
Acting
Chishū Ryū
Born 1904-05-13 · Tachibana, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
Chishu Ryu (May 13, 1904 in Kumamoto, Japan – March 16, 1993 in Yokohama, Japan) was a famous Japanese film actor, a favourite of the director Yasujiro Ozu. From 1928 to 1992 he appeared in at least 155 films, including Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953) and Yoshitaro Nomura's Castle of Sand (1974). From 1969 until his death, Ryu became familiar to a new generation as the curmudgeonly but benevolent Buddhist priest in Yoji Yamada's Tora-san movie series (a role he parodied to great effect in a cameo in Juzo Itami's 1984 comedy, The Funeral). Description above from the Wikipedia article Chishû Ryû, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
8.1The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
Tokyo Story
1953
7.7Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s canvases, nuclear nightmares, and a water-mill utopia—meditate on childhood, art, mortality, and humanity’s uneasy bond with nature.
Dreams
1990
8.4After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
1961
8.2Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
Red Beard
1965
8.0Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Late Spring
1949
7.8A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
1985
7.5The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis.
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
1952
6.8A Japanese family is torn apart by the tensions of an avoidable nuclear world war between the superpowers.
The Last War
1961
NRYoung female teacher Kyoko Miyake relocates to a small seaside town with her runaway little sister, but their new life is complicated by hoodlum-like Jiro Yamazaki.
The Black Sheep
1967
7.7Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.
Good Morning
1959
6.7In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.
Until the End of the World
1991
7.9Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
An Autumn Afternoon
1962
7.9In postwar Tokyo, Noriko lives with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her social life, her more traditional family worries about her single marital status at the advanced age of 28. 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes, Noriko's family press her into accepting, but when her widowed childhood friend Kenkichi returns to the neighborhood, she finds her heart leading in another direction.
Early Summer
1951
NRA 1959 Yoshiaki Bansho adaptation of an Osaragi Jiro story.
Bridge
1959
8.7During his wandering throughout Japan, Tora-san meets a suicidal man. He travels with the man to Vienna, but winds up homesick for Japan.
Tora-san Goes to Vienna
1989
7.5A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.
Floating Weeds
1959
7.5A young salaryman and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he embarks on an extramarital affair.
Early Spring
1956
8.2Tora-san's opinions about Americans get challenged when another wandering peddler Michael Jordan stops by Shibamata.
Tora-san's Dream of Spring
1979
7.4Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
The Castle of Sand
1974
7.7From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.
Twenty-Four Eyes
1954
7.7In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
The Bad Sleep Well
1960
7.7Two sisters learn about the existence of their long-lost biological mother, but the younger is unable to accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.
Tokyo Twilight
1957
6.6Director Ogata discovers a new female star in Koharu Tanaka, who works selling candy at a studio theater and she is given a part as a bit player. After the studio's top leading lady is embroiled in a scandal, Koharu is suddenly thrust into the limelight when she replaces her in a film and gains instant fame and fortune. But the going is not always easy, and she soon seeks help from unexpected quarters.
Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies
1986
10.0On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder.
I Want to Be a Shellfish
1959