Yoshimitsu Morita

Directing

Yoshimitsu Morita

Born 1950-01-25 · Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

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 Festival for Haru (1996).

Acting credits

Behind the camera

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

Haru poster
8.0

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
8.0

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

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

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

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

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

The Family Game poster
6.9

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
6.9

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 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

Pink Cut: Love Me Hard, Love Me Deep poster
4.9

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

Pink Cut: Love Me Hard, Love Me Deep poster
4.9

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

Colorful poster
5.5

Upon reaching the train station to death, a dejected soul is informed that he is "lucky" and will have another chance at life. He is placed in the body of a 14-year-old boy named Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide.

Colorful

2000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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