is a 1984 Japanese comedy film directed by

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy (''The Twilight Samurai'', ''The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography He was born in Osaka, but due to his father's job ...

. It stars

Kiyoshi Atsumi Kiyoshi Atsumi (渥美清 ''Atsumi Kiyoshi''), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所康雄 ''Tadokoro Yasuo'', 10 March 1928 – 4 August 1996), was a Japanese actor. He was born in Tokyo, and started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show the ...

as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Reiko Ōhara as his love interest or "Madonna". ''Tora-san's Forbidden Love'' is the thirty-fourth entry in the popular, long-running ''

Otoko wa Tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans. Spanning 48 installments released between 1969 and 1995, all of the ' ...

'' series.

Plot

In the midst of Japan's rising economy of the mid-1980s, the itinerant Tora-san becomes drunk with a hard-working company section chief. After an hour commute, the two sleep off their night's revelry at the section chief's home in Ibaraki Prefecture. When the section chief disappears due to the pressure of his job, Tora-san helps his wife to find the man, while secretly hoping they do not, as he has fallen in love with her.

Cast

as Torajirō *

Chieko Baisho is a Japanese actress and singer. In Japan, she is well known for her performance as Sakura in the '' Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series from 1969 until 1995. In addition, she has acted in many films directed by Yōji Yamada since the 1960s. She won ...

as Sakura * Reiko Ōhara as Fujiko Tominaga *

Masakane Yonekura Masakane Yonekura ( ja, 米倉斉加年; 7 October 1934 – 26 August 2014) was a Japanese stage director, actor, author and illustrator who was one of the central members of the Gekidan Mingei theatre company. Death On 26 August 2014, Yonekura ...

as Kenkichi Tominaga *

Jun Miho Jun or JUN may refer to: People and anthroponymy * Jun (given name), a common Japanese given name * Jun (singer), a member of South Korean boy band U-KISS * Tomáš Jun, Czech footballer * A spelling of common Korean family name Jeon (Korean surn ...

as Akemi * Shimojo Masami as Kuruma Tatsuzō * Chieko Misaki as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt) *

Gin Maeda (born February 21, 1944) is a Japanese actor. He had a regular role in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' films, beginning with the first in the series (1969), as Sakura's husband. Filmography Film *''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series (1969–2019), Hiroshi S ...

as Hiroshi Suwa *

Hidetaka Yoshioka is a Japanese actor known for his performance in several movies as a child and lately the award-winning TV drama Dr. Coto's Clinic. He notably played the part of Tora-san's little nephew in the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" film series, and he appeared ...

as Mitsuo Suwa * Hisao Dazai as Boss (Umetarō Katsura) * Gajirō Satō as Genkō

Critical appraisal

Director

was nominated for the Golden Prize at the

14th Moscow International Film Festival The 14th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 28 June to 12 July 1985. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Soviet film ''Come and See'' directed by Elem Klimov, the American film '' A Soldier's Story'' directed by Norman Jewison and ...

. At the Japan Academy Prize long-time ''

'' composer, Naozumi Yamamoto was nominated for Best Music Score for his work in this film. Stuart Galbraith IV rates the film no better than average for the series, but still recommends it highly due to the series' high standards. He notes that it benefits from an opening dream-sequence satire of '' kaiju eiga'', or monster films, with footage from

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

's entry in this genre, ''

The X from Outer Space is a 1967 Japanese science fiction '' kaiju'' film that was directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu and stars Eiji Okada and Toshiya Wazaki. Guilala returned in a 2008 Shochiku sequel of sorts called '' Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit''. Plot ...

'', employed. This was meant to reference

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

's return from retirement in ''

The Return of Godzilla is a 1984 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Koji Hashimoto, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. The film features the fictional monster character Godzilla. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is ...

'' (1984), which had been released just before the Tora-san film. Kevin Thomas of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

wrote that the film was a "little slow in getting to its wrap-up, but it's the kind of honestly sentimental film that leaves you feeling better when the lights go up than when they went down." The German-language site molodezhnaja gives ''Tora-san's Forbidden Love'' three and a half out of five stars.

Availability

''Tora-san's Forbidden Love'' was released theatrically on December 28, 1984. In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1987 and 1996, and in DVD format in 2002 and 2008.

References

Bibliography

English

* * *

German

Japanese

* * * *

External links

''Tora-san's Forbidden Love''
at www.tora-san.jp (official site) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tora-san's Forbidden Love 1984 films 1984 comedy films Films directed by Yoji Yamada 1990s Japanese-language films Otoko wa Tsurai yo films Shochiku films Japanese sequel films 1980s Japanese films 1990s Japanese films