In 1990, Shun Nakahara — a religion-studies major at the University of Tokyo who later became a porno director — released his first straight feature, "Sakura no Sono" ("The Cherry Orchard"). Based on an Akimi Yoshida manga, the film described the day a drama club at an exclusive girls' school stages Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard."
Instead of hyping the action, "American Graffiti"-style (this is the night that changes everything!), Nakahara and scriptwriter Hiroaki Jinno kept it naturalistic and low key. There is a crisis — school authorities debate whether to cancel the play after one cast member is seen smoking in a coffee shop and another comes to school wearing a permanent in blatant violation of the rules — but it is less important than the swirling currents of Eros and angst. Nakahara filmed the girls from a discreet middle distance, like a knowing anthropologist observing sacred rites of passage.
The film was showered with awards — including best film, director and screenplay honors from the Kinema Junpo critics poll — but Nakahara's career since has been patchy, with commercial work-for-hire (an episode in the "Tomie" horror series) interspersed with more personal films (the underrated "Ichigo no Kakera" ["Strawberry Chips"]).