Yoshimitsu Morita

Directing

Yoshimitsu Morita

Born — Died

1950-01-25 — 2011-12-20

Place of birth

Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

44 titles

Yoshimitsu Morita was a Japanese film director. Self-taught, first making shorts on 8 mm film during the 1970s, he made his feature film debut with No Yōna Mono (Something Like It, 1981). In 1983 he won acclaim for his movie Kazoku Gēmu ("The Family Game"), which was voted the best film of the year by Japanese critics in the Kinema Junpo magazine poll. This black comedy dealt with then-recent changes in the structure of Japanese home life. It also earned Morita the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award. He also won the award for best director at the 21st Yokohama Film Festival for 39 keihō dai sanjūkyū jō ("Keiho", 2003) and the award for best screenplay at the 18th Yokohama Film Fes…

Known for

Umineko - Inseparable poster
3.3

The shock of her fiance's sudden dissolution of their relationship causes university student, Miki, to lose her voice. While recuperating in a hospital in her hometown of Hakodate, she learns of the tragic life of her deceased mother, Kaoru, from her grandmother.

Umineko - Inseparable

2004

Future Memories: Last Christmas poster
7.3

Yuko dreams of being a best selling children's author, but as an adult she has made little progress. In her depression, she bonds with Ginko, a roadside fortune teller who has had a tragic love life. Both die the next day but appear 10 years before with their memories intact. Will they choose more wisely or be sunk by new unfulfilling choices between career and romance?

Future Memories: Last Christmas

1992

Lost Paradise poster
6.0

Kuki is a veteran newspaper reporter who has been shuffled off to a book-development branch and finds escape in an illicit relationship with Rinko. Together they find the passion no longer present in their marriages.

Lost Paradise

1997

Crying Out Love in the Center of the World poster
7.2

While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.

Crying Out Love in the Center of the World

2004

Keiho poster
6.3

The psychiatric evaluation of a young actor arrested for a brutal double murder concludes he may be unfit for trial. Further investigation, however, reveals the crime was a well-planned statement against the section of Japan's criminal code granting diminished responsibility to the mentally impaired.

Keiho

1999

Abacus and Sword poster
6.2

Set during the Meiji Restoration period of Edo era Japan, Naoyuki belongs to the 8th generation of the Inoyama family, a wealthy family known for finance & accounting. He is also a gifted mathematician and uses the abacus with extreme skills. Naoyuki works under the declining Kaga domain. Because of this, Naoyuki and his wife Koma suffer hardships as their stature and wealth dissipates.

Abacus and Sword

2010

Film credits

Behind the camera

Umineko - Inseparable poster
3.3

The shock of her fiance's sudden dissolution of their relationship causes university student, Miki, to lose her voice. While recuperating in a hospital in her hometown of Hakodate, she learns of the tragic life of her deceased mother, Kaoru, from her grandmother.

Umineko - Inseparable

2004

Future Memories: Last Christmas poster
7.3

Yuko dreams of being a best selling children's author, but as an adult she has made little progress. In her depression, she bonds with Ginko, a roadside fortune teller who has had a tragic love life. Both die the next day but appear 10 years before with their memories intact. Will they choose more wisely or be sunk by new unfulfilling choices between career and romance?

Future Memories: Last Christmas

1992

Future Memories: Last Christmas poster
7.3

Yuko dreams of being a best selling children's author, but as an adult she has made little progress. In her depression, she bonds with Ginko, a roadside fortune teller who has had a tragic love life. Both die the next day but appear 10 years before with their memories intact. Will they choose more wisely or be sunk by new unfulfilling choices between career and romance?

Future Memories: Last Christmas

1992

Lost Paradise poster
6.0

Kuki is a veteran newspaper reporter who has been shuffled off to a book-development branch and finds escape in an illicit relationship with Rinko. Together they find the passion no longer present in their marriages.

Lost Paradise

1997

Keiho poster
6.3

The psychiatric evaluation of a young actor arrested for a brutal double murder concludes he may be unfit for trial. Further investigation, however, reveals the crime was a well-planned statement against the section of Japan's criminal code granting diminished responsibility to the mentally impaired.

Keiho

1999

Abacus and Sword poster
6.2

Set during the Meiji Restoration period of Edo era Japan, Naoyuki belongs to the 8th generation of the Inoyama family, a wealthy family known for finance & accounting. He is also a gifted mathematician and uses the abacus with extreme skills. Naoyuki works under the declining Kaga domain. Because of this, Naoyuki and his wife Koma suffer hardships as their stature and wealth dissipates.

Abacus and Sword

2010

Train Brain Express poster
6.0

Real estate company employee Komachi and steelworks heir Kodama are both train aficionados. Their hobby proves useful for their burgeoning careers, but their romantic fortunes do not go as smoothly. Will the awkward Kodama and the indecisive Komachi find the loves of their lives?

Train Brain Express

2012

Train Brain Express poster
6.0

Real estate company employee Komachi and steelworks heir Kodama are both train aficionados. Their hobby proves useful for their burgeoning careers, but their romantic fortunes do not go as smoothly. Will the awkward Kodama and the indecisive Komachi find the loves of their lives?

