Otoko wa tsurai yo (1969)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.5/10   

Réalisateur:

Yôji Yamada

Writers:

Azuma Morisaki (writer)
Yôji Yamada (writer)

Release Date:

18 juillet 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drame | Comedie | Romance

Awards:

3 wins

Avis des utilisateurs:

Endlessly watchable series

Ensemble

Kiyoshi Atsumi	...	Torajiro Kuruma
Chieko Baisho	...	Sakura Kuruma :Sakura Suwa
Sachiko Mitsumoto	...	Fuyuko
Chishu Ryu	...	priest
Takashi Shimura	...	Hiroshi's father
Shin Morikawa	...	Tatsuzo (Torajiro's uncle)
Gin Maeda	...	Hiroshi Suwa
Masaaki Tsusaka	...	Noboru
Gajiro Satoh	...	Gen
Keiroku Seki	...	Sikai-sha
Chieko Misaki	...	Tsune (Torajiro's aunt)
Hisao Dazai	...	Umetaro (Hiroshi's boss)
Toshiro Oumi	...	Bucho
Taichirô Hirokawa	...	Michio
Fusataro Ishijima	...	Chichi

Autre(s) titre(s) :

Am I Trying (USA)
It's Tough Being a Man (Japan: English title)
Tora San Our Lovable Tramp (USA) (reissue title)

Durée:

91 min

Pays:

Japan

Langue:

Japonais

Couleur:

Couleur (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Son:

Mono

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Shibamata, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo

Movie Connections:

Followed by Otoko wa tsurai yo: Torajiro kamome uta (1980)

Endlessly watchable series

It seems amazing to many people that this series of movies went on to number 48 over 25 years. But each film is strangely compelling and quite different, even though the basic format is the same.

Tora-san is a deeply flawed but intensely 'real' individual: lazy, vain, semi-literate, petulant, mendacious, funny, child-like, generous, sentimental. A real pain for everyone around him (most of all his long-suffering family), but nevertheless likable for all that. He is no one-dimensional character -- Atsumi's acting is breathtakingly larger than life. A lot of the credit must be due to the directorial skills of Yamada, who coaxes fine natural performances from all his actors.

There are a lot of underlying themes in the Tora-san films. Class certainly is one. Shibamata, Tora-san's hometown, is lower working class. Tora-san himself is 'yakuza-poi' -- not one of the notorious gangsters one thinks of as 'yakuza', but a small-time drifter and seller of trashy objects -- he tries his hand at various other jobs (like farming in Hokkaido), but always fails and returns to his itinerant way of life. His speech patterns and pugnacious character (not to mention his dress) signify his status immediately to any Japanese. Much of the comic tension in these films derives from the discomfort Tora's earthy presence provokes when among those of finer social pretensions.

The other more overt theme is Tora's endless disappointment in love. Although women find him a charming comedian, none can conceive of him as a serious love interest. Tora's fascination with women is curiously asexual -- there is never any leering or lustful aspect to it. Rather, he develops a sudden dog-like attachment to pretty young women he encounters by chance, his family---and the audience---knowing it is doomed from the start.

It is indeed a shame more of these films are not available in English, but on the other hand, a good translation of the very idiomatic Japanese would be difficult to achieve.