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Tora-san, the Go-Between
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Wikipedia article
is a 1985 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada. It stars Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajir Kuruma (Tora-san), and Kanako Higuchi as his love interest or "Madonna". (official site) 'Tora-san, the Go-Between' is the thirty-fifth entry in the popular, long-running 'Otoko wa Tsurai yo' series.
Synopsis
In Nagasaki, Tora-san and an acquaintance help an old woman who has fallen and injured herself. She invites them to her home where the three share a night of eating and drinking. The old woman's health deteriorates and she dies. At her funeral, Tora-san falls in love with the old woman's daughter, but winds up acting as a go-between for her and a young law student.
Cast
* Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajir
* Chieko Baisho as Sakura
* Mitsuru Hirata as Tamio Sakata
* Kanako Higuchi as Wakana Egami
* Shimojo Masami as Kuruma Tatsuz
* Chieko Misaki as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt)
* Hisao Dazai as Boss (Umetar Katsura)
* Gajir Sat as Genk
* Hidetaka Yoshioka as Mitsuo Suwa
* Gin Maeda as Hiroshi Suwa
* Keiroku Seki as Ponsh
Critical appraisal
Series composer Naozumi Yamamoto was nominated for Best Music Score at the Japan Academy Prize for his work on 'Tora-san, the Go-Between'. Though commenting that the film opens with an especially funny dream-sequence satirizing 'The Ballad of Narayama' Stuart Galbraith IV judges this film to be one of the weaker of the series. It treads no new ground for the series, instead putting Tora-san in situations in which he had been before. The German-language site molodezhnaja gives 'Tora-san, the Go-Between' three and a half out of five stars.
Availability
'Tora-san, the Go-Between' was released theatrically on August 3, 1985. In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1987 and 1996, and in DVD format in 2000, 2005, and 2008.
References
Bibliography
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German
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