Nobuhiko Obayashi

Directing

Nobuhiko Obayashi

Born — Died

1938-01-09 — 2020-04-10

Place of birth

Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

70 titles

Nobuhiko Obayashi (January 9, 1938 – April 10, 2020) was a Japanese director, screenwriter and editor of films and television advertisements who is well known for his surreal visual style. He began his career as a pioneering figure in Japanese experimental film during the 1960s before transitioning to directing more mainstream works such as television and feature films. Though he remains mostly unknown outside of Japan, he has made a prolific number of films in his 50 years of working with the medium.

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 5 titles

Extro poster
7.7

Dives deep into the tragicomic world of the"towns-people" stand-ins working at Warp Station Edo, a popular shooting location for samurai dramas, through a piercing study of a 63-year-old extra. Utilizing mockumentary stylings, this ambitious film forms a compelling commentary on the aspirations that shape film production and the feelings that a simple, ho-hum life can evoke.

Extro

2019

Seijo Story: 60 Years of Making Films poster
NR

After meeting as college students in the cinema town of Seijo, husband and wife Nobuhiko and Kyoko Obayashi have gone on to direct and produce acclaimed films together for 60 years.

Seijo Story: 60 Years of Making Films

2019

Constructing a House poster
7.0

Interview-based documentary looking back on the making and reception of Nobuhiko Ōbayashi's 1977 film House.

Constructing a House

2010

Film Director Nobuhiko Obayashi: His Promise poster
NR

Director Nobuhiko Obayashi is often dubbed "the cinematic magician." 2 and a half years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer with 3 months to live. But that did not deter him from making movies. Currently, he's in post-production on the second film he's done since being diagnosed. He's driven by the message of his late friend, the maestro Akira Kurosawa: "Movies have the power to stop fighting. Look 400 years ahead and keep on shooting." We follow Obayashi's extraordinary career and his mission to use the big screen to send out a message of peace.

Film Director Nobuhiko Obayashi: His Promise

2019

Kalina's Apple: Forest of Chernobyl poster
NR

A girl, Kalina, who lives in Belarus spends summer vacation at grandma's house in rural area. They village is very close to the area prohibited to reside because of radioactive contamination. Kalina's family had lived there, but they break up in the attack of mom. Dad moved in far-off Moscow to earn the hospital charges for Mon. One day, hospitalized Mon tells Kalina 'There is a castle of devils in a town called Chernobyl. They are spreading out poisons.' Kalina tells grandma it. She laughs and says 'God will attack them.' However, grandma gets sick, and mom's condition has deteriorated. Kalina wonders why God wouldn't help her. 'If god wouldn't do anything, I do by myself' Kalina decides to go to Chernobyl.

Kalina's Apple: Forest of Chernobyl

2011

1990s · 4 titles

1980s · 6 titles

1970s · 6 titles

House poster
7.3

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

House

1977

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi poster
6.4

Obayashi's take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to figure out who has beheaded a valuable statue and made off with its head.

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi

1979

Black Jack: The Visitor in the Eye poster
6.2

Komori Chiaki is a budding tennis student. However, one day while training, her coach hits a ball into her eye on accident. At the hospital, the news that she will never regain the sight in her eye leaves her heartbroken. As a last resort, she undergoes a costly surgery from the mysterious doctor known as Black Jack, where after a successful operation, a mysterious figure starts to emerge in her vision, and only she can see it.

Black Jack: The Visitor in the Eye

1977

Pink Lady's Motion Picture poster
6.8

The Japanese pop music duo Pink Lady are circus performers who show kindness toward a captured "monster," a sad, furry being (played by a man in a bulky, over-sized pink acrylic costume) who suffers acts of unusual cruelty by the keeper and ringmaster before the girls escape with the creature in a circus trailer.

Pink Lady's Motion Picture

1978

Golden Partners poster
7.0

A motorcycle cop and a freelance photographer, having learned the location of 1 billion yen's worth of the Imperial Navy's gold, team up to salvage it.

Golden Partners

1979

Inside the Storm of Love poster
NR

Comedy-suspense thriller about a girl, who investigates her sister's mysterious death.

