Back when the project that eventually became “Tora-san: Our Lovable Tramp” was conceptualised, most of the people involved would have probably never guessed the pop-culture phenomenon it would go on to become or the effect it would have on their lives and careers. Kiyoshi Atsumi, the lead actor, probably had no idea that the character would end up being his biggest legacy and that he’d be playing it until his death in ’96. Director Yoji Yamada would have also never imagined that he would be returning to direct a Tora-san film until the age of 88, writing every of the 50 screenplays and directing most of them. Shochiku, the studio that was Tora-san’s home, would have never thought that this character would effectively keep the studio afloat single-handedly for a number of years. Yet here we are, 50 years later, with none of the character’s and series’s prominence diminished. On...
- 7/22/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
When legendary actor Kiyoshi Atsumi lost his battle with lung cancer in 1996, it effectively brought an abrupt, if not immature, end to the long-running Tora-san series, which had spanned 27 years and 48 films up to that point. So synonymous was the actor with the character that the former’s death was also considered the death of the latter, not just by the fans but also by Yoji Yamada, the director who had helmed 46 of the 48 entries and also wrote (or co-wrote) every single Tora-san story until then. Yamada did pay heartfelt tribute to the character, and Japanese cinema in general, in his 1996 release “Niji O Tsukamu Otoko”, which is considered the 49th entry in series, while still alluding that everyone’s beloved travelling salesman is still out there somewhere. In 2019, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the character, the 88-years-old director returns once again to the story of Tora-san and the...
- 7/20/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Hong Kong Arts Centre: Moving Images announces their May programme, which includes their Golden Scene Selection, “Hong Kong Short Film: New Action Express” Online Short Film Selection: And Here Comes the Dawn, Hong Kong Arts Centre x Hong Kong Independent Film Festival – Independently Yours: Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down and Independently Yours – May.
Golden Scene Selection – May
Venue: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre Date: 2020.05.26 – 2020.05.31Price: Standard ticket: $80. Tickets are now available at Putyourself.in.
“Golden Scene Selection”, proudly presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac) and Golden Scene Company Limited, will bring the audience a series of cherry-picked selections from around the world at the Hkac.Screening Schedule26/5 (Tue) 8pm Suk Suk (Preview)27/5 (Wed) 8pm Beyond The Dream (Preview)28/5 (Thu) 8pm My Prince Edward (Preview)29/5 (Fri) 8pm Tora-san, Wish You Were Here*30/5 (Sat) 3pm Beyond The Dream (Preview)30/5 (Sat) 7pm Suk Suk31/5 (Sun) 3pm Tora-san,...
Golden Scene Selection – May
Venue: Louis Koo Cinema, Hong Kong Arts Centre Date: 2020.05.26 – 2020.05.31Price: Standard ticket: $80. Tickets are now available at Putyourself.in.
“Golden Scene Selection”, proudly presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac) and Golden Scene Company Limited, will bring the audience a series of cherry-picked selections from around the world at the Hkac.Screening Schedule26/5 (Tue) 8pm Suk Suk (Preview)27/5 (Wed) 8pm Beyond The Dream (Preview)28/5 (Thu) 8pm My Prince Edward (Preview)29/5 (Fri) 8pm Tora-san, Wish You Were Here*30/5 (Sat) 3pm Beyond The Dream (Preview)30/5 (Sat) 7pm Suk Suk31/5 (Sun) 3pm Tora-san,...
- 5/20/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Jury president Zhang Ziyi said the festival would be a “very special prenatal education” for her unborn baby.
The 32nd edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) got underway on Monday night (October 28) with the focus firmly on Japanese cinema and culture.
Despite the challenges of Typhoon Hagibis and subsequent heavy rain, Tokyo is currently awash with international visitors for the Rugby World Cup and is also gearing up for next year’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Last week, the city hosted international dignatories for the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito and the start of the Reiwa Era.
Amidst all these events,...
The 32nd edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) got underway on Monday night (October 28) with the focus firmly on Japanese cinema and culture.
