Tora-san, the Intellectual

Tora-san, the Intellectual (男はつらいよ 葛飾立志篇, Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Katsushika Risshihen) aka Tora-san Meets a Lady Scholar[1] is a 1975 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and Fumie Kashiyama as his love interest or "Madonna".[2] Tora-san, the Intellectual is the sixteenth entry in the popular, long-running Otoko wa Tsurai yo series.

Tora-san, the Intellectual
Theatrical poster
Directed byYoji Yamada
Written byYoji Yamada
Yoshitaka Asama
StarringKiyoshi Atsumi
Fumie Kashiyama
CinematographyTetsuo Takaba
Edited byIwao Ishii
Music byNaozumi Yamamoto
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • December 27, 1975 (1975-12-27)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Synopsis

Tora-san returns to his family's shop in Shibamata, Tokyo to find himself accused of being the father of a 17-year-old girl. It turns out that Tora-san had only given help to the girl's mother after her husband had left her. Tora-san becomes infatuated with the female archeology student who is staying with his family, and attempts to take up intellectual pursuits to get near her.[3][4]

Cast

Critical appraisal

A 1977 review in The New York Times judged Tora-san, the Intellectual to be "genuinely warm and charming". The review commented that Yoji Yamada's script was "convoluted" and the directing "uneven", but that "Mr. Yamada is decidedly professional in shaping a colorful and briskly moving story," and that the film as a whole "project[s] contemporary Japanese family life and ties realistically and affectionately."[3] The German-language site molodezhnaja gives Tora-san, the Intellectual three and a half out of five stars.[6]

Availability

Tora-san, the Intellectual was released theatrically on December 27, 1975.[7] In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1996, and in DVD format in 2005 and 2008.[8] The film played for two days in New York in 1977 during which time it received a review in The New York Times.[3]

References
  1. "OTOKO WA TSURAIYO -KATSUSHIKA RISSHI-HEN". Complete Index to World Film. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  2. "男はつらいよ 葛飾立志篇 (Madonna)" (in Japanese). www.tora-san.jp. Retrieved 2010-01-18. (official site)
  3. Weiler, A.H. (1977-04-27). "Film: Japanese Suds". The New York Times.
  4. 男はつらいよ 葛飾立志篇 (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  5. 男はつらいよ 葛飾立志篇 (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  6. "Tora-San, the Intellectual" (in German). www.molodezhnaja.ch. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  7. "男はつらいよ 葛飾立志篇". Japanese Cinema Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  8. 男はつらいよ 葛飾立志篇 (1975) (in Japanese). allcinema.net. Retrieved 2010-01-18.

Bibliography

English

German

Japanese
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