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
Direction Yôji Yamada
Cast Toshiyuki Nishida · Eiko Shinya · Keiko Takeshita · Nae
7.0
26 votes
7.0
26 votes
A Distant Cry From Spring
1980 · Movie · 123 min. · Japan
Direction Yôji Yamada
Cast Ken Takakura · Chieko Baisho · Hidetaka Yoshioka · Tokuko Sugiyama
6.9
85 votes
6.9
85 votes
About Her Brother
2010 · Movie · 116 min. · Japan
Direction Yôji Yamada
Cast Ryo Kase · Yû Aoi · Sayuri Yoshinaga · Yuriko Ishida
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...
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Where Spring Comes Late
1970 · Movie · 106 min. · Japan
Direction Yôji Yamada
Cast Chieko Baisho · Hisashi Igawa · Chishu Ryu · Gin Maeda
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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.
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Not rated
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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...
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Not rated
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