Tsutomu Tamura

Writing

Tsutomu Tamura

Born — Died

1933-01-05 — 1997-03-28

Place of birth

Tomioka, Gunma, Japan

Known for

Writing

Credits

27 titles

Tsutomu Tamura is known for The Ceremony (1971), Boy (1969) and Death by Hanging (1968).

Known for

Behind the camera

Boy poster
7.2

A family of four lives off of scams in which they pretend to be injured by automobiles.

Boy

1969

Death by Hanging poster
7.5

A Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but somehow survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next.

Death by Hanging

1968

Demon Pond poster
6.6

When a lone traveller stumbles upon a remote, drought-stricken village, he finds himself engulfed in a whirlpool of myth, mystery, and magic: in a nearby pond reside spirits who hold the fate of the town’s inhabitants, including lovers Akira and Yuri, in their hands.

Demon Pond

1979

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief poster
4.8

In Tokyo's Shinjuku district, the lives of a young man prone to theft, a young woman he meets at a bookstore, and a kabuki actor intersect.

Diary of a Shinjuku Thief

1969

The Ceremony poster
6.8

Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.

The Ceremony

1971

The Affair poster
6.6

As a young woman, Oriko condemned her widowed mother for openly pursuing relationships with younger men. After her mother passes away, she finds herself in an unhappy, loveless marriage and begins to understand her mother’s actions.

The Affair

1967

Sing a Song of Sex poster
6.0

Four sexually hungry high school students preparing for their university entrance exams meet up with an inebriated teacher singing bawdy drinking songs. This encounter sets them on a less than academic path.

Sing a Song of Sex

1967

Eighteen Years, to the Sea poster
6.7

Struggling with money, violence and social pressure, a couple of youngsters are drawn to dangerous games of death.

Eighteen Years, to the Sea

1979

Dear Summer Sister poster
5.2

14-year-old Sunaoko travels from Tokyo to Naha, Okinawa, with her father’s young fiancée Momoko in search of her half-brother whom she has never met. Their guide, a beer-guzzling ex-soldier, takes them to the locale’s tourist attractions, quickly delving into the underlying scars of the island’s wartime history.

Dear Summer Sister

1972

Japanese Summer: Double Suicide poster
5.7

A sex-obsessed woman, a suicidal man she meets on the street, and a gun-crazy wannabe gangster become trapped in an underground hideaway.

Japanese Summer: Double Suicide

1967

The Youth Killer poster
6.5

Though his parents help him run the family business, Jun still feels persecuted by their love; when they bar him from meeting with his girlfriend, tensions increase.

The Youth Killer

1976

MacArthur's Children poster
5.5

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the denizens of a small Japanese fishing village struggle with defeat, cultural change, and the arrival of American troops.

MacArthur's Children

1984

Three Resurrected Drunkards poster
5.7

Three students spend their holidays at the seaside where they are mistaken for Koreans, a minority which is looked down on in Japan. The action develops into a crime story.

Three Resurrected Drunkards

1968

The Catch poster
6.5

Towards the end of WWII, a black American pilot is captured and imprisoned by rural Japanese villagers, who await official instructions as to how to proceed with their 'catch'.

The Catch

1961

Impasse poster
6.4

Shingo and Ritsuko have a baby: Takashi. They happen to be a happy couple, but soon Ritsuko wants to know who is the true father of Takashi, born by artificial insemination.

Impasse

1967

The Start of Life poster
NR

A young girl in an industrial town is saving her money to enter college. But her drunken father loses his job, her mother cannot make ends meet, and then the boy she likes loses everything when his factory fails. She takes all her savings out of the bank and offers them to him to make a new start. He refuses at first but eventually agrees and so she goes back to school to tell her teacher that she has decided not to continue college, that she is young and strong, and can make her own way in life.

The Start of Life

1965

Beyond the Shining Sea poster
7.0

Heartbroken Ukiko takes refuge with a relative after a devastating breakup. While away, she makes a dangerous match with the husband of her frigid cousin.

Beyond the Shining Sea

1986

Volunteering for Villainy poster
NR

Two outsiders start a relationship in a mining town.

Volunteering for Villainy

1960

Volunteering for Villainy poster
NR

Two outsiders start a relationship in a mining town.

Volunteering for Villainy

1960

Ningen ni kakeruna poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ningen ni kakeruna

1964

The Bride is Fifteen poster
NR

Hanayome wa Jūgo-sai, directed by Mio Ezaki and distributed by Nikkatsu, stars Masako Izumi and Ken Yamauchi. The high-key pink background and casual photographic portrait embody Nikkatsu’s 1960s youth-film aesthetic. Clean, hopeful, and pop-oriented. The large white title, handwritten for a softer impression, injects playful energy that contrasts with the strict vertical text blocks. As Japan’s youth culture blossomed after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, posters like this captured the spirit of romance and rebellion marketed to teenage audiences. The vivid color palette and carefree composition signal a stylistic shift from postwar black-and-white melodrama to the vibrant optimism of modern Technicolor cinema.

The Bride is Fifteen

1964

The Dancer poster
6.4

Against the backdrop of late 19th-century Berlin, Toyotaro Ota, a young Japanese uni student studying in Germany, meets and falls in love with 16-year-old local dancer Elise. Their unconventional affair and subsequent cohabitation stir up a massive scandal that threatens his reputation, eventually reaching the ears of officials in Japan.

The Dancer

1989

Shisha to no kekkon poster
7.2

A case of mistaken identity in which a woman assumes the role of widow to a man killed in a train accident.

Shisha to no kekkon

1960

Only She Knows poster
NR

A young woman is attacked by a serial rapist and murderer whom her detective father is investigating. Though she survives, the impact of the event creates increasing discord and agony for her and her loved ones.

Only She Knows

1960

Prince of Wolves poster
NR

As the post-war turmoil continued, Take, the boss of the waifs, stole the money of US soldiers and lived with friends. They were like children of wolves. By chance, they were found by and became a members of a yakuza family. Five years later, Take dominated the port town as a young boss.

Prince of Wolves

1963

Katayoku dake no tenshi poster
NR

A divorced man meets a kindly Korean prostitute whom he cannot get from his mind. Things don’t prove to be straightforward for either of them.

Katayoku dake no tenshi

1986

Good-bye Moscow poster
7.0

Ex-jazz pianist turned promoter finds he is successful, but empty. When an entrepreneur sends him to Moscow with a jazz combo, he falls in with the dissident youth of the city, and again finds life empty.

Good-bye Moscow

1968