Mikio Mori

Movies

Journey
Art Direction
Organized Violence II
Art Direction
Flower Cards Chivalry
Art Direction
An absolutely astonishing art house ninkyo yakuza film. Wandering gambler runs into a young swindler woman working with old man. They are both arrested by detective. A year later gambler is staying with gangster boss when he comes across that woman and her partner again. Boss lusts for both her and his own daughter, while the boss's crazy yakuza brother loves his daughter, who, in turn, watches the player and wants to destroy the people standing in her way. And here lies one of the film's remarkable departures from the standard ninkyo efforts: it doesn't have a third party villain, nor a clear distinction between good and evil. It's bursting with romantic emotion and wrenched with gritty realism, shot with striking black and white compositions, and explodes into shocking carnage. It has lengthier, more detailed gambling scenes than any other yakuza film I've seen. And it has a heartbreakingly beautiful score. You could call it the Ashes of Time of ninkyo yakuza films. A masterpiece!
Gambler's World 2
Art Direction
Thriller about a gangster and an outlaw who become friends despite their different outlooks.
The Pretty Jade
Art Direction
Part 3 of the 'Onna bangaichi' series
A Circus Girl
Art Direction
Japanese drama film.
Tale of Japanese Burglars
Art Direction
Gisuke Hayashida is an illegal dentist during the day and a burglar by night. One night during a burglary he witnesses a train derailment. Some communists are found guilty of causing the incident, but he knows it wasn't them. He can save innocent people but for that he must confess his own crime.
A Fugitive from the Past
Art Direction
Three robbers escape with loot from a heist before one of them kills the others. Their corpses wash up near the aftermath of a maritime calamity, provoking a policeman's interest.
Roadside Stone
Art Direction
The Wayside Pebble is an effective drama about the hardships of a childhood spent with a brusque, cold-hearted father and a submissive mother. The year is 1910 and the place is a small Japanese village. Goichi is suffering because he wants to go to school, but his family is too poor to afford that luxury. Even when a kind friend agrees to help out, Goichi's father refuses to give in to his son's request for an education. Instead, he sends Goichi off to work as an indentured servant for a cold-hearted merchant and his family. As tragedy strikes and the suffering of the young boy increases, he begins to look for some way out of his bleak situation.
A Story from Echigo
Art Direction
A sake factory worker on holiday returns to his home town, where he rapes the wife of one of his co-workers in the forest. The other man returns home to find his wife changed and suspects that she has been unfaithful.
Night Scandal in Japan
Art Direction
Mayumi Ogawa stars in the tale of a Turkey miss—basically a prostitute who services men in Turkish baths—whose plans to get rich in the stock market, open a beauty salon, and marry her sweetie are turned upside down by the arrival of her boyfriend-stealing half sister Mako Midori. - Pulpinternational
Four Sisters
Art Direction
A story about the lives of four sisters and their manipulative mother who must come to terms with each of their decisions in life.
Rascals! Go to Hell
Art Direction
A boss of underworld helps the police crush an evil gang.
Officer Morgan and a Man of Mystery
Art Direction
Detective Morgan and the Japanese police cooperate to unveil the truth of the mysterious death of Morgan’s friend in Arizona.
Devotion to Railway
Art Direction
A human drama of crew and passengers on a special express train named “Sakura” from Tokyo to Nagasaki...
Men in a Rough Town
Art Direction
An action-packed, dramatic gangster film.
The Outsiders
Art Direction
A drama about relations between Japanese immigrants and the indigenous Ainu on Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan. From a novel by Taijun Takeda.
With Songs in My Heart
Art Direction
Sayuri, a young woman born to a simple life on a farm, moves to Tokyo to pursue a life long dream of becoming a singer. Through dance, music, and songs, this story shows how a girl raised on a farm was able to make her dream a reality, with the love of those around her.
Detective Duel
Art Direction
A friendly rivalry turns into romance for Yukiko, an elite female detective, and a handsome private eye named Mitamura while both are investigating the missing person's case from a wealthy family.
First Love of Okon
Art Direction
A fox in disguise, Okon, returns the favor to a man who rescued her from a fatal trap.
The Eleventh Hour
Art Direction
Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.
The Deep Blue Sea
Art Direction
To fulfill a friend’s dying wish, a young sailor Kenji takes on the task of delivering an heirloom to his friend’s daughter, Harumi, who has been adopted by another family. When he arrives, Kenji soon discovers that Harumi and her adopted family are the targets of an evil gang boss. In an attempt to help them, he decides to take matters into his own hands.
Three-Headed Tower
Art Direction
Newly graduated Miyamoto Otone is to inherit a fortune from a distant relative on the condition that she marries Takato Shunsaku, a man she has never heard of. The lawyers haven't located Shunsaku yet, allowing Otone to think about whether she accepts the conditions of the will. One month later after, Takato Shunsaku is found. Murdered. At the birthday party of Otone's uncle. With Shunsaku dead and thus making it impossible for Otone to marry him, the inheritence is to split amongst all (living) family members. And yes, as always, that means that the potential successors get killed off one by one. But Kosuke Kindaichi is on the trail...
Seven Masks of Revenge
Art Direction
The eighth film in the "master detective with seven faces" series. Bannachi patrols the town in his taxi when he sees a man heading into Shiodome Town. Next day the man is found brutally murdered and the mystery starts to unravel.
Foul Play
Art Direction
Private eye Bannai Tarao (Chiezo Kataoka) and his assistant Masako (Chizuru Kitagawa) investigate the mysterious murder of a baseball player who was killed in the middle of a game.
憧れの星座 
Art Direction
Wedding Ring
Art Direction
A jewelry store president begins to fall for the doctor treating her husband's illness.
A Woman in the Typhoon Area
Art Direction
Four unlucky pirates head to a weather tracking station set on a remote island with the intention of holding the weather trackers as hostages and assaulting their next incoming supply ship; but at the station they are told that a serious typhoon is on the way, so the ship will be delayed.
Great X
Art Direction
A 1948 Japanese film.
Morning for the Osone Family
Production Design
A Japanese family weathers much hardship after their military uncle comes to live with them during WWII.