was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

director who was born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Career

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 is a 1981 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Cast *Katsunobu Itō as Shintoto *Kumiko Akiyoshi as Elizabeth *Isao Bitō Awards and nominations 3rd Yokohama Film Festival * Won: Best Film * Won: Best New Director - Yoshimitsu Morita ...

'', 1981).Mark Schillin
"Director Yoshimitsu Morita dies"
''Chicago Tribune'', 21 December 2011 In 1983 he won acclaim for his movie ''Kazoku Gēmu (

The Family Game is a 1983 Japanese movie directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. ''The Family Game'' received several awards including the best movie of the year as selected by Japanese critics. Although the movie missed the Japan Academy Prize for the Best Picture (lo ...

)'', which was voted the best film of the year by Japanese critics in the ''

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

'' magazine poll.Roger Mac
"Yoshimitsu Morita: Director best known for 'The Family Game'"
''The Independent'', 3 January 2012 This

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

dealt with then-recent changes in the structure of Japanese home life. It also earned Morita the

Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award The is given annually by the Directors Guild of Japan to a new director of a film released that year who is considered the most "suitable" for the award. The winner is selected by a committee formed of DGJ members. All formats—feature film, docu ...

. The director has been nominated for eight

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

, winning the 2004 Best Director award for ''Ashura no Gotoku'' (''

Like Asura is a 2003 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. At the 27th Japan Academy Prize (film), Japan Academy Prize it won three awards and received ten other nominations. The film is a remake of the TV mini series Ashura no Gotoku (TV series), As ...

'', 2003). He also won the award for best director at the 21st Yokohama Film Festival for ''39 keihō dai sanjūkyū jō'' (''

Keiho is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Cast * Kyōka Suzuki as Kafuka Ogawa * Shin'ichi Tsutsumi as Masaki Shibata * Ittoku Kishibe as Inspector Nagoshi * Naoki Sugiura as Professor Saneyuki Fujishiro * Kirin Kiki as Defence ...

'', 2003) and the award for best screenplay at the 18th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Haru'' (1996). ''

Sanjuro is a 1962 black-and-white Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune. It is a sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 ''Yojimbo''. Originally an adaptation of the Shūgorō Yamamoto novel ''Hibi Heian'', the script ...

'' (2007) is a remake of the Kurosawa film

Death and legacy

Yoshimitsu Morita died from acute liver failure in Tokyo in December 2011. His last film ''Bokutachi kyūkō: A ressha de ikō'' (''

Take the "A" Train "Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. History The use of the Strayhorn composition as the signature tune was made necessary by a ruling in 1940 by the Americ ...

'', 2011), a

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

about two male train enthusiasts, was released in Japan in March 2012.

Filmography

* ''

No Yōna Mono is a 1981 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Cast *Katsunobu Itō as Shintoto *Kumiko Akiyoshi as Elizabeth *Isao Bitō Awards and nominations 3rd Yokohama Film Festival * Won: Best Film * Won: Best New Director - Yoshimitsu Morita ...

'' (1981) (''Something Like It'') * ''

Come On Girls! Come may refer to: *Comè, a city and commune in Benin *Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music *Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 *Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979 **Come ...

'' (''Shibugakitai Boys & Girls'', 1982) * '' Zūmu Appu: Maruhon Uwasa no Sutorippa'' (also known as ''Uwasa no Stripper'', 1982) * ''

Futoku Aishite Fukaku Aishite , also known as acute social withdrawal, is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. ''Hikikomori'' refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves. ''Hikikomori'' ha ...

'' (''Pink Cut'', 1983) * '' Kazoku Gēmu'' (''The Family Game'', 1983) * ''

Tokimeki ni Shisu Tokimeki is the romanization of the Japanese term ときめき which can mean excitement or heartbeat. It can refer to: *''Tokimeki Tonight'', a manga/anime series that began in 1982 * Tokimeki Alice, a manga by Hideo Azuma that ran from 1985 to 20 ...

'' (1984) * ''

Mein tēma Mein may refer to: People * Alexander Mein (1854–1927), British soldier who played on the winning side in the 1875 FA Cup Final * Hannie Mein (1933-2003), Dutch ceramist. * John Gordon Mein (1913-1968), a United States ambassador to Guatemala, t ...

'' (''Main Theme'', 1984) * ''

Sorekara is a novel written by Natsume Sōseki in 1909, first published in serial form in the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun''. It was translated into English by Norma Moore Field in 1978. Plot The novel starts off with Daisuke, the protagonist, wa ...

'' (''And Then'', 1985) * ''

Sorobanzuku is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Awards 8th Yokohama Film Festival *Won: Best Screenplay - Yoshimitsu Morita *Won: Best Actress - Narumi Yasuda is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 8th Yokoh ...

'' (1986) * ''

Kanashi Iro Yanen Kanashi is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in the isolated Malana (Malani) village area in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. It is, to some extent mutually intelligible with other Sino-Tibetan language like kinnauri. Sociolinguistic sit ...

'' (1988) * '' Ai to Heisei no Iro - Otoko'' (1989) * ''

Kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

'' (1989) * '' Oishii Kekkon (Happy Wedding)'' (1991) * '' Mirai no Omoide'' (''Future Memories: Last Christmas'', 1992) * '' Haru'' (1996) * '' Shitsurakuen'' (''A Lost Paradise'', 1997) * '' 39 Keihō dai Sanjūkyū jō'' (''Keiho'', 1999) * '' Kuroi Ie'' (''The Black House'', 1999) * '' Mohou-han'' (''Copycat Killer'', (2002) * '' Ashura no Gotoku'' (''Like Asura'', 2003) * ''

Umineko is a Japanese dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. Its first episode debuted at Comiket 72 for Windows on August 17, 2007. The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two da ...

'' (''The Seagull'', 2004) * ''

Mamiya kyodai is a 2006 Japanese comedy film written and directed by Yoshimitsu Morita, based on a novel by Kaori Ekuni. The film's theme, ''Hey, brother'', was performed by Rip Slyme. Plot The film follows two thirty-something eccentric brothers (Akinobu and ...

'' (''The Mamiya Brothers'', 2006) * ''

'' (2007) * '' Southbound'' (2007) * '' Bushi no kakeibo'' (''Abacus and Sword'', 2010) * '' Watashi dasu wa'' (''It's on Me'', 2009) * '' Bokutachi kyūkō: A ressha de ikō'' (''Take the "A" Train'', 2012)

References

External links

* * *Davis, Bo
"Morita Yoshimitsu"
'Senses of Cinema'', February 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Morita, Yoshimitsu 1950 births 2011 deaths Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners Japanese film directors People from Tokyo