Chishu Ryu
Encyclopedia
was a famous Japanese film actor, a favourite of the director Yasujiro Ozu
. From 1928 to 1992 he appeared in at least 155 films, including Ozu's Tokyo Story
(1953) and Yoshitaro Nomura
's Castle of Sand
(1974). From 1969 until his death, Ryu became familiar to a new generation as the curmudgeonly but benevolent Buddhist priest in Yoji Yamada
's Tora-san movie series (a role he parodied to great effect in a cameo in Juzo Itami
's 1984 comedy, The Funeral
).
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
. From 1928 to 1992 he appeared in at least 155 films, including Ozu's Tokyo Story
Tokyo Story
is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with...
(1953) and Yoshitaro Nomura
Yoshitaro Nomura
Yoshitarō Nomura was a prolific Japanese film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His first accredited film was released in 1953; his last in 1985...
's Castle of Sand
Castle of Sand
Castle of Sand is a 1974 police procedural directed by Yoshitaro Nomura, based on the novel "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" by Seicho Matsumoto, and is largely considered by critics as one of the masterpieces of Japanese cinema....
(1974). From 1969 until his death, Ryu became familiar to a new generation as the curmudgeonly but benevolent Buddhist priest in Yoji Yamada
Yoji Yamada
is a Japanese film director best known for his Otoko wa Tsurai yo series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ....
's Tora-san movie series (a role he parodied to great effect in a cameo in Juzo Itami
Juzo Itami
, born , was an actor and a popular modern Japanese film director. Many critics came to regard him as Japan's greatest director since Akira Kurosawa. His 10 movies, all of which he wrote himself, are comic satires on elements of Japanese culture....
's 1984 comedy, The Funeral
The Funeral (1984 film)
is a 1984 Japanese comedy film by director Itami Juzo.The film shows the preparations for a traditional Japanese funeral. It mixes grief at the loss of a husband and father with wry observations of the various characters as they interact during the three days of preparation.The Funeral was the...
).
Selected Filmography
- Days of YouthDays of Youthis a Japanese comedy film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It is the oldest known surviving film by the director. The film tells of two friends from a university who vie for the attention of the same girl during a skiing trip.-External links:*...
(学生ロマンス 若き日 Gakusei romansu Wakakihi) (1929) - I Was Born, But...I Was Born, But...is a 1932 black-and-white Japanese silent film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It became the first of six Ozu films to win the Kinema Junpō Critics' Prize...
(大人の見る繪本 生れてはみたけれど, Otona no miru ehon - Umarete wa mita keredo) (1932) - A Story of Floating WeedsA Story of Floating Weedsis a 1934 silent film directed by Yasujiro Ozu which he later remade as Floating Weeds in 1959 in color.-Plot:The film starts with a travelling kabuki troupe arriving by train at a provincial seaside town. Kihachi Ichikawa , the head of the troupe, is a very popular actor...
(浮草物語, Ukikusa monogatari) (1934) - The Only SonThe Only Son (1936 film)is a 1936 film directed by Yasujiro Ozu, starring Chouko Iida and Shinichi Himori. The film was Ozu's first "talkie" feature.-Plot:The film starts in the rural town of Shinshū in 1923. A widow, Tsune Nonomiya , works hard at a silk production factory to provide for her only son, Ryosuke...
(一人息子, Hitori musuko) (1936) - Late SpringLate Springis a critically acclaimed black-and-white Japanese film drama, directed by Yasujirō Ozu , first released in Japan in September 1949. Based on the novel Father and Daughter by Kazuo Hirotsu, the story concerns a young woman who lives happily in Kamakura with her kindly professor father, a widower...
(晩春, Banshun) (1949) - Early SummerEarly Summeris a 1951 film by Yasujiro Ozu. Like most of Ozu's post-war films, Early Summer deals with many issues ranging from communication problems between generations and the rising role of women in post-war Japan....
(麦秋, Bakushū) (1951) - Carmen Comes HomeCarmen Comes Homeis a 1951 color Japanese film comedy directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Filmed using Fujicolor, it was Japan's first color film.- Cast :* Hideko Takamine as Lily Carmen, Aoyama Kin* Shūji Sano as the blind man Haruo Taguchi* Chishu Ryu as schoolmaster...
(カルメン故郷に帰る, Karumen Kokyo-ni Kaeru) (1951) - Tokyo StoryTokyo Storyis a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with...
(東京物語, Tōkyō Monogatari) (1953) - ArashiArashi (film)Arashi is a 1956 Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. It was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Chishû Ryû - Shinji Mizusawa* Kinuyo Tanaka - Otoku, housekeeper* Daisuke Katô - Ishii* Akira Kubo - Saburo Mizusawa...