Despite the challenges of Typhoon Hagibis and subsequent heavy rain, Tokyo is currently awash with international visitors for the Rugby World Cup and is also gearing up for next year’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Last week, the city hosted international dignatories for the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito and the start of the Reiwa Era.
Amidst all these events,...
- 10/29/2019
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Japanese screen legend Kiyoshi Atsumi built his entire career on one role. For nearly three decades, the comic actor played a character named Torajiro Kuruma — “Tora-san” to his onscreen family and real-world fans — appearing in approximately two new installments of the long-running franchise per year. To Japanese audiences, Atsumi was Tora-san, a connection the actor encouraged by appearing in precious few other film roles beyond the benevolent vagrant, who was a traveling salesman-cum-free spirit, sparking brief but unsuccessful romances with a variety of women on the road, while nudging the love lives of his shy sister and awkward nephew toward more traditional happiness.
When Atsumi died in 1996, so too did the popular film series, meaning that Japanese audiences have been without their beloved Uncle Tora-san for more than 20 years. Now, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first movie, director Yoji Yamada (who helmed all but two of the character...
When Atsumi died in 1996, so too did the popular film series, meaning that Japanese audiences have been without their beloved Uncle Tora-san for more than 20 years. Now, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first movie, director Yoji Yamada (who helmed all but two of the character...
- 10/28/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Unfolding while Japan simultaneously hosts the Rugby World Cup, recovers from the recent Typhoon Hagibis, and prepares for the upcoming Olympic Games, the 32nd edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival got under way Monday, with a strong sense of Japanese tradition and heightened conservatism compared with previous years.
That feeling was reinforced by last week’s enthronement of a new Emperor, which launched the beginning of the new Reiwa Era, and by the five-woman, kimono-clad ensemble that welcomed guests at Roppongi’s Grand Hyatt Hotel with traditional shamisen, flutes and drums.
The Reiwa Era means: “A new era for Japan and Japanese films,” said festival director Takeo Hisamatsu from the stage. “We have built the program to present the best of Japanese films to the world.”
This year the festival debuts a new section on Japanese animation, as well as a focus on Nobuhiko Obayashi, a pioneering experimental filmmaker...
That feeling was reinforced by last week’s enthronement of a new Emperor, which launched the beginning of the new Reiwa Era, and by the five-woman, kimono-clad ensemble that welcomed guests at Roppongi’s Grand Hyatt Hotel with traditional shamisen, flutes and drums.
The Reiwa Era means: “A new era for Japan and Japanese films,” said festival director Takeo Hisamatsu from the stage. “We have built the program to present the best of Japanese films to the world.”
This year the festival debuts a new section on Japanese animation, as well as a focus on Nobuhiko Obayashi, a pioneering experimental filmmaker...
- 10/28/2019
- by Mark Schilling and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The Tokyo International Film Festival has found the ideal opening night movie in Tora-san, Wish You Were Here, an obvious local crowd-pleaser whose heartfelt charm will impress even those film lovers who haven’t grown up with the franchise. The pic is Shochiku’s reboot of the beloved, tearful Tora-san family dramas that have rolled on, at the rate of one or two a year, for a record-breaking 50 years since the first film in the series, It’s Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo), appeared in 1969.
Kiyoshi Atsumi brought the character to life, and with the actor's death in ...
Kiyoshi Atsumi brought the character to life, and with the actor's death in ...
- 10/28/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Tokyo International Film Festival has found the ideal opening night movie in Tora-san, Wish You Were Here, an obvious local crowd-pleaser whose heartfelt charm will impress even those film lovers who haven’t grown up with the franchise. The pic is Shochiku’s reboot of the beloved, tearful Tora-san family dramas that have rolled on, at the rate of one or two a year, for a record-breaking 50 years since the first film in the series, It’s Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo), appeared in 1969.
Kiyoshi Atsumi brought the character to life, and with the actor's death in ...
Kiyoshi Atsumi brought the character to life, and with the actor's death in ...