Train Brain Express

2012

Haru poster
7.9

A young Tokyo businessman joins an online movie forum and develops a special bond with one of its members through back and forth e-mails.

Haru

1996

Haru poster
7.9

A young Tokyo businessman joins an online movie forum and develops a special bond with one of its members through back and forth e-mails.

Haru

1996

Love and Action in Osaka poster
5.2

Despite his efforts of living a normal life as a banker, the life of Toru, the only son of the Yubari Family, becomes disrupted by trouble brought on by his father. When his father’s battle against his rival group the Miike Family ignites, Toru becomes more involved in the turf war than he wished for.

Love and Action in Osaka

1988

Love and Action in Osaka poster
5.2

Despite his efforts of living a normal life as a banker, the life of Toru, the only son of the Yubari Family, becomes disrupted by trouble brought on by his father. When his father’s battle against his rival group the Miike Family ignites, Toru becomes more involved in the turf war than he wished for.

Love and Action in Osaka

1988

The Family Game poster
6.8

A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor proceeds to blow the entire family apart.

The Family Game

1983

The Family Game poster
6.8

A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor proceeds to blow the entire family apart.

The Family Game

1983

Bakayaro! I'm Plenty Mad poster
8.0

Anthology film. "What's Wrong with Eating?" Numayama Kazuki is always complaining about his wife's, Atsugi Shizuka, body shape. Because of that Shizuka tries her best to restrict her diet and please Kazuki. "It's So Far Away!" Karuma Sae is an office lady who works in the city center but lives with her family in a house far away from her work. Because she is always rushing to catch the last train, she can never enjoy a decent date with her boyfriend, Oishi Mamoru. Her father is also always interfering in her life, so she can't appreciate the city life and isn't happy. "Get Ready to Drive!" Masuko is a new taxi driver in Tokyo who is very stressed from dealing with the behavior of some passengers. One night he drives a very beautiful drunk hostess home. "What Is English?" Kosaka Shigeru, a businessman, was transferred to a Chicago branch factory. He tried hard to learn English, practicing day and night, but couldn't improve as much as he expected.

Bakayaro! I'm Plenty Mad

1988

Kitchen poster
5.3

Mikage, a young woman who loses her parents when young. She grows up in a lonely household with her grandmother who dies when Mikage reaches adulthood. Grief-stricken, she finds solace in the kitchen.

Kitchen

1989

Kitchen poster
5.3

Mikage, a young woman who loses her parents when young. She grows up in a lonely household with her grandmother who dies when Mikage reaches adulthood. Grief-stricken, she finds solace in the kitchen.

Kitchen

1989

The House of Wedlock poster
8.0

Tokiko Enomoto finds out that her husband Kazuya, who mostly lives at an apartment near his work while she and their children live at home, has been having an affair with a live-in mistress, Ryōko, at his apartment. Tokiko tells her two sons, Tarō and Jirō, that she has decided to divorce their father. The children are shocked but understand their mother's position. Kazuya realizes the damage he has done and tries to remedy the situation.

The House of Wedlock

1986

The Black House poster
6.1

A timid insurance agent investigates a possible insurance fraud case that involves a death. As the facts are slowly revealed, he becomes progressively more frightened.

The Black House

1999

Tsubaki Sanjuro poster
6.3

"Tsubaki Sanjuro" is a remake of Sanjuro (1962) by Akira Kurosawa. Sanjuro returns with sharper, faster, subtler sword, talking and perception. He uses them to settle the trouble and uses them good!

Tsubaki Sanjuro

2007

Like Asura poster
6.6

The four Takezawa sisters discover that their father has an illegitimate child so they hire a private detective to investigate.

Like Asura

2003

Top Stripper poster
5.2

A naive delivery boy becomes infatuated with a girl who works at a local strip joint. Despite his daily attendance and attempts to get her attention she remains indifferent until one day she invites him onstage.

Top Stripper

1982

Top Stripper poster
5.2

A naive delivery boy becomes infatuated with a girl who works at a local strip joint. Despite his daily attendance and attempts to get her attention she remains indifferent until one day she invites him onstage.

Top Stripper

1982

For Business poster
8.0

Two TV salarymen uphold their duty by taking on a rival talent agency during the late-'80s bubble economy.

For Business

1986

For Business poster
8.0

Two TV salarymen uphold their duty by taking on a rival talent agency during the late-'80s bubble economy.

For Business

1986

South Bound poster
6.0

Uehara Jiro, in the sixth year at elementary school, is from a family of five; his parents who are both ex-extremists, his elder sister and a younger sister. Children look coldly at their father, Ichiro (Toyokawa Etsushi), who does not work but is quick at lashing out for anything illogical. One day, Jiro snaps at a junior high school student in the neighborhood who ridiculed his parents and causes a violent incident. Being tired of all the fuss made by the school and the response from the child welfare, the Uehara family moves to the island of Iriomotejima, father's hometown. However, the island is in the midst of a row over a development plan to build resort facilities, and the family is sucked into the mayhem. Ichiro and his wife Sakura are arrested, but they break loose. They are forced to live a life as fugitives, and are unable to live with their children. The children, however, understand that their parents do not want to succumb to the establishment and support them.

