Kazuo Kitamura

Kazuo Kitamura

Birth : 1927-03-11, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan

Death : 2007-05-06

Profile

Kazuo Kitamura

Movies

Japan Sinks
In the aftermath of a major earthquake, scientists predict that Japan will sink into the sea. As further disasters follow, politicians plead with other countries to take refugees, while scientists struggle to save Japan itself.
Island of Light
Taizo Suzuki
Hiromi, attends junior high school in Tokyo. The combination of getting bullied on campus and her fathers death causes her to stop attending school. One day she is invited by her online friend, Kenmun, to visit him on Ishigaki Island. Hiromi sets out to meet Kenmun, however, Hiromi has another reason to go to Ishigaki Island. She may be able to see her mother who left when she was a child. Will she be able to find her long lost mother? More importantly, will she be able to find happiness in life?
Henshin
Hidetaka Doumoto
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Even though Gennosuke and Oboro are from rival ninja villages, they are secretly in love. At an annual conference with the Lord, it is dictated that a competition--a fight to the death--will take place between the five best shinobi from each village. Gennosuke and Oboro's love is made even more impossible when they each got picked as the leader of the five to represent their respective villages.
女はバス停で服を着替えた
佐々木
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge
Taro
A down-and-out businessman travels to a seaside town, where he meets a woman with unusual sexual powers.
Yakuza Ladies 11
When her husband is betrayed by his fellow yakuza and jailed, his wife takes over and fights to prevent his expulsion from the clan.
Darkness in the Light
Takeo Nagata
A middle-aged salaryman with a typical family, living quietly in a provincial city (Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture), wakes up one morning in the summer of 1994 to find himself the prime suspect in the biggest mass-murder case of the decade.
Amateur Singing Contest
Traditional Japanese pop singer Reiko (Muroi) decides to enter a well-known TV program for amateur singers along with a confused teenager (Ôtomo) and a 40-year-old father of four (Bito).
Free and Easy 9
Hama-chan’s sales department gets a new supervisor, a hard-working taskmaster that’s the very opposite of carefree, irresponsible Hama-chan. The veteran employee decides to find his boss, a divorced father, a new wife. The supervisor loves a bar hostess “mama-san,” but is unable to confess his true feelings until Hama-chan comes to his rescue.
Shohei Imamura: The Free Thinker
Himself
Documentary about Japanese film director Shohei Imamura.
Kita no kuni kara '92 Sudachi Part 1
The Shootist 3
The biggest crisis has come to Matsushita, a shootist who has passed through numerous shrines!
Heat Wave
Kosugi
Rin Jyoshima lost her father to death-by-gambling; years later, she's grown up in the Kosugi household and has fallen victim to gambling herself.
Tales of a Golden Geisha
Tsurumaru
The film stars two of Itami's regular actors, Nobuko Miyamoto as a geisha who brings luck to the men with whom she sleeps, and Masahiko Tsugawa as her unfaithful, sometimes partner. As well as showing her relationships with the man she loves and the men who employ her, it satirizes corruption and the influence of money in Japanese politics.
Festival of Dreams
Company Executives
A fierce succession battle ignites at a newspaper company when the president passes away.
Black Rain
Shigematsu Shizuma
Shigematsu Shizuma lives with his senile mother, his wife Shigeko, and his niece Yasuko in a village near Fukuyama. He, his wife, his niece and his close friends in the village were present at the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Shizumas look for prospective husbands for Yasuko, but find that the families withdraw on finding out she was at Hiroshima.
Green Requiem
Secret Agreement: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secret Leak Incident
TV film about the "Nishiyama Incident", a scandal surrounding the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan. Produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of TV Asahi in 1978 and released theatrically by Office Henmi in 1988.
The Geisha
Yokiro was the most successful Geisha house in Western Japan during the first half of the 20th century and remains open to this day. At its peak, it was home to over 200 geisha, however behind the fabulous facade, there were many battles - between family members, men and women, and with the Yakuza. Momokawa was sold to Yokiro at age 12, and despite being the top geisha, her many complicated relationships provide unending challenges throughout her glamorous but turbulent life.
The Longest Tunnel
After a passenger ship sinks in 1954, Go Akutsu devises a life-saving project in the form of a tunnel under the Tsugaru Strait. While working on this project Akutsu becomes involved with Tae Makimura leading to his estrangement from his wife.
Lake of Illusions
Onishi
A woman works as a prostitute and attendant to make a living at a bathhouse. She is athletic and is an avid runner. She has met and adopted a white dog and the two have become inseparable. It is the biggest tragedy and calamity when the dog is found dead, killed, murdered. The woman swears to find justice by finding the murderer and making things right.