- 10/28/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
This year's Tokyo International Film Festival is set to open with the premiere of Tora-san, Wish You Were Here from legendary Japanese director Yoji Yamada. The 50th film in the comedy series, the longest-running in world cinematic history starring the same lead actor, also marks 50 years since the first release.
The original entry in the Tora-san series, titled Otoko wa Tsuraiyo (It's Tough Being a Man), was released in 1969 following a TV series with the same name and premise. After audiences complained about the lead character Tora-san (Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) dying after being bitten by ...
The original entry in the Tora-san series, titled Otoko wa Tsuraiyo (It's Tough Being a Man), was released in 1969 following a TV series with the same name and premise. After audiences complained about the lead character Tora-san (Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) dying after being bitten by ...
- 10/27/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
This year's Tokyo International Film Festival is set to open with the premiere of Tora-san, Wish You Were Here from legendary Japanese director Yoji Yamada. The 50th film in the comedy series, the longest-running in world cinematic history starring the same lead actor, also marks 50 years since the first release.
The original entry in the Tora-san series, titled Otoko wa Tsuraiyo (It's Tough Being a Man), was released in 1969 following a TV series with the same name and premise. After audiences complained about the lead character Tora-san (Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) dying after being bitten by ...
The original entry in the Tora-san series, titled Otoko wa Tsuraiyo (It's Tough Being a Man), was released in 1969 following a TV series with the same name and premise. After audiences complained about the lead character Tora-san (Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) dying after being bitten by ...
- 10/27/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Born in 1931 in Osaka, Yoji Yamada entered the Shochiku studio in 1954 at the height of Japanese cinema’s postwar Golden Age. He debuted as a director in 1961 with the comedy “The Strangers Upstairs” and thereafter specialized in the genre, though he found hits hard to come by.
In 1969 his fortunes began to change with the first of what were to be 48 films in a series of comedies about a wandering peddler named Torajiro Kuruma, but universally known as Tora-san. Based on a 1968-1969 TV series that Yamada had scripted and directed, the Tora-san films were set in the hero’s home of Shibamata, a neighborhood in Tokyo’s shitamachi (“old downtown”) district. Played by Kiyoshi Atsumi, Tora-san was a voluble, excitable type around family and neighbors, including his long-suffering half-sister Sakura (Chieko Baisho), but shy and awkward around the women he met and wooed in every episode.
Though a perennial loser at romance,...
In 1969 his fortunes began to change with the first of what were to be 48 films in a series of comedies about a wandering peddler named Torajiro Kuruma, but universally known as Tora-san. Based on a 1968-1969 TV series that Yamada had scripted and directed, the Tora-san films were set in the hero’s home of Shibamata, a neighborhood in Tokyo’s shitamachi (“old downtown”) district. Played by Kiyoshi Atsumi, Tora-san was a voluble, excitable type around family and neighbors, including his long-suffering half-sister Sakura (Chieko Baisho), but shy and awkward around the women he met and wooed in every episode.
Though a perennial loser at romance,...
- 10/27/2019
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Tora-san (Kiyoshi Atsumi) emerged as Japan’s comic, penniless anti-hero in 1969, when yakuza superstars such as Ken Takakura and Yujiro Ishihara dominated the screen, and remained a beloved icon for more than 25 years. The 48-part Tora-san series—the longest running in film history—chronicles his life as an unruly yet endearing salesman, traveling through a rapidly-modernizing Japan. Over the years, Tora-san has become an emblem of a simpler world, winning over audiences with nostalgic charm.
In celebration of Tora-san’s 50th anniversary, Japan Society invited Japanese architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow, curator and exhibition designer of Made in Tokyo: Architecture and Living, 1964/2020 (opening at Japan Society on Oct 11), to select newly restored and subtitled favorites from the series.
Tora-san’s Cherished Mother
Directed by Yoji Yamada, 1969, 93 min.
Friday, September 6 at 7pm
In this second installment of the popular series, made in the same year as the first film, Tora-san returns home to Shibamata,...
