Kirin Kiki

Acting

Kirin Kiki

Born — Died

1943-01-15 — 2018-09-15

Place of birth

Tokyo, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

80 titles

Kirin Kiki (樹木 希林 Kiki Kirin) (15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress known for her work in Japanese cinema and television.

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 1 titles

2010s · 16 titles

Shoplifters poster
7.8

In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.

Shoplifters

2018

Arrietty poster
7.7

14-year-old Arrietty and the rest of the Clock family live in peaceful anonymity as they make their own home from items "borrowed" from the house's human inhabitants. However, life changes for the Clocks when a human boy discovers Arrietty.

Arrietty

2010

Our Little Sister poster
7.6

After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.

Our Little Sister

2015

Like Father, Like Son poster
7.7

Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. He learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth. He must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.

Like Father, Like Son

2013

Sweet Bean poster
7.5

The master of a dorayaki pastry store hires a 76-year-old woman whose talents attract customers from all over. But she's hiding a troubling secret. Life's joys are found in the little details, and no matter what may be weighing you down, everyone loves a good pastry.

Sweet Bean

2015

After the Storm poster
7.2

Ryota is an unpopular writer although he won a literary award 15 years ago. Now, Ryota works as a private detective. He is divorced from his ex-wife Kyoko and he has an 11-year-old son Shingo. His mother Yoshiko lives alone at her apartment. One day, Ryota, his ex-wife Kyoko, and son Shingo gather at Yoshiko's apartment. A typhoon passes and the family must stay there all night long.

After the Storm

2016

Every Day a Good Day poster
7.2

A university student attends a Japanese tea ceremony near her house with her cousin. There she has the Japanese tea ceremony in her life and it's there for her during moments when she is sad or happy.

Every Day a Good Day

2018

Chronicle of My Mother poster
6.6

Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds.

Chronicle of My Mother

2012

I Wish poster
7.3

Twelve-year-old Koichi, who has been separated from his brother Ryunosuke due to his parents' divorce, hears a rumor that the new bullet trains will precipitate a wish-granting miracle when they pass each other at top speed.

I Wish

2011

Kakekomi poster
5.9

Kakekomi tells the stories of Edo women in the 1800s that escape abusive husbands and lovers by taking refuge in Tokeiji, a monastery in Kamakura.

Kakekomi

2015

Villain poster
6.8

Shimizu Yuichi is a shy and lonely day laborer looking for love. He aimlessly spends time corresponding with girls via telephone dating services and going on random encounters with girls looking for spending cash. His world is shattered one day when he is involved in the murder of one of his former encounters, the sweet-faced Ishibashi Yoshino who, after being jilted by playboy Masuo Keijo, berates and mocks the troubled loner.

Villain

2010

Mori, The Artist's Habitat poster
7.3

Vegetation thrives in painter Morikazu's garden, which is home to creatures that serve as models for his paintings, including numerous bugs and cats. A sweet and heartwarming day begins for Morikazu, who gazed at these garden creatures on a daily basis for over three decades, and those who love him.

Mori, The Artist's Habitat

2018

Until the Break of Dawn poster
6.6

High school student Ayumi is trained by his grandmother to act as a "tsunagu," an intermediary for people who want to reach the dead.

Until the Break of Dawn

2012

This Mystery is Excellent! ~ Challenge from Bestseller Writer poster
NR

Kashiopea no Endo Roru A murder takes place on a luxury overnight train which runs from Sapporo to Ueno, Tokyo. The victim is a film director. The suspects are 4 women. Nokosareta Senritsu After a pianist concludes her best performance to date, she dies mysteriously in the waiting room. The cause of her death is potassium cyanide that was laced in her coffee. Kuroi Pan Teru A man works as a supervisor for a construction company. 30 years ago, he was a popular actor who played a hero character on TV. Now, he has a wife and a 20-year-old daughter. One day, the man learns that his daughter is kidnapped. Daiyamondo Dasuto A cold wave hits Tokyo. Two men, working for the same company, are unable to avoid overtime work that night. The snow storm then causes electrical outages. The two men must face difficult life or death decisions.

This Mystery is Excellent! ~ Challenge from Bestseller Writer

2014

Cherry Blossoms & Demons poster
5.1

When everything in his life seems to be going wrong, downtrodden and alcohol-dependent Karl has a fateful encounter in Munich with Yu, a mysterious Japanese dancer from his father’s past. Unexpectedly, Yu begins to help Karl confront his demons (both literal and figurative) and begin to heal.