South Bound

2007

South Bound poster
6.0

Uehara Jiro, in the sixth year at elementary school, is from a family of five; his parents who are both ex-extremists, his elder sister and a younger sister. Children look coldly at their father, Ichiro (Toyokawa Etsushi), who does not work but is quick at lashing out for anything illogical. One day, Jiro snaps at a junior high school student in the neighborhood who ridiculed his parents and causes a violent incident. Being tired of all the fuss made by the school and the response from the child welfare, the Uehara family moves to the island of Iriomotejima, father's hometown. However, the island is in the midst of a row over a development plan to build resort facilities, and the family is sucked into the mayhem. Ichiro and his wife Sakura are arrested, but they break loose. They are forced to live a life as fugitives, and are unable to live with their children. The children, however, understand that their parents do not want to succumb to the establishment and support them.

South Bound

2007

Deaths in Tokimeki poster
7.2

Deaths in Tokimeki tells the story of a nondescript hitman, in a remote country villa, waiting to carry out a job: the assassination of the leader of a religious cult.

Deaths in Tokimeki

1984

Deaths in Tokimeki poster
7.2

Deaths in Tokimeki tells the story of a nondescript hitman, in a remote country villa, waiting to carry out a job: the assassination of the leader of a religious cult.

Deaths in Tokimeki

1984

Copycat Killer poster
7.2

The story of a criminal who abducts and kills women, and those who try to catch him. Nakai is cast as a cold-blooded, intelligent and evil guy who uses the media to announce and show his murders live to the public.

Copycat Killer

2002

Copycat Killer poster
7.2

The story of a criminal who abducts and kills women, and those who try to catch him. Nakai is cast as a cold-blooded, intelligent and evil guy who uses the media to announce and show his murders live to the public.

Copycat Killer

2002

And Then poster
7.2

Daisuke is supposed to be out looking for a respectable job and equally respectable wife. He is 30 years old and devotes his attention to music and literature; his family is wealthy and can support his interests. When his friend Hiraoka returns with his wife Michiyo, problems arise.

And Then

1985

It's On Me poster
NR

News comes out that several people found 1 kg of solid gold in their mail boxes. Maya Yamabuki moves back to her hometown and surprises the movers by the amount of money she gives them.

It's On Me

2009

It's On Me poster
NR

News comes out that several people found 1 kg of solid gold in their mail boxes. Maya Yamabuki moves back to her hometown and surprises the movers by the amount of money she gives them.

It's On Me

2009

The Mamiya Brothers poster
5.4

The main characters are the Mamiya brothers who are living together although they are over 30-years-old. Unconcerned with appearance and reputations, they enjoy their life in their own way. The only concern is the lack of girlfriends. One day, however, a change occurs to their mundane lives. The elder brother, Akinobu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), falls in love with a girl at a video shop. The younger brother, Tetsunobu (Muga Tsukaji), scrambles around to aid his brother achieve love and arranges various dates. The elder brother strives to return the effort, but gets the cold shoulder. The two brothers return to their original lives, continuing with their ordinary, but happy days.

The Mamiya Brothers

2006

The Mamiya Brothers poster
5.4

The main characters are the Mamiya brothers who are living together although they are over 30-years-old. Unconcerned with appearance and reputations, they enjoy their life in their own way. The only concern is the lack of girlfriends. One day, however, a change occurs to their mundane lives. The elder brother, Akinobu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), falls in love with a girl at a video shop. The younger brother, Tetsunobu (Muga Tsukaji), scrambles around to aid his brother achieve love and arranges various dates. The elder brother strives to return the effort, but gets the cold shoulder. The two brothers return to their original lives, continuing with their ordinary, but happy days.

The Mamiya Brothers

2006

A Desirable Marriage poster
7.0

A human drama on the state of marriage today, following the battle between a mother and daughter over her marriage and humorous depictions of the people around them. When Mieko's husband passes away, she hopes to arrange a good marriage for her daughter Non, but things don't go as planned when Non reveals there's already a love interest in her life.

A Desirable Marriage

1991

A Desirable Marriage poster
7.0

A human drama on the state of marriage today, following the battle between a mother and daughter over her marriage and humorous depictions of the people around them. When Mieko's husband passes away, she hopes to arrange a good marriage for her daughter Non, but things don't go as planned when Non reveals there's already a love interest in her life.

A Desirable Marriage

1991

You Alone Can't See poster
NR

During Muraishi's time in prison for fraud, he recalls his past and learns a power to penetrate and cure others. Upon release, he goes to Hakodate, where he can find his ex-wife, Kiriko. Though he cures a lot of people on the way and believes that he is the only one to make Kiriko happy, he is being depressed by discovering a guy together with her.

You Alone Can't See

1998

Pink Cut: Love Me Hard, Love Me Deep poster
5.2

Mami runs a barber shop called The Pink Cut. The place is an immediate success, due mostly to super-short skirts. Recently, Akira, who is anxious about not finding a job, has started coming to her shop. Although he has a girlfriend, he is soon interested in Mami.

Pink Cut: Love Me Hard, Love Me Deep

1983