In celebration of Tora-san’s 50th anniversary, Japan Society invited Japanese architectural firm Atelier Bow-Wow, curator and exhibition designer of Made in Tokyo: Architecture and Living, 1964/2020 (opening at Japan Society on Oct 11), to select newly restored and subtitled favorites from the series.
Tora-san’s Cherished Mother
Directed by Yoji Yamada, 1969, 93 min.
Friday, September 6 at 7pm
In this second installment of the popular series, made in the same year as the first film, Tora-san returns home to Shibamata,...
- 8/19/2019
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
“Welcome Back, Tora-san,” by veteran director Yoji Yamada, has been set as the opening title of this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The title is a 50th anniversary instalment in the long-running “It’s Tough Being a Man” film franchise.
The “It’s Tough Being a Man” (aka “Otoko wa Tsurai yo”) films follow the travels of a kind-hearted vagabond, Torajiro Kuruma (aka Tora-san) who is always unlucky in love. Each film features a different leading lady, called a Madonna, and a different region of Japan.
There were 49 previous “Tora-san” movies, with the last appearing in 1995. “It was always very exciting to anticipate the latest work in this series every summer and New Year holiday. The ‘Tora-san’ series was a nationwide favorite, and looking back, it also captures the history of popular actresses in Japan,” said Tokyo festival director Takeo Hisamatsu.
The new film focuses on Tora-san’s nephew Mitsuo,...
The “It’s Tough Being a Man” (aka “Otoko wa Tsurai yo”) films follow the travels of a kind-hearted vagabond, Torajiro Kuruma (aka Tora-san) who is always unlucky in love. Each film features a different leading lady, called a Madonna, and a different region of Japan.
There were 49 previous “Tora-san” movies, with the last appearing in 1995. “It was always very exciting to anticipate the latest work in this series every summer and New Year holiday. The ‘Tora-san’ series was a nationwide favorite, and looking back, it also captures the history of popular actresses in Japan,” said Tokyo festival director Takeo Hisamatsu.
The new film focuses on Tora-san’s nephew Mitsuo,...
- 7/11/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The title marks the 50th anniversary of the popular Tora-san series.
The world premiere of veteran Japanese director Yoji Yamada’s Welcome Back, Tora-San will open the Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) on October 28, 2019.
The film marks the 50th anniversary of the filmmaker’s popular It’s Tough Being A Man comedy film series.
It is also the 50th title in the series, with all but two of the films directed by Yamada. The last release was 1997’s Tora-san’s Tropical Fever Special Edition, a new version of the 1980 Tropical Fever title.
The new title will use footage from previous...
The world premiere of veteran Japanese director Yoji Yamada’s Welcome Back, Tora-San will open the Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) on October 28, 2019.
The film marks the 50th anniversary of the filmmaker’s popular It’s Tough Being A Man comedy film series.
It is also the 50th title in the series, with all but two of the films directed by Yamada. The last release was 1997’s Tora-san’s Tropical Fever Special Edition, a new version of the 1980 Tropical Fever title.
The new title will use footage from previous...
- 7/11/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The premiere of Welcome Back, Tora-san by Yoji Yamada, a reboot of the classic, record-breaking comedy film series, will open this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff).
The It's Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo) films, directed by the legendary Yamada, are universally referred to as Tora-san (after the lead character Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) in Japan, where they were nothing short of a social phenomenon. They also have a cult following in China, mostly through pirated copies.
The plot went largely unchanged throughout the films: Traveling salesman Tora-san would fall in unrequited love with a local ...
The It's Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo) films, directed by the legendary Yamada, are universally referred to as Tora-san (after the lead character Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) in Japan, where they were nothing short of a social phenomenon. They also have a cult following in China, mostly through pirated copies.
The plot went largely unchanged throughout the films: Traveling salesman Tora-san would fall in unrequited love with a local ...
- 7/11/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The premiere of Welcome Back, Tora-san by Yoji Yamada, a reboot of the classic, record-breaking comedy film series, will open this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff).
The It's Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo) films, directed by the legendary Yamada, are universally referred to as Tora-san (after the lead character Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) in Japan, where they were nothing short of a social phenomenon. They also have a cult following in China, mostly through pirated copies.