Cherry Blossoms & Demons

2019

Mystery Trilogy Special poster
NR

This mystery special consists of three thrilling stories by three notable writers.

Mystery Trilogy Special

2015

2000s · 10 titles

Kamikaze Girls poster
7.1

Momoko, a strange and seemingly emotionless girl obsessed with 18th century France, befriends a Yanki biker and the two experience the ups and downs of their unusual lives in a rural Japanese town.

Kamikaze Girls

2004

Still Walking poster
7.8

A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.

Still Walking

2008

The Taste of Tea poster
7.5

A spell of time in the life of the five-piece Haruno family in rural Tochigi Prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.

The Taste of Tea

2004

Returner poster
6.6

A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race.

Returner

2002

Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad poster
6.9

Adapted from the bestselling Japanese autobiography of the same title, this gentle coming-of-age drama concerns an adolescent boy, Boku - Masaya, torn between the inherited recklessness of his father Oton and the inherited responsibility, wisdom and emotional strength of his mother Okan. Following a period of intensely rebellious behavior, Boku learns that his mom has contracted cancer; suddenly, his mother comes to live with him in Tokyo the entire emotional landscape of his life is altered.

Tokyo Towers: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad

2007

Izo poster
6.0

Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to present-day Tokyo. Here Izo transforms himself into a new, improved killing machine.

Izo

2004

The Whispered City poster
9.0

Director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with small theater companies and smoky coffeehouses.

The Whispered City

2000

Tokyo Tower poster
7.2

Toru Kojima and his friend Koji are young student boys with one thing in common - they both love to date older women. Koji is a playboy with several women, young and older, whereas Toru is a romantic with his heart set on on certain lady.

Tokyo Tower

2005

Half a Confession poster
7.7

Half a Confession introduces itself as a thriller and abruptly changes gears, transforming into a tale of morality with deeper insights into its characters than we had anticipated. It begins when Soichiro Kaji (Terao), a retired detective, walks into police headquarters and confesses to the murder of his wife. We learn that the victim had prematurely developed Alzheimer's after the tragic death of their son, and in her suffering, had asked to die. The police chiefs would be far more content to take him at his word if it were not for a conspicuous hole in his story: 48-hour gap between the alleged murder and his confession. Fearing a public relations nightmare, they are eager to bury the incident and keep the press in the dark.

Half a Confession

2004

Pistol Opera poster
6.1

An assassin fends off numerous attacks from her comrades, who are trying to move up in rank by killing off the competition.

Pistol Opera

2001

1990s · 10 titles

Rex: A Dinosaur's Story poster
5.5

A young girl befriends an infant T-rex after her paleontologist father nurtures a lair of lost dinosaur eggs.

Rex: A Dinosaur's Story

1993

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 Triple Cross poster
7.2

Following the bloody aftermath of a heist, three robbers are double-crossed by a new accomplice, who is then tracked down amid escalating carnage and spectacular car chases.

The Triple Cross

1992

Rainbow Kids poster
6.7

A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.

Rainbow Kids

1991

Yearning poster
10.0

Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant’s family.

Yearning

1993

Oishinbo poster
6.5

Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya. Featuring journalist Shiro Yamaoka who works for Touzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yuko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu".

Oishinbo

1996

War and Youth poster
6.8

An auto repairman's daughter questions him about what happened to her aunt during the war, but the father remains reticent. Finally the man opens up, and the girl is able to piece together her aunt's tragic story.

War and Youth

1991

Fireworks, Ferris Wheels and Love poster
10.0

Morihara was left a widower 8 years ago when his wife passed away. He attends his first mixer party under the guidance of his daughter. There he meets Fumika and starts conversation. Morihara is too shy to show his love since he is much older than Fumika. On learning that Fumika goes to England to study about English Tea, Morihara rushes to the airport but his effort is in vain. He takes out his dead wife's photo and consults her: "I love Fumika, what should I do?"

Fireworks, Ferris Wheels and Love

1997

The Mystery of Rampo poster
7.1

Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper with an account of events just like his forbidden story. As the film progresses, fantasy and reality intermingle in a tale that draws heavily on influences from Poe and Stoker's Dracula. The film's strongly Expressionistic direction skillfully combines a variety of media (animation, computer-generated imagery, grainy black-and-white fast film stock, color negatives) for artistic effect.

