There Was a Father

There Was a Father

7.0

Apr 01 1942

2h 33m

Drama

Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither money nor prospects.

Chishū Ryū

Chishū Ryū

Shuhei Horikawa

Shūji Sano

Shūji Sano

Ryohei Horikawa

Haruhiko Tsuda

Haruhiko Tsuda

Young Ryohei

Shin Saburi

Shin Saburi

Yasutaro Kurokawa

Recommendations

See all
Good Morning
7.7

Good Morning

1959

A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, Good Morning tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after their parents refuse to buy a television set. Ozu weaves a wealth of subtle gags through a family portrait as rich as those of his dramatic films, mocking the foibles of the adult world through the eyes of his child protagonists. Shot in stunning color and set in a suburb of Tokyo where housewives gossip about the neighbors’ new washing machine and unemployed husbands look for work as door-to-door salesmen, this charming comedy refashions Ozu’s own silent classic I Was Born, But . . . to gently satirize consumerism in postwar Japan.

Tokyo Twilight
7.7

Tokyo Twilight

1957

Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.

Nativity!
6.3

Nativity!

2009

Paul, charged with directing his school's Nativity play, falsely boasts that his ex-girlfriend plans to turn the production into a film.

Late Spring
8.0

Late Spring

1949

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.