After an encounter with a dying yakuza’s son and at his sister Sakura’s urging Read More »
Tag Archives: Chieko Baishô
Tora-san 35 / Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajirô ren’ai juku (1985) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Mitsuru Hirata
On the Goto Islands, Tora-san rescues an old lady and befriends her. Read More »
Tora-san Loves an Artist / Otoko wa tsurai yo: Watashi no tora-san (1973) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Keiko Kishi
Tora-San returns to Shibamata just before his family leaves on a trip for Kyushu. Read More »
Tora-san’s Forget Me Not AKA Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro wasurenagusa (1973) Yôji Yamada, Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baishô, Ruriko Asaoka
Tora visits his family after a year. After a misunderstanding he gets upset and leaves to end up in the countryside. Read More »
Haruka naru yama no yobigoe / A Distant Cry from Spring (1980) Yôji Yamada, Ken Takakura, Chieko Baishô, Hidetaka Yoshioka
A mysterious stranger appears at the door of a farmhouse on a stormy night and asks for shelter. The young widow who owns the farm puts him up in the barn. Read More »
Flag in the Mist / Kiri no hata (1965) Yôji Yamada, Chieko Baishô, Osamu Takizawa, Michiyo Aratama
When her only relative, her elder brother is accused of robbing and murdering an old woman loan-shark Read More »
Shiawase no kiiroi hankachi / The Yellow Handkerchief (1977) Yôji Yamada, Ken Takakura, Chieko Baishô, Kaori Momoi, Comedy, Drama
The story starts with Kinya, who has recently upgraded his car. He’s a young adult and he’s single so naturally he uses his ride to ahem, look for companions. He offers a ride to a shy girl by the name of Akemi and she reluctantly accepts. From the get go, sexual tension is apparent, but things get a bit easier as the two become acquainted. They pick up Yusaku, a 30-something coal miner with a reserved personality. The story slowly begins to shift from the comedic hijinks of Kinya and Akemi to Yusaku’s mental drama. He’s hiding something about his past, which he either wants to forget or is trying to remember.
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Station / Eki (1981) Yasuo Furuhata, Ken Takakura, Chieko Baishô, Ayumi Ishida, Drama
A very beautiful film. This is a Ken Takakura vehicle, and as such follows his formula. Takakura plays to type as the laconic brooder who suffers multiple tragedies with manly stoicism. While the variety of his film varied greatly, his films with director Yasuo Furuhata were always of the highest quality, and this is no exception. Takakura is a cop training to be a sharpshooter for the Olympic games, he divorces his wife and abandons his daughter when he discovers she’s had an affair. Later his coach is gunned down by a fleeing criminal. Years later Takakura returns to his snowy hometown and starts an affair with a middle-aged bar owner. The story is a bit thick, with a number of subplots, yet it is extrordinarily melancholic, as Takakura seems to regret everything he’s done in his life and is made over and over again to relive his mistakes. There is very little “action” as such, and no yakuzas of any kind; but beyond that this is one of the most lushly beautiful and emotional films you can see (if you can see it), with an excellent score by Ryudo Uzaki.
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