The Mystery of Rampo

1994

Toki no kagayaki poster
NR

Yuka came to work as an intern nurse at a hospital and she met Shunichi again. They were school friends, and she liked him. But, she found out that Shunichi had an osteosarcoma.

Toki no kagayaki

1995

1980s · 11 titles

Zigeunerweisen poster
6.5

A surreal period film following a university professor and his eerie nomad friend as they go through loose romantic triangles and face death in peculiar ways.

Zigeunerweisen

1980

Amagi Pass poster
6.5

Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.

Amagi Pass

1983

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

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

The Wild Daisy poster
6.3

Born in affluent families among the Japanese mountains, two close cousins fall in love and have to suffer through the social constraints of their time.

The Wild Daisy

1981

The Ballad of the Sea of Genkai poster
7.0

A young woman's life is turned upside down when her husband suddenly disappears, leaving behind numerous debts and his illegitimate child. Desperate to track down her missing husband, she travels to Kyushu in hopes of finding clues to his whereabouts and in the process discovers disturbing secrets about the man she loves.

The Ballad of the Sea of Genkai

1986

Yume-Chiyo poster
8.0

Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, yearns to do something constructive with the little time she has left. Though her responsibility lies in taking care of her girls, she finds purpose in helping a man wrongfully accused of murder and in the process discovers love.

Yume-Chiyo

1985

Capone Cries a Lot poster
6.0

Umiemon is a naniwa-bushi singer who travels with his wife to the United States in hopes of achieving fame and fortune.

Capone Cries a Lot

1985

Remembrance poster
6.5

The Yamaoki family moved from Kyoto to Tosa around the turn of the '50s; local school teacher Hirao becomes involved with Yasuko, sister to Sumio.

Remembrance

1988

Crane poster
6.8

Based on the folk tales "Repayment from a crane". One snowy night a beautiful woman named Tsuru (Crane) visits poor peasant Taiju and says she will become his wife...

Crane

1988

Karate Cop poster
9.0

A martial arts master/detective investigates a series of murders and helps a deaf bathhouse attendant, Hisako.

Karate Cop

1982

1970s · 10 titles

Female Teacher poster
2.6

A female teacher is raped by a gang of students in her school. The repercussions of this lead to scandal, blackmail and murder.

Female Teacher

1977

Jack and the Beanstalk poster
6.4

An adventurous young boy named Jack climbs a giant beanstalk to a magical kingdom governed by a greedy, tyrannical giant.

Jack and the Beanstalk

1974

Ballad of Orin poster
7.2

Expelled from her group for losing her virginity, blind travelling musician Orin endures a life of hardship, abuse, and poverty while wandering the countryside, finding brief companionship with an army deserter, and struggling against a society that marginalises her.

Ballad of Orin

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

Tora-san, His Tender Love poster
7.4

Traveling salesman Kuruma Torajirō falls in love with an inn manager as New Year's approaches.

Tora-san, His Tender Love

1970

Taro the Dragon Boy poster
6.5

Patterned after Japanese art and silk screens, Taro, The Dragon Boy is an animated feature about Japanese mythology and cultures, focusing on Taro, a young boy who has to make a voyage to a distant lake to save his mother, who has been turned into a dragon.

Taro the Dragon Boy

1979

Down with The Big Boss poster
8.0

In pre-war Japan, two members of a large yakuza syndicate instigate a turf war that embroils the highest echelons of Tokyo's underworld.

Down with The Big Boss

1979

Red Paper Lantern poster
7.2

A young and newly-married couple in Tokyo lives a hard life moving repeatedly because of their unfamiliar relationships with their surroundings.

Red Paper Lantern

1974

Crocodile, Parrot and Fur Seal poster
8.0

A comedy farce depicting the noise that occurs when two unemployed circus participants discover a debt bond in a basket with parrots, which they received instead of pension money. At that time, Hiromi Go and Kirin Kiki, who were gaining popularity, play the main roles, demonstrating an exquisite combination.

Crocodile, Parrot and Fur Seal

1977

Truck Rascals: Another Odyssey of Momojiro poster
9.0

Hoping to romance an alien, Momojiro meets beautiful animal trainer Eriko instead. Then he and Jonathan get drawn into her old friend's fraud.

Truck Rascals: Another Odyssey of Momojiro

1978

Series credits

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen poster
9.5

No synopsis available yet.

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

1990

Kimi no na wa poster
8.0

A story of a man and a woman who meet amid the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945.

