-09-25
DepartmentWriting
JobScreenplay
Birth of Melos
A new bold interpretation of the plot of the literary masterpiece "Running Melos", transferred to our days! A high-tension literary comedy from the popular actor Yuta Koseki and director Ryutaro Nakagawa!
Release Date2023-01-01
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Tokyo Sunrise
Ren struggles with the death of his longtime friend Kaoru. He finds a painting of a girl that Kaoru left behind. Ren sets out on a journey to find the girl.
Release Date2015-10-24
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count5
Hold on, look ahead.
The Tama River, where the water flows along the border between Tokyo and Kanagawa, pours into Tokyo Bay and the large sky spreads out. People who enjoy sports, lovers who are close to each other, students who practice singing, by the riverside, which is rich in nature, people who ride bicycles come and go as they please. Spring of 2020 corona disaster of people who spend their days along such a river.
Release Date2021-04-23
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Episode Count8
Vote Count2
Echoes of Motherhood
The love and conflicts between mother and daughter, and between husband and wife. The final chapter of Nakagawa Ryutaro's trilogy, depicting the forms of love that endure through loss and rebirth.
Release Date2025-10-29
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
August in Tokyo
In a corner of Tokyo, a man named Natsuo lives as a yakuza and a woman named Natsuki works part-time. Although they rarely think about their families, they attempt to reunite with them. Brother and sister, father and daughter; the distance between them begins to shrink, but... This film portrays the dynamics of people trying to co-exist in nature and in the city. Even though two individuals may be insignificant in the context of a large society, one life meets another and they move forward. This is a movie about their small footsteps.
Release Date2014-10-01
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count1
Icarus: The City of One Wing
Inspired by Hata Motohiro's "Icarus," this story of loss and rebirth is adapted into a film with an entirely original script by three film directors. Set in Hata Motohiro's hometown of Yokohama, the film depicts various forms of loss and rebirth.
Release Date2023-02-05
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Calling
A cleaning man wants to become a painter, but he continues to devote himself to his wife by giving up the dream.
Release Date2012-11-03
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Plastic Love Story
'Plastic Love Story' presents Coming of Age of three girls in Japan. Eri tries to remedy her anxiety and loneliness by being self-destructive. Rina relies on her relationship with boyfriend to compensate for her broken dream of being a ballerina. Kanae lost her brother when she was a child and seeks a solitary life in an abandoned hut by a seaside town. The three girls encounter three men in their lives. When they meet, their 'Plastic' love story begins.
Release Date2014-01-01
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Tale of a Raindrop
This is a story of a young woman and her coming of age in Japan. In the winter before her college graduation, Michiru received a letter from a girl. Apparently, they are sisters who shared the same father. The letter explained their father who has left Michiru from her birth. Even though she had never cared about him, the fact about his existence spread within her.
Release Date2012-11-02
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Vote Count6
Kokoro
Release Date2025-12-08
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Episode Count1
Yuagari Sketch
Sawai Honami is an illustrator who is addicted to the charm of public baths. While drawing illustrations, she meets women from different walks of life at a public bath.
Release Date2022-02-03
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Episode Count8
Vote Count1
Leave Behind
Momoe is a web designer, Ryusei is a chef, both live in Machida. When Momoe has to move out of the town because of her job, she started to remember her memory with this town. The last days in the town, what will we leave and for what will we live.
Release Date2023-06-06
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector
Kokoro
I — a fledgling novelist — first met her, my wife, ten years ago, during the final summer of university. I was the one who introduced her to him, my one and only best friend. Before long, the three of us grew close, opening our hearts to one another. Yet, as I shared a home with him out of financial necessity, I gradually came to see the true person hidden deep within his heart — and the feelings among the three of us began to change little by little. What has become of us now, after learning the true depths of one another’s hearts…?
Release Date2025-12-08
DepartmentDirecting
JobDirector