With the stock market heading south and the political situation taking an uncanny resemblance to the last sclerotic days of the Soviet Union, no wonder Japanese moviegoers want to be anywhere but here and now. Even so, the number of new and recent Japanese films set in the past is extraordinary, given that only a few years ago the jidai geki -- the period drama genre -- was all but dead.

A jidai geki revival has been underway for some time now, with older audiences driving much of the demand -- and older producers and directors rushing to fill it. The most successful of these films, however, including Masahiro Shinoda's "Owls' Castle (Fukuro no Shiro)" (1999) and Yojiro Takita's "Yin-Yang Master (Onmyoji)," (2001), have had strong fantasy elements, created with sophisticated CG effects that appeal to younger audiences. In other words, these are not your father's -- not to mention Akira Kurosawa's -- samurai movies.

Until recently, effects-driven films were deemed too costly by the local industry, with the exception of family fare that could get by with less-than-Hollywood quality (such as hiring a guy in a rubber suit to play Godzilla). Now, though, sophisticated computer-generated effects are everywhere, from TV commercials to big-budget films that go head-to-head with Hollywood.