aka Tora-san, Bluebird of Happiness is a 1986

1986 in film

-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada

Yoji Yamada

is a Japanese film director best known for his Otoko wa Tsurai yo series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ....

. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi

Kiyoshi Atsumi

Kiyoshi Atsumi , born Yasuo Tadokoro , was a Japanese film actor....

 as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Etsuko Shihomi as his love interest or "Madonna". Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy is the thirty-seventh entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo

Otoko wa Tsurai yo

Otoko wa tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as "Tora-san" , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans...

series.

Synopsis

During his travels, Tora-san comes across a traditional theater he used to visit, and discovers that one of his old friends has died. Tora-san and his family help the friend's daughter, who becomes romantically involved with an aspiring artist.

Cast

• Kiyoshi Atsumi
  Kiyoshi Atsumi
  Kiyoshi Atsumi , born Yasuo Tadokoro , was a Japanese film actor....
  
   as Torajirō
• Chieko Baishō
  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 . In addition, she has acted in most films directed by Yōji Yamada since the 1960s...
  
   as Sakura
• Etsuko Shihomi as Miho Shimazaki
• Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi
  Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi
  is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, poet, and human-rights advocate, who is a prominent figure in Japanese popular music.As a musician, he has sold more than 20 million records worldwide, and has appeared in various movies and television dramas...
  
   as Kengo Kurata
• Shimojo Masami as Kuruma Tatsuzō
• Chieko Misaki as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt)
• Gin Maeda as Hiroshi Suwa
• Hidetaka Yoshioka
  Hidetaka Yoshioka
  ', is a Japanese actor known for his performance in several movies as a child and lately the award-winning TV drama Dr. Koto Shinryojo. He notably played the part of Tora-san's little nephew in the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" film series, and he appeared in Akira Kurosawa's "Rhapsody in August" and...
  
   as Mitsuo Suwa
• Hisao Dazai as Boss (Umetarō Katsura)
• Gajirō Satō as Genkō
• Chishū Ryū
  Chishu Ryu
  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 and Yoshitaro Nomura's Castle of Sand...
  
   as Gozen-sama
• Jun Miho as Akemi
• Issei Ogata

Critical appraisal

Stuart Galbraith IV

Stuart Galbraith IV

Stuart Galbraith IV is an American cinema historian, film critic, and DVD special features producer, essayist, and audio commentator.-Early life and education:...

 judges this to be one of the weaker entries in the Otoko wa Tsurai yo

Otoko wa Tsurai yo

Otoko wa tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as "Tora-san" , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans...

series, but still recommended. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the film is that the co-star, Etsuko Shihomi, was the star of the Sister Street Fighter

Sister Street Fighter

is a spin off of The Street Fighter . The plot revolves around Lǐ Hóng-Lóng , the female martial artist of the title. When her brother Lǐ Wàn-Qīng is kidnapped by drug lords, she seeks revenge. The drug lord's colorful collection of "killers" includes a toga-clad group of Thai Boxers called the...

series. It was on the set of Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy that she met Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi

Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi

is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, poet, and human-rights advocate, who is a prominent figure in Japanese popular music.As a musician, he has sold more than 20 million records worldwide, and has appeared in various movies and television dramas...

, whom she married the following year. The German-language site molodezhnaja gives Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy three and a half out of five stars.

Availability

Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy was released theatrically on December 20, 1986. In Japan, the film has been released on videotape in 1988 and 1996, and in DVD format in 2005 and 2008.

External links

• Tora-san's Bluebird Fantasy at www.tora-san.jp (Official site)