The plot went largely unchanged throughout the films: Traveling salesman Tora-san would fall in unrequited love with a local ...
The It's Tough Being a Man (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo) films, directed by the legendary Yamada, are universally referred to as Tora-san (after the lead character Torajiro Kuruma, played by Kiyoshi Atsumi) in Japan, where they were nothing short of a social phenomenon. They also have a cult following in China, mostly through pirated copies.
The plot went largely unchanged throughout the films: Traveling salesman Tora-san would fall in unrequited love with a local ...
- 7/11/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Most Americans have probably never heard of Kiyoshi Atsumi, the late Japanese actor who starred in all 48 Tora-san movies before his death in 1996. But the films are now available on DVDs, with subtitles -- and director Yoji Yamada is still alive and kicking in Tokyo. Here are the opening scenes and theme song: The series, perhaps the longest movie series ever, started out with the working title of "It's Not Easy Being a Man," and if Yamada was not the Sholom Aleichem of Japan, he came pretty close to being an epic storyteller. Atsumi played a character named...
- 7/29/2011
- by Dan Bloom
- The Wrap
It's about time!
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced today that at this year's British Academy Film Awards they will give the "Harry Potter" film series the award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. The franchise has spanned more than a decade and has accomplished amazing feats, so we're glad that someone is recognizing it (we're pointing accusing looks at you, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).
Author Jk Rowling and producer David Heyman will receive the award on behalf of the franchise during the BAFTA ceremony on February 13. In anticipation of the presentation, we've decided to outline the reasons why we think the "Harry Potter" series more than deserves this award.
1. It's maintained the same central cast of character for eight films.
Yes, I know Richard Harris passed away after the second film and so he had to be replaced by Michael Gambon, but we'll...
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced today that at this year's British Academy Film Awards they will give the "Harry Potter" film series the award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. The franchise has spanned more than a decade and has accomplished amazing feats, so we're glad that someone is recognizing it (we're pointing accusing looks at you, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences).
Author Jk Rowling and producer David Heyman will receive the award on behalf of the franchise during the BAFTA ceremony on February 13. In anticipation of the presentation, we've decided to outline the reasons why we think the "Harry Potter" series more than deserves this award.
1. It's maintained the same central cast of character for eight films.
Yes, I know Richard Harris passed away after the second film and so he had to be replaced by Michael Gambon, but we'll...
- 2/3/2011
- by Terri Schwartz
- MTV Movies Blog
2009 has been a great year for the release of vintage Japanese films on North American DVD. One of the more unique and unexpected Japanese releases of the year is AnimEigo's four disc collector's set of the sentimental Tora-san comedies from Shochiku. Although these films are generally unknown to Western audiences, AnimEigo's immaculate box set should turn many skeptics into converts.
Volume One of the Tora-san collector's set covers the first four films: Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969), Tora-san's Cherished Mother (1969), Tora-san, His Tender Love (1970), and Tora-san's Grand Scheme (1970). Unbelievably, forty-eight of Tora-san films were made. Each film stars Kiyoshi Atsumi, who played the smash-faced yakuza drifter named Torajiro Kuruma (aka Tora-san). Yoji Yamada directed all but two of the films. Torajiro Kuruma is a two-sided character. On one hand, he is a bumbling tough guy whose non-stop banter about farting and peeing are a constant source of amusement. In addition to being a comical character,...
Volume One of the Tora-san collector's set covers the first four films: Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969), Tora-san's Cherished Mother (1969), Tora-san, His Tender Love (1970), and Tora-san's Grand Scheme (1970). Unbelievably, forty-eight of Tora-san films were made. Each film stars Kiyoshi Atsumi, who played the smash-faced yakuza drifter named Torajiro Kuruma (aka Tora-san). Yoji Yamada directed all but two of the films. Torajiro Kuruma is a two-sided character. On one hand, he is a bumbling tough guy whose non-stop banter about farting and peeing are a constant source of amusement. In addition to being a comical character,...
- 11/21/2009
- Screen Anarchy
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.