ACF 303: Tora-san, My Uncle

Tora-san, My Uncle
Episode 42 - Otoko wa Tsuraiyo: Boku no Ojisan
Directed by Yoji Yamada
With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Kumiko Goto
Japan, 1989, 108 min, 35 mm, color

The final film in Japan Society's Monthly Classics series The Best of Tora-san will be shown Friday, May 22, 2009 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street (between 1st & 2nd Avenues), New York, NY 10017.

Secretly in love with Izumi, Mitsuo, Tora-san’s restless nephew, embarks on a motorcycle journey to find her in Saga and runs into his uncle on the way. Tora-san tries helping Mitsuo capture Izumi’s heart, despite the disapproval of her uncle. Kumiko Goto stars as Izumi, who plays the “Madonna” for four consecutive Tora-san films as Mitsuo’s love interest.

Order tickets online for Tora-san, My Uncle, or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

ACF 273: Hearts and Flowers for Tora-San

Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san
Episode 29 - Otoko wa Tsuraiyo: Torajiro Ajisaino koi
Directed by Yoji Yamada
With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Ayumi Ishida
Japan, 982, 110 min., 35 mm, color

This month's installment in Japan Society's Monthly Classics series Best of Tora-san will be shown tomorrow, Friday, April 17, 2009 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street New York, NY 10017 (between 1st and 2nd Avenues). I've watched this episode on a DVD screener and found it to be as enjoyable as others I've seen, which is to say very enjoyable. Tora-san is an innocent, frank and forthright character, simple and child-like in so many ways. You can't help but loving him, even when his behavior is unpleasant.

Synopsis:After a debaucherous evening in Kyoto with Kano, an elegant older man, Tora-san wakes up in Kano's home oblivious to the fact that he is the National Living Treasure of ceramics. Tora-san falls in love with his maid Kagari and follows her to her coastal hometown when she moves out after being abandoned by the man she was set to marry.

Buy tickets online for Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san, or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

ACF 246: Toras-san's Dream-Come-True

Tora-san's Dream-Come-True
Episode 10 - Otoko wa Tsuraiyo: Torajiro Yumemakura
Directed by Yoji Yamada
With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Kaoru Yachigusa
Japan, 1972, 98 min, color

The next film in Japan Society's Monthly Classics series, Best of Tora-san, will be shown on Friday, March 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017

Tora-san is furious when he finds that his family has rented out his room to Mr. Okakura, a local university professor. But when he reconnects with Chiyo, a childhood friend who has lost custody of her son, he develops feelings for her—and so has the professor.

Buy tickets online for Tora-San's Dream Come True, or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

ACF 228: Tora-san's Old Home at Japan Society this Friday, February 13th, 2009

Tora-san's Dear Old Home

Episode 9 - Otoko wa Tsuraiyo: Shibamatabojo
Directed by Yoji Yamada
With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Sayuri Yoshinaga
Japan, 1972, 107 min.

Japan Society's monthly screening of episodes selected by director Yamada from the long-running Tora-san film series continues this Friday, February 13, 2009 at 7:30 PM with Tora-san's Dear Old Home.

In the historic, charming city of Kanazawa, Tora-san (Kiyoshi Atsumi) befriends a group of 3 young women who all adore Tora-san’s goofiness, but shy, pretty Utako particularly catches his eye. A few weeks later, Utako visits Tora-san in Shimabata to cheer her up when her grumpy father refuses to let her marry the man she loves.

The Best of Tora-san series began last October and celebrates both the 40th anniversary of the first Tora-san film and the 80th anniversary of Atsumi's birth.

Tickets: $11/$7 Japan Society members, students & senior

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

The Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017

ACF 205: Tora-san's Love Call at Japan Society January 23rd, 2009

Tora-san's Love Call
Directed by Yoji Yamada
Starring Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Junko Ikeuchi
Japan, 1971, 113 min, 35mm, color

Commemorating Japan's longest running film series, the Japan Society Film Program continues its Monthly Classics Best of Tora-san screenings in the New Year with films hand selected by series regular director Yoji Yamada's (Twilight Samurai).

Following the clumsy yet lovable character of Tora-san as he stumbles across fun and mischief throughout Japan, Best of Tora-san celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first Tora-san film and the 80th anniversary of star Kiyoshi Atsumi’s birth.

The next film in the Best of Tora-san series will be Tora-san's Love Call on Friday, January 23, 7:30 pm at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues, New York NY. Order tickets here.

Synopsis: After Tora-san attends the funeral of his sister’s mother-in-law in Okayama, he overstays his welcome and becomes inspired by the stories and wise words of the widower. Returning to Shimabata with dreams of starting a family, Tora-san falls in love with a lovely coffee shop owner Takako and befriends her young son.

