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 Yamada was born in Osaka, but due to his father' ...

. It stars

Kiyoshi Atsumi , born , was a Japanese actor. He is best known for portraying Tora-san in the Japanese comedy film series Otoko wa Tsurai yo, a role he played 48 times over 26 years. Life and career Atsumi was born in Tokyo suffering from childhood malnutr ...

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 Torajirō Kuruma, whose nickname is , 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 rel ...

'' 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 t ...

as Sakura * Reiko Ōhara as Fujiko Tominaga *

Masakane Yonekura Masakane Yonekura (; 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 died of an abdominal ...

as Kenkichi Tominaga * Jun Miho 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 the TV drama ''Dr. Kotō Shinryōjo, Dr. Coto's Clinic''. He played the part of Tora-san's nephew in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' film series, and he appeared in Akira ...

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 Stuart Eugene Galbraith IV (born December 29, 1965) is an American film historian, film critic, essayist, and audio commentator. Early life and education Raised in Livonia, Michigan, Galbraith first worked professionally as a film reviewer and ...

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 entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...

's entry in this genre, ''

The X from Outer Space is a 1967 Japanese science fiction ''kaiju'' film 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 The s ...

'', employed. This was meant to reference

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

'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. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 16th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, the last film ...

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

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