Tora-san Goes North
Encyclopedia
aka Torasan, Remind Shiretoke is a 1987
Japan
ese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada
. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi
as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Keiko Takeshita as his love interest or "Madonna". Tora-san Goes North is the thirty-eighth entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo
series.
was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Japan Academy Prize for his role in Tora-san Goes North. He won awards for Best Supporting Actor at the Blue Ribbon Awards
and the Mainichi Film Award ceremonies. Keiko Awaji was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Japan Academy Prize. Stuart Galbraith IV
writes that Tora-san Goes North is "funny, charming, and ultimately quite moving". The film unites Mifune and Keiko Awaji
who had appeared together forty years earlier in Kurosawa
's Stray Dog
(1949). Noting that Mifune rarely found a good part in the last two decades of his career, Galbraith judges Tora-san Goes North to be "an utterly charming film that gives the great actor one of his last good roles." The German-language site molodezhnaja gives Tora-san Goes North three and a half out of five stars.
1987 in film
-Events:*January 31 - The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records....
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada
Yoji Yamada
is a Japanese film director best known for his Otoko wa Tsurai yo series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ....
. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi
Kiyoshi Atsumi
Kiyoshi Atsumi , born Yasuo Tadokoro , was a Japanese film actor....
as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Keiko Takeshita as his love interest or "Madonna". Tora-san Goes North is the thirty-eighth entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo
Otoko wa Tsurai yo
Otoko wa tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as "Tora-san" , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans...
series.
Synopsis
When his travels take him to rural Hokkaido, Tora-san helps a cantankerous old veterinarian in his relationships with his estranged daughter, and a woman in whom he is secrety interested.Cast
- Kiyoshi AtsumiKiyoshi AtsumiKiyoshi Atsumi , born Yasuo Tadokoro , was a Japanese film actor....
as Torajirō - Chieko BaishōChieko Baishois a Japanese actress and singer.In Japan, she is well known for her performance as Sakura in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series . In addition, she has acted in most films directed by Yōji Yamada since the 1960s...
as Sakura - Keiko Takeshita as Rinko
- Toshirō MifuneToshiro MifuneToshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
as Junkichi Ueno - Keiko AwajiKeiko Awajiis a Japanese film actress.Notable highlights of her career were an appearance in Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog, and a role as Kimiko in The Bridges at Toko-Ri, where she appeared alongside William Holden and Mickey Rooney....
as Etsuko - Shimojo Masami as Kuruma Tatsuzō
- Chieko Misaki as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt)
- Gin Maeda as Hiroshi Suwa
- Hidetaka YoshiokaHidetaka Yoshioka', is a Japanese actor known for his performance in several movies as a child and lately the award-winning TV drama Dr. Koto Shinryojo. He notably played the part of Tora-san's little nephew in the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" film series, and he appeared in Akira Kurosawa's "Rhapsody in August" and...
as Mitsuo Suwa - Hisao Dazai as Boss (Umetarō Katsura)
- Jun Miho as Akemi
- Gajirō Satō as Genkō
- Chishū RyūChishu Ryuwas a famous Japanese film actor, a favourite of the director Yasujiro Ozu. From 1928 to 1992 he appeared in at least 155 films, including Ozu's Tokyo Story and Yoshitaro Nomura's Castle of Sand...
as Gozen-sama - Issei Ogata as The doctor
Critical appraisal
Toshirō MifuneToshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Japan Academy Prize for his role in Tora-san Goes North. He won awards for Best Supporting Actor at the Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
and the Mainichi Film Award ceremonies. Keiko Awaji was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Japan Academy Prize. Stuart Galbraith IV
Stuart Galbraith IV
Stuart Galbraith IV is an American cinema historian, film critic, and DVD special features producer, essayist, and audio commentator.-Early life and education:...
writes that Tora-san Goes North is "funny, charming, and ultimately quite moving". The film unites Mifune and Keiko Awaji
Keiko Awaji
is a Japanese film actress.Notable highlights of her career were an appearance in Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog, and a role as Kimiko in The Bridges at Toko-Ri, where she appeared alongside William Holden and Mickey Rooney....
who had appeared together forty years earlier in Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's Stray Dog
Stray Dog (film)
is a 1949 film noir police procedural directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring frequent collaborators Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura.-Plot:Action takes place during a heatwave in a bombed-out, post-war Tokyo...
(1949). Noting that Mifune rarely found a good part in the last two decades of his career, Galbraith judges Tora-san Goes North to be "an utterly charming film that gives the great actor one of his last good roles." The German-language site molodezhnaja gives Tora-san Goes North three and a half out of five stars.
Availability
Tora-san Goes North was released theatrically on August 15, 1987. In Japan, the film has been released on videotape in 1996, and in DVD format in 1997, 2002, and 2008.External links
- Tora-san Goes North at www.tora-san.jp (Official site)