Kei Yamamoto Movies
- 1970
When 4 boys and their sister are orphaned, they work hard to care for each other and grow up in this Japanese drama. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1970
This Japanese historical drama set during the mid-19th century chronicles the attempts of a brave group to restore their beloved emperor to his throne. Unfortunately, an evil villain wants the seat and so hires a warrior to kill the rightful emperor. It works. The wicked new emperor rewards his loyal warrior by placing him in prison. There the distraught and dishonored fighter kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1971
This black-and-white crime drama takes place in a remote rural inn located on an island in a river. It is the headquarters for a smuggling gang and is protected by higher-ups in the government. Even with this protection, the police continue their efforts to put the gang away. Things begin to unravel for the gang as they try to raise money to buy out the prostitution contract of a woman one of them has fallen in love with. Told with lots of flashbacks detailing the life histories of those involved, this Japanese language film has English subtitles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1974
This is the third of a series of Japanese epics dealing with the exploits of a family that owns factories in Manchuria in the 1930s. The atrocities committed by Japan in China are not glossed over but become central to the story. Battles with the Chinese and the Russians are shown on a big scale in this lavishly produced picture. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Takiji Kobayashi (1903-33) was a Japanese writer who began his life in rural poverty and was tortured to death by the Imperial Police in 1933. In the Japan of the '20s and '30s, any criticism or dissent from the official line was punishable by death. Kobayashi, a leftist, violated those strictures, and, subsequently, distribution of his works was restricted until after the Second World War, when he was recognized as one of the great Japanese writers of this century. He loved a woman (a prostitute) who would not marry him, and married yet another, all the while struggling to write despite the inhospitable climate of the times. This drama re-creates episodes in Kobayashi's short but eventful life. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1975
This drama is adapted from a Japanese television mini-series. In the story, an industrialist learns of a medical condition which will greatly shorten his life. He is on a trip to Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes him to fantasize about her as the personification of his impending death. As his dialogue with his imagined mortality continues, he actually meets the living woman who is the template for his fantasy, and together they tour rural churches. Gradually he comes to some kind of peace about the diagnosis. When he returns to Japan, he is met with a series of challenges which profoundly test the lessons he has learned. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keiko Kishi, Haruko Sugimura, (more)
- 1975
- R
Motivated by their very real grievances, a group of bombers announce that they have placed speed-triggered bombs aboard a bullet train from Tokyo to Hakata, the "Hikari 109." If the train slows below a certain speed, it will be destroyed along with its many passengers. Proving their assertion by blowing up an unmanned freight train, the terrorists demand five million dollars, which seems a small sum, considering that the bullet trains put one of the men out of work and destroyed the business of another. The police want to stop the bombs, and the train company wants to save the passengers, and they soon find themselves in conflict under the frantic pace set by these dramatic circumstances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ken Takakura, Kei Yamamoto, (more)
- 1982
Released outside of Japan as Willful Murder, this is based on an actual 1948 case involving the mysterious death of a government official. The president of the Japanese railroads is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and shutdowns. The government says that the president was murdered; the police claim it was a suicide. A quizzical reporter