Direction: Yôji Yamada

The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by Yôji Yamada. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.


The Twilight Samurai

2002 · Movie · 129 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Hiroyuki Sanada · Rie Miyazawa · Nenji Kobayashi · Min Tanaka

Plot 19th century Japan. Seibei, a just-widowed samurai, struggles to care for his senile mother and two young daughters. He holds back from a possible remarriage, self-conscious about his poverty. When...

7.6

5K votes

7.6

5K votes

Love and Honor

2006 · Movie · 122 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Takuya Kimura · Rei Dan · Takashi Sasano · Nenji Kobayashi

Plot Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo. He has come to find his position in a castle as a food-taster for a feudal...

7.3

1K votes

7.3

1K votes

The Hidden Blade

2004 · Movie · 132 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Masatoshi Nagase · Takako Matsu · Hidetaka Yoshioka · Yukiyoshi Ozawa

Plot Nagase Masatoshi stars as a samurai, whose adherence to his code of honor is tested by the forces around him. It is mid-nineteenth century Japan, and the way of the...

7.3

2K votes

7.3

2K votes

Kabei: Our Mother

2008 · Movie · 133 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Sayuri Yoshinaga · Tadanobu Asano · Mitsugorô Bandô · Rei Dan

Plot Based on childhood days of Teruyo Nogami.

7.1

557 votes

7.1

557 votes

Tokyo Family

2013 · Movie · 146 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Isao Hashizume · Kazuko Yoshiyuki · Tomoko Nakajima · Yû Aoi

Plot An old married couple Shukichi Hirayama and Tomiko live on a small island in the Inland Sea. They go to Tokyo. The couple have 3 children. The eldest son Koichi...

7.0

3K votes

7.0

3K votes

Home from the Sea

1972 · Movie · 101 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Hisashi Igawa · Chieko Baisho · Chishu Ryu · Gin Maeda

Plot On a beautiful island in Seto Inner Sea, Seichi and Minko make their living by transporting rocks to construction sites by boat. They cherish the deepest affection for this piece...

7.0

36 votes

7.0

36 votes

Gakko

1993 · Movie · 128 min. · Japan

7.0

26 votes

7.0

26 votes

6.9

85 votes

About Her Brother

2010 · Movie · 116 min. · Japan

6.6

65 votes

6.6

65 votes

The Yellow Handkerchief

1977 · Movie · 103 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Ken Takakura · Chieko Baisho · Tetsuya Takeda · Kaori Momoi

Plot The story is about a convict released from prison for an old murder who is thinking about returning to his ex-wife and his former life. If she puts a yellow...

6.6

207 votes

6.6

207 votes

The Little House

2014 · Movie · 136 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Takako Matsu · Haru Kuroki · Hidetaka Yoshioka · Satoshi Tsumabuki

Plot Takeshi finds several notebooks by his late aunt Taki Nunomiya, who never married. Through the notebooks Takeshi learns of his aunt's life. Prior to World War II, in a little...

6.6

713 votes

6.6

713 votes

Mom, Is That You?!

2023 · Movie · 110 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Yo Oizumi · Sayuri Yoshinaga · Mei Nagano · Rosa Kato

Plot Akio Kizaki (I Oizumi), who spends his days as head of the Human Resources Department of a large company, is nervous about his wife's divorce and concerned about the relationship...

6.3

325 votes

6.3

325 votes

Nagasaki: Memories of My Son

2015 · Movie · 130 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Sayuri Yoshinaga · Kazunari Ninomiya · Haru Kuroki · Tadanobu Asano

Plot Set in post-World War II Japan, midwife Nobuko is resolved to move on as she stands at the grave of her son Koji who died, alongside thousands of others, when...

6.1

358 votes

6.1

358 votes

Tora-san 1: It's Tough Being a Man

1969 · Movie · 91 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Kiyoshi Atsumi · Chieko Baisho · Sachiko Mitsumoto · Chishu Ryu

Plot It's Tough Being a Man aka Am I Trying and Tora-san,Our Lovable Tramp is a 1969 Japanese comedy film directed by Yoji Yamada and starring Kiyoshi Atsumi. It is the...

5.8

33 votes

5.8

33 votes

What a Wonderful Family! II

2017 · Movie · 113 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Satoshi Tsumabuki · Yû Aoi · Kazuko Yoshiyuki · Yui Natsukawa

Plot In this sequel to the first It's A Wonderful Family, the characters who are still based on those in Tokyo Family (which itself was based on Tokyo Story), are a...

5.5

315 votes

5.5

315 votes

What a Wonderful Family

2016 · Movie · 108 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Satoshi Tsumabuki · Yû Aoi · Yui Natsukawa · Kazuko Yoshiyuki

Plot The three grown children of a couple approaching their 50th wedding anniversary are shocked when their mother demands a divorce.

5.5

979 votes

5.5

979 votes

Tora-san 2: Tora-san's Cherished Mother

1969 · Movie · 93 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Kiyoshi Atsumi · Chieko Baisho · Chocho Miyako · Orie Satoh

Plot Tora-san hears that his mother is still alive and returns to Tokyo to track her down. He discovers that she is a geisha who had had only a brief affair...

Not rated

Not rated

Where Spring Comes Late

1970 · Movie · 106 min. · Japan

Not rated

Not rated

Tora-san 38: Tora-san Goes North

1987 · Movie · 107 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Kiyoshi Atsumi · Toshirô Mifune · Keiko Awaji · Keiko Takeshita

Plot When his travels take him to rural Hokkaido, Tora-san helps a cantankerous old veterinarian in his relationships with his estranged daughter, and a woman in whom he is secrety interested.

Not rated

Not rated

Tora-san 12: Tora-san Loves an Artist

1973 · Movie · 107 min. · Japan

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Kiyoshi Atsumi · Chieko Baisho · Keiko Kishi · Takehiko Maeda

Plot Tora-san watches the family shop while the rest of his family takes a vacation to Kyushu. An old friend introduces Tora-san to his sister Ritsuko, and he promptly falls in...

Not rated

Not rated