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun
Hamaguchi
A high-school girl inherits a declining yakuza organization, which seeks to repair its fortunes under her leadership.
Why Not?
Koide
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
The Man Who Stole the Sun
Tanaka, the director of the National Police Agency
A high school science teacher is the butt of all his students' jokes, until their bus is hijacked on a school trip. But something more sinister lurks beneath the surface: he's building an atomic bomb in his apartment.
White Love
Yoichiro Yamashita
Kobasashi was learning Spanish so that she could go to Spain to look for her father who had left the family. She fell in love with her language teacher Ken. Finally she found her father in Madrid and she also met Ken's ex-girl friend Taeko there. Ken came to Madrid and learned of their meeting. He wanted her to help to look for Taeko. Ken was caught in between the past and the present.
Vengeance Is Mine
A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.
Taro the Dragon Boy
(voice)
Patterned after Japanese art and silk screens, Taro, The Dragon Boy is an animated feature about Japanese mythology and cultures, focusing on Taro, a young boy who has to make a voyage to a distant lake to save his mother, who has been turned into a dragon.
The Wild Daisy
Narrator (voice)
Teenage cousins Masao and Tamiko fall in love when she comes to his riverside brewery house to take care of his sickly mother. Family objections ensue as Tamiko is older than Masao, and the two cannot marry in peace.
Solar Eclipse
When bribe money from a rigged election funnels into a dam construction project, collusion, lust, greed and even murder are on the ballot.
Wings of Love
Japanese drama film.
Touch of Love
Yujiro Aoki
My Voiceless Friends
A man who survived the war carries the will of his comrades in arms, walking across the country visiting the bereaved families.
Summer Soldiers
Tachikawa
The plight of U.S. Army deserters from Vietnam on the run in Japan, centering on the culture clash between the troubled Americans and the Japanese who try to help him.
Buban No Kaizoku
By going to the Philippines, Imamura comes to meet people living in an extreme poverty. He discovers very quickly that some communities are under the control of cruel & armed pirates. Imamura will come to meet those men in order to understand their position.
Wakare no uta
Richness, severity and pureness of love is beautifully and sentimentally depicted.
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words use by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
Vixen
Michi's first encounter with Nobuyuki Ishida, secretary to the chairman of a private school, takes place in the drawing room, when she attempts to swindle him out of two million yen for alleged rape by his son. Akie (Kyoko Kishida), Ishida's wife and the chairman's daughter, offers her a million, but he gives her what she demands. Now Michi is not only satisfied, but she has a mad desire for Ishida and calls him every day asking for a date. His sympathy for her gradually evolves into love, and he soon allows her insatiable passion to strip him of his decency.
Only Child
The Woman Killer
Japanese crime film.
Profound Desires of the Gods
Engineer Kariya
Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill.
Women and Miso Soup
Temari, a geisha, dreams of opening a small restaurant with her little brother.
Neon taiheiki
The Great Villains
Attorney Okano
Psychological action drama about the activities of a corrupt lawyer.
Impasse
Fujikida
Shingo and Ritsuko have a baby: Takashi. They happen to be a happy couple, but soon Ritsuko wants to know who is the true father of Takashi, born by artificial insemination.
Three Seconds to Zero Hour
Sugiyama
“I like shady dealings,” purrs undercover superspy Yabuki en route to infiltrating a sadistic, trigger-happy gang of international jewel thieves. Gone renegade from the shadowy espionage bureau that honed his killer instincts to a razor’s edge, the implacable Yabuki teams up with fellow mercenary crime fighter Yamawaki. Together, they follow a trail of stolen gems leading from the final days of WWII to a contemporary conspiracy that reaches into the highest corridors of corporate power and nefarious international villainy.
Japan's Longest Day
Tomoo Sato - Cabinet General Affairs Section Chief
Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
I'll Never Cry!
The rehabilitation of a delinquent on leaving reformatory. Her redemption comes through a boy in a wheelchair; by his rehabilitation, growing comes in courage along with her patient, she grows by finding meaning in her own existence. She finally sees a new world before her and has the determination to lead a normal life.
Warm Current
Dr. Hashizume
The Pornographers
Doctor
Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady, Haru, and her family. From time to time, Haru shares her bed with Subu, though she believes her dead husband, reincarnated as a carp, disapproves. Director Shohei Imamura has always delighted in the kinky exploits of lowlifes, and in this 1966 classic, he finds subversive humor in the bizarre dynamics of Haru, her Oedipal son, and her daughter, the true object of her pornographer-boyfriend’s obsession. Imamura’s comic treatment of such taboos as voyeurism and incest sparked controversy when the film was released, but The Pornographers has outlasted its critics, and now seems frankly ahead of its time.