Kimi no na wa

1991

Hanekonma poster
8.0

Rin Tachibana, nicknamed Hanekonma, grew up in Soma, Fukushima. Together with her parents, her sister and brother, and her grandparents, the story revolves around the Tachibana family and Rin's life throughout many years.

Hanekonma

1986

Aoi: Tokugawa Three Generations poster
10.0

The 39th NHK Taiga Drama is Aoi Tokugawa Sandai. It is James Miki's dynamic and colorful tale of three generations of the Tokugawa dynasty--from its founder Ieyasu to Iemitsu, the third Shogun who solidified the Tokugawa power base.

Aoi: Tokugawa Three Generations

2000

Kagerou no Tsuji poster
NR

Sakazaki Iwane is a ronin who spends idle days in Edo. Until a few months ago, he was a promising son and successor to a powerful family in Bungo. He has came back to Edo, where he lived for a while for swordplay training with his two best friends, after a tragedy in the three's home domain—both of the two friends died, one of them killed by Iwane by command of the domain lord's chief retainer. Iwane left his home for Edo, leaving behind his fiancée, a sister of the friend he killed. Eventually, Iwane detects the conspiracy behind the deaths of the two friends and struggles to reform his domain.

Kagerou no Tsuji

2007

Prime Minister of Yuhigaoka poster
NR

A maverick man arrives at Yūhigaoka School. The drama incorporates educational issues as well as family problems and adult romance, and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Prime Minister of Yuhigaoka

1978

As If In Flight poster
6.0

Historical drama about the life of Saigō Takamori and his involvement with the Meiji Restoration.

As If In Flight

1990

Yumechiyo Nikki poster
NR

Yumechiyo is the madam of a geisha house in a remote hot spring in the San'in region. When Yumechiyo learns that she is dying of leukemia caused by the atomic bomb, she writes about her life in the form of a diary, which is a collection of human dramas and the joys and sorrows of her life.

Yumechiyo Nikki

1981

時間ですよ poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

時間ですよ

1970

時間ですよ poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

時間ですよ

1970

Kimagure Honkakuha poster
NR

Shinobu, who works in the advertising department of the female underwear maker Princess Underwear, has a dream of becoming a fairy tale writer. He has a colleague and fiancé Taeko, but he promised that he won't get married until he saves up 3 million yen, so until then he continues living in a second-hand bookstore. One Sunday, Shinobu, who was just walking around the city, helps an old woman who has fallen over. The old woman, Ijuuin Ayano, was born in a noble family and had run away from Kyoto due to a disagreement with her daughter-in-law.

Kimagure Honkakuha

1977

Ōedo Sōsamō poster
10.0

Set against the backdrop of the reign of the 11th Tokugawa Shogun, Ienari Tokugawa, this drama is a masterpiece of action period drama that broke the mold of traditional detective stories and attracted a great deal of attention.

Ōedo Sōsamō

1970

Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi poster
NR

Through the lives of people aging in a seaside retirement home, the drama depicts the aging process that comes to everyone.

Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi

1993

Terauchi Kantarō Ikka poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Terauchi Kantarō Ikka

1974

Natsumeke no Shokutaku poster
7.0

A Meiji era home drama about the great writer Soseki Natsume and his wife Kyōko. A story of love and tears of a funny couple starring Rie Miyazawa and Masahiro Motoki!

Natsumeke no Shokutaku

2005

Private Detective Dobu poster
NR

Dobu, an unconventional detective, teams up with Yoriki Samon to solve crimes in Yaoyacho, Edo, showcasing their courage and detective skills.

Private Detective Dobu

1991

An Early Autumn poster
NR

A former couple, separated for over 20 years, were reunited after being told their son had only 3 months to live. What should they do as parents? As they worried, they soon began to feel the weight of their family ties...

An Early Autumn

1987

Zoku Yumechiyo Nikki poster
NR

Set in a remote hot‑spring town in the San’in region, the story continues in the diary format of Yumechiyo, a geisha house madam who survived intrauterine radiation exposure during the Hiroshima bombing and consequently has leukemia. While returning home from a hospital in Kobe by train, Yumechiyo meets a runaway teenage girl who resembles her youth.

Zoku Yumechiyo Nikki

—

Dots and Lines poster
NR

Jutaro Torikai is a senior detective set to uncover the truth behind an apparent double suicide.

Dots and Lines

2007

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

森繁久彌の七人の孫

1987