Inside the Storm of Love

1978

Behind the camera

House poster
7.3

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

House

1977

House poster
7.3

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

House

1977

Chizuko's Younger Sister poster
7.5

The Kitao family is coping with the loss of the eldest daughter, Chizuko, who was killed in a freak accident the year prior. When the other daughter Mika is suddenly in a dangerous situation, Chizuko returns as a ghost to save her; reunited with her sister, Mika begins spending time with Chizuko again.

Chizuko's Younger Sister

1991

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time poster
6.8

Kazuko Yoshiyama is a third-year junior-high-school student. One day, while cleaning the lab, she smells lavender and faints. From then on, she has the power to travel through time.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

1983

Samurai Kids poster
7.5

With the help of a six-inch-tall ancient samurai warrior, a lonely young environmentalist finds self-confidence and new companionship in protecting Japan's beautiful naturality from human mismanagement.

Samurai Kids

1993

Four Sisters poster
7.5

Four sisters with no consanguinity are living together since childhood. When facing misfortune and grievances in lives, they give support and encouragement to each other, even sacrifice oneself to help others.

Four Sisters

1985

Beijing Watermelon poster
7.0

Shunzo is a popular greengrocer in a town near Tokyo. His life, and the lives of his wife Michi, and their two children, undergoes a dramatic change when he encounters Li, a poor college student from China.

Beijing Watermelon

1989

Lonely Heart poster
7.2

Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?

Lonely Heart

1985

Lonely Heart poster
7.2

Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?

Lonely Heart

1985

Labyrinth of Cinema poster
6.9

When lightning strikes a theater about to close its doors, three moviegoers are thrust back in time to the world inside the screen.

Labyrinth of Cinema

2020

Labyrinth of Cinema poster
6.9

When lightning strikes a theater about to close its doors, three moviegoers are thrust back in time to the world inside the screen.

Labyrinth of Cinema

2020

Labyrinth of Cinema poster
6.9

When lightning strikes a theater about to close its doors, three moviegoers are thrust back in time to the world inside the screen.

Labyrinth of Cinema

2020

Casting Blossoms to the Sky poster
7.0

In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, a journalist arrives in Nagaoka, a city decimated during a WWII air raid and by the 2004 Chūetsu earthquakes, to report on the disaster; there, she learns about the experiences of its inhabitants and stumbles upon a stage play written by an enigmatic student of her ex-boyfriend.

Casting Blossoms to the Sky

2012

Casting Blossoms to the Sky poster
7.0

In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, a journalist arrives in Nagaoka, a city decimated during a WWII air raid and by the 2004 Chūetsu earthquakes, to report on the disaster; there, she learns about the experiences of its inhabitants and stumbles upon a stage play written by an enigmatic student of her ex-boyfriend.

Casting Blossoms to the Sky

2012

His Motorbike, Her Island poster
7.7

Ko, a motorbike enthusiast from the city wandering the Japanese countryside, falls for the carefree local Miyo and teaches her how to ride. When Miyo proves herself a biker prodigy, Ko begins to fear she's destined to crash.

His Motorbike, Her Island

1986

The Drifting Classroom poster
5.2

An entire Japanese international grade school—and all within—are mysteriously transported to a foreboding desert wasteland. As the story unfolds, the diminishing student body weathers this apocalyptic crisis while searching for clues about their surroundings, and dealing with psychological breakdown and dangerous exterior forces.

The Drifting Classroom

1987

Hanagatami poster
7.2

Spring, 1941: 16-year-old Toshihiko attends school in the coastal town of Karatsu, where his aunt cares for his ailing cousin. Immersed in the seaside's nature and culture, Toshihiko soon befriends the town's other extraordinary adolescents as they all contend with the war's gravitational pull.

Hanagatami

2017

Hanagatami poster
7.2

Spring, 1941: 16-year-old Toshihiko attends school in the coastal town of Karatsu, where his aunt cares for his ailing cousin. Immersed in the seaside's nature and culture, Toshihiko soon befriends the town's other extraordinary adolescents as they all contend with the war's gravitational pull.

Hanagatami

2017

The Motive poster
6.9

Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family.

The Motive

2004

The Motive poster
6.9

Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family.

The Motive

2004

Turning Point poster
7.0

A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.

Turning Point

1994

Turning Point poster
7.0

A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.

Turning Point

1994

The Discarnates poster
6.7

A recently divorced writer is reunited with the ghosts of his parents who died when he was a boy. However, every time he sees them he loses more life energy. Now, he must choose between starting a new life or staying forever in the past.