(1956) - Rickshaw ManRickshaw ManRickshaw Man is a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Its original Japanese title is . It tells the story of a Matsugoro, a rickshaw man who becomes a surrogate father to the child of a recently widowed woman....
(無法松の一生, Muhomatsu no isshō) (1958) - Equinox FlowerEquinox Floweris a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Yasujiro Ozu. It is Yasujiro Ozu's first film in color while Japan's first color film, Keisuke Kinoshita's Carmen Comes Home, had been released in 1951. The film is based on a novel by Ton Satomi...
(彼岸花, Higanbana) (1958) - Good MorningGood Morning (film)is a 1959 comedy film by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. It is a loose remake of his own 1932 silent film I Was Born, But..., and one of only six films that Ozu made in color.-Plot:...
(おはよう, Ohayō) (1959) - Late Autumn (秋日和, Akibiyori) (1960)
- The Bad Sleep WellThe Bad Sleep Wellis a 1960 film directed by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was the first film to be produced under Kurosawa's own independent production company. It was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival....
(悪い奴ほどよく眠る, Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru) (1960) - The Last WarThe Last War (1961 film)The Last War, known in Japan as , is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1961. Its special effects were created by Eiji Tsuburaya who is also known for working on Godzilla and Ultraman....
(世界大戦争, Sekai daisensō) (1961) - The End of SummerThe End of Summeris a 1961 film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It was entered into the 12th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was his penultimate film; only An Autumn Afternoon followed it....
(小早川家の秋, Kohayagawa-ke no aki) (1961) - An Autumn AfternoonAn Autumn Afternoonis a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It stars Ozu regular Chishu Ryu as the patriarch of the Hirayama family who oversees the wedding of his daughter, played by Shima Iwashita. It was Ozu's last film; he died in the following year...
(秋刀魚の味, Sanma no Aji) (1962) - Red BeardRed Beardis a 1965 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa about the relationship between a town doctor and his new trainee. The film was based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's short story collection, Akahige shinryotan . Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Insulted and the Injured provided the source for a subplot about a...
(赤ひげ, Akahige) (1965) - The Human BulletThe Human Bulletis a 1968 Japanese film about Him , a Japanese soldier during World War II who becomes assigned to a kamikaze mission against a U.S. battleship. It is an anti-war satire written and directed by Kihachi Okamoto....
(肉弾, Nikudan) (1968) - Otoko-wa Tsurai-yo! (男はつらいよ）series (1969-1991)
- Castle of SandCastle of SandCastle of Sand is a 1974 police procedural directed by Yoshitaro Nomura, based on the novel "Inspector Imanishi Investigates" by Seicho Matsumoto, and is largely considered by critics as one of the masterpieces of Japanese cinema....
(砂の器, Suna no utsuwa) (1974) - The FuneralThe Funeral (1984 film)is a 1984 Japanese comedy film by director Itami Juzo.The film shows the preparations for a traditional Japanese funeral. It mixes grief at the loss of a husband and father with wry observations of the various characters as they interact during the three days of preparation.The Funeral was the...
(お葬式 Osōshiki) (1984) - Tokyo-GaTokyo-GaTokyo-Ga is a 1985 documentary film directed by Wim Wenders ostensibly about filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. However, only two scenes actually focus on Ozu—one where Wenders interviews Ozu’s regular cinematographer, Yuharu Atsuta, and another where he interviews Ozu’s favorite actor, Chishu Ryu. The rest...
(東京画 Tōkyō-Ga) (1985) - Mishima: A Life in Four ChaptersMishima: A Life in Four ChaptersMishima: A Life in Four Chapters is an American/Japanese film co-written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1985. It was co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas....
(ミシマ:ア・ライフ・イン・フォー・チャプターズ) (1985) - A Taxing Woman's Return (マルサの女2, Yume) (1988)
- DreamsDreams (1990 film)is a 1990 magical realism film based on actual dreams of the film's director, Akira Kurosawa at different stages of his life. The film is more imagery than dialogue. The alternative titles are a translation of the opening line of Ten Nights of Dreams, by Natsume Sōseki, which begins:...
(夢, Yume) (1990) - Until the End of the WorldUntil the End of the WorldUntil the End of the World is a 1991 film by the German film director Wim Wenders; the screenplay was written by Wenders and Peter Carey, from a story by Wenders and Solveig Dommartin. An initial draft of the screenplay was written by American filmmaker Michael Almereyda...
(夢の涯てまでも, Yume no hatemademo) (1991) - Luminous MossLuminous Moss (film)is a 1992 Japanese horror film directed by Kei Kumai. It was entered into the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Rentarô Mikuni as Headmaster / Captain of a ship* Hisashi Igawa as Prosecutor* Satoko Iwasaki* Taketoshi Naitô as Novelist...
(1992)