A Chain of Islands
Narrator (voice)
When a US army sergeant is found drowned in Tokyo Bay, an investigation is launched to determine how and why he lost his life. The investigation uncovers a black market scheme involving counterfeit money, murder, and conspiracy.
Cold Rice, Osan, Chan
Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.
That Cute Girl
The Soundless Cry
Shinichi is not only poor, he is also deaf, and leads a joyless life with his sick mother. His one happiness is his friendship with a girl who works in a bar nearby. Then, one day, his mother dies after drinking the medicine that Shinichi himself gave her. It is discovered that the pills contained poison. He is apprehended on suspicion of murder and taken away for interrogation, unable to defend himself - being deaf and dumb - or even to proclaim his innocence.
Kwaidan
Taira no Tomomori (segment "Miminashi Hôichi no hanashi")
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
Whirlpool of Flesh
Kohei Otani
During the war a university professor meets a girl and marries her. Very soon however, it is apparent that their needs are not matched. He would much rather be translating Shakespeare than attending to her, and she has a secret in her past - one that results in her sleeping with a great number of men.
Night Scandal
Kamekichi Enjo
Intentions of Murder
Sadako, cursed by generations before her and neglected by her common-law husband, falls prey to a brutal home intruder. But rather than become a victim, she forges a path to her own awakening.
The Scent of Incense
Keisuke
After her mother runs away from home, Tomoko is raised to be a geisha. One day Tomoko meets her mother in a red-light district in Tokyo and her life deeply gets in trouble.
The Hunter's Diary
Kentaro Hatanaka
Leaving his wife in Osaka, Honda leads a double life in Tokyo – after spending the day as an elite businessman, he flirts around in the evenings. He even rents a secret apartment where he keeps record of his girl hunts in his diary, the ‘Hunter’s Diary’. One day, he finds an article in the newspaper – a murder of a young woman in his diary. A few days later, another woman from his diary is murdered. He soon finds himself in a labyrinth of fear, as women named in his diary are killed one after another...
Ukyunosuke's Reverse Ichimonji Cut
In this exciting sequel to the popular samurai-ninja movie Ukyunosuke On Patrol, his mission to avenge his father's death continues. His discovery of a mysterious note written by his father, Inspector Sena, held a clue to the inspector's murder 18 years ago. As Ukyunosuke continues further with his investigation into the conspiracy to uncover the truth behind his father's death, he must confront those eager to take his life. The great Okawa Hashizo shines in one of his signature roles bringing the ultimate conclusion of this epic tale of murder and revenge!
Night Scandal in Japan
Aoyama
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
Warrior of the Wind
Yôroku Nabari
A suspenseful Ninja fantasy based on Shiba Ryotaro's novel, woven with the mysterious fate and romance of Shinzo and a beautiful Princess who find themselves at the center of an intrigue surrounding the legendary land of Yasurai in the mountains of Kumano. Hidden gold, the love of a beautiful Princess, and the approaching evil sword all contribute in bringing you a Ninja action thriller that only the legendary actor Okawa Hashizo and the genius director Kato Tai could produce!
Yearning
Mr. Morizono, Hisako's husband
After a bombing raid destroys the family store and her husband, Reiko rebuilds and runs the shop out of love stopped short by destruction.
Ukyunosuke on Patrol
This is one of the most powerfully effective ninja films that dispenses with the silly magic of earlier efforts, and concentrates on an excellent story with expert fighting. Sena Denemon is the rarest of government officials, a man of integrity, sent on a mission to uncover the corruption that ran rampant during the Edo Period. Refusing bribes, and willing to put his life on the line to raise his son properly, heinfuriates the corrupt Inspectors; thus endangering his own life. Along with his two trusted vassals, he makes a brave effort to alert the Shogun to the plot which is being carried out. After the battle, his son Ichitaro joins the Chichibu ninja group in order to master fighting so he, too, can fight the forces which have brought about so much suffering.
The Insect Woman
Chuji
A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.
High and Low
Third Reporter
An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer
Kitagô Sôchô
After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life, Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines.
The Lovelorn Geisha
A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. He is slightly crippled from frostbite in his years in Siberian labor camps and considers himself "already dead."
An Inlet of Muddy Water
Three short tales from stories by Ichiyo Higuchi. In one, a young woman is degraded by her family after an arranged marriage. Another deals with the troubles heaped upon a young servant by her family and the wealthy people who employ her. The final story tells of a prostitute and her hopes of finding a new, respectable life.