Series Overview: The Tora-san series chronicles the life of an unruly vagabond traveling through Japan with mostly the same characters and actors, following his gangly adventures and budding new love interests ("The Madonna") in each film. In an age when cool yakuza superstars such as Ken Takakura and Yujiro Ishihara dominated the screen, actor Kiyoshi Atsumi as Tora-san emerged in 1969 as Japan's comic anti-hero, and remained the country's beloved icon for over 25 years.

Over the years, Tora-san came to embody an old, distant world, humorously winning over vast audiences nostalgic for simpler times. To date, over 80 million people have seen Tora-san in theaters in Japan. Yoji Yamada wrote and directed all but two of the 48 films.

The remaining episodes after Tora-san's Love Call will be:
Tora-san's Dear Old Home (Episode 9 - Otoko wa tsuraiyo: Shibamata bojo, 1972), February 13
Tora-san's Dream Come True (Episode 10 - Otoko wa tsuraiyo: Torajiro Yumemakura, 1972), March 13
Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san (Episode 29 - Otoko wa tsuraiyo: Torajiro Ajisai no koi, 1982), April 17
Tora-san, My Uncle (Episode 42 - Otoko wa tsuraiyo: Boku no ojisan, 1989), May 22.

All films are in Japanese with English subtitles.

Prints are courtesy of Shochiku Co., Ltd.

ACF 189: Tora-san @ Japan Society

Tora-san Goes Religious?

(Episode 32)

Otoko wa Tsuraiyo: Kuchibue wo foku TorajiroDirected by Yoji Yamada
With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Keiko Takeshita
Japan, 1983, 105 min.

Japan Society's monthly screenings of films selected by director Yamada from the long-running Tora-san series continues tomorrow night Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 7:30 PM. I'm glad to be passing on this info about another great episode from this terrific series. Catch it if you can.

When Tora-san (Kiyoshi Atsumi) stops into the town of Okayama to pay respects to his brother-in-law’s late father’s grave, he is taken in by the temple’s priest. When he falls in love with Tomoko, the priest’s charming daughter, he dons a robe and begins chanting sutras to win over her heart- and realizes he might just be cut out for the pious life despite his family’s doubts.

The Tora-san Goes Religious? page at Japan Society's website, which  includes a YouTube clip, can be accessed by clicking here.

This film is part of the Monthly Classics series, Best of Tora-san.

Tickets $11/$7 Japan Society members, students & seniors

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, New York, NY 10017

ACF 179: Best of Tora-san series continues at Japan Society on Fri., Nov. 21, 2008

Tora-san Meets the Songstress Again

Episode 15 - Otoko wa Tsuraiyo: Torajiro aiaigasa
Directed by Yoji Yamada
With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Chieko Baisho and Ruriko Asaoka

Japan, 1975, 90 min.

Japan Society's current Monthly Classics series Best of Tora-san continues this Friday, November 21st, 2008 with Episode 15 of the long-running series. Like all eight episodes being showcased, it was personally selected by director Yoji Yamada, who helmed 46 of the 48 films in the series.

Storyline:

Disgruntled with his life in Tokyo as an established business man with a family, Hyodo escapes to Hokkaido to look for his high school love, with Tora-san (Kiyoshi Atsumi) in tow. On the way, Tora-san runs into the beautiful singer, Lily, who has divorced her husband since she last saw Tora-san. Can Tora-san hold onto her this time? Ruriko Asaoka stars as Lily, who played the “Madonna” in five of the Tora-san films- the most of any other Madonna in the series.

Screening & Ticket Info:
Tora-san Meets the Songstress Again will be shown at Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, NY10017. Showtime Friday night is 7:30 PM.

Tickets$11/$7 Japan Society members, students & seniors

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 6 pm, Weekends 11 am - 5 pm.

ACF 166: Tora-san, Our Loveable Tramp (Episode 1) tonight @ Japan Society

Photo © Shochiku Co., Ltd.

Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp / Otoko wa tsuraiyo

Episode 1
Directed by Yoji Yamada

With Kiyoshi Atsumi, Sashiko Mitsumoto, Chieko Baisho

1969, 91 min., 35mm, color

This is the first of the forty-eight Tora-san films, almost all of which were both written and directed by Yoji Yamada.

Twenty years after leaving the small town of Shibamata, Tora-san (Kiyoshi Atsumi) returns home and is reunited with his younger sister Sakura (Chieko Baisho), who has been raised there by their aunt and uncle. Sakura is now a beautiful young woman with many suitors. When Hiroshi, a neighborhood factory worker, vows to win Sakura over, Tora-san stirs the pot with clumsy schemes that backfire into disaster.

Tonight's screening will be the first of eight Tora-san films that Japan Society will be showing from now thru May as its second annual Monthly Classics Film Program.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (just west of First Avenue)
New York, NY 10017

Friday, October 17 at 7:30 pm

Director Yoji Yamada live from Tokyo via digital video after the screening!

Info, pics, and tickets at www.japansociety.org/film