The Discarnates

1988

Goodbye for Tomorrow poster
10.0

People from all walks of life all receive mysterious messages from loved ones who were killed 3 months earlier in a shipwreck. They are instructed to go to a small island in the Inland Sea that evening.

Goodbye for Tomorrow

1995

The Rocking Horsemen poster
7.4

It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.

The Rocking Horsemen

1992

Legend of the Cat Monster poster
5.0

A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter is tasked with writing her comeback film, which leads the two to live under the same roof.

Legend of the Cat Monster

1983

I Are You, You Am Me poster
6.4

9th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the pressures of junior high school life.

I Are You, You Am Me

1982

Kenya Boy poster
5.8

An 11-year-old boy who goes to Africa with his father in 1941. Because he is Japanese, the father is detained by the British. The boy joins up with a beautiful native girl, and the adventure begins.

Kenya Boy

1984

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi poster
6.4

Obayashi's take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to figure out who has beheaded a valuable statue and made off with its head.

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi

1979

Seven Weeks poster
8.1

Relatives gather from afar in wintery Ashibetsu upon the death of patriarch Mitsuo. A mysterious woman named Nobuko suddenly shows up. Her appearance gradually exposes wartime secrets and Mitsuo's unknown past.

Seven Weeks

2014

Seven Weeks poster
8.1

Relatives gather from afar in wintery Ashibetsu upon the death of patriarch Mitsuo. A mysterious woman named Nobuko suddenly shows up. Her appearance gradually exposes wartime secrets and Mitsuo's unknown past.

Seven Weeks

2014

Sada poster
7.0

On 17 May 1936–during a period of war, economic depression, public unease and growing militarism, a time of unrest and confusion when public opinion was, at best, unpredictable–Sada Abe killed and emasculated her lover. Condemned by the law, Sada finds herself lionised by the press and hailed as a 'saint' of love. Because hers was a crime of passion, the purity of her motivation elevates her from criminal to heroine.

Sada

1998

Sada poster
7.0

On 17 May 1936–during a period of war, economic depression, public unease and growing militarism, a time of unrest and confusion when public opinion was, at best, unpredictable–Sada Abe killed and emasculated her lover. Condemned by the law, Sada finds herself lionised by the press and hailed as a 'saint' of love. Because hers was a crime of passion, the purity of her motivation elevates her from criminal to heroine.

Sada

1998

One Summer's Day poster
10.0

Absent-minded fifth-grader Yuta is sent to spend the summer with his grandfather, whom Yuta's parents think is becoming senile and could benefit from Yuta's companionship. At first, Yuta thinks Gramps is a bit addled, too, but as he gets to know the old man better, he finds that his grandfather sees things quite differently from others.

One Summer's Day

1999

One Summer's Day poster
10.0

Absent-minded fifth-grader Yuta is sent to spend the summer with his grandfather, whom Yuta's parents think is becoming senile and could benefit from Yuta's companionship. At first, Yuta thinks Gramps is a bit addled, too, but as he gets to know the old man better, he finds that his grandfather sees things quite differently from others.

One Summer's Day

1999

The Stupid Teacher poster
8.0

Film director Mario Baba meets a mysterious gentleman, and realizes he is a important man from his boyhood. The two chase each other around, causing a lot of commotion.

The Stupid Teacher

2000

The Stupid Teacher poster
8.0

Film director Mario Baba meets a mysterious gentleman, and realizes he is a important man from his boyhood. The two chase each other around, causing a lot of commotion.

The Stupid Teacher

2000

Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast poster
6.9

During the fervently nationalist months leading up to World War II, a rebellious teenager is transferred to a new primary school in a small Inland Sea town. He vies with the school’s reigning bully, who takes a romantic interest in his older stepsister. When they learn she’s going to be sold to a brothel to pay off her father’s debts, they form an uneasy alliance to free her.

Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast

1986

The Nagaharu Yodogawa Story: A Cineaste's Life in Kobe poster
9.0

Depicts the life of Nagaharu Yodogawa.

The Nagaharu Yodogawa Story: A Cineaste's Life in Kobe

1999

The Nagaharu Yodogawa Story: A Cineaste's Life in Kobe poster
9.0

Depicts the life of Nagaharu Yodogawa.

The Nagaharu Yodogawa Story: A Cineaste's Life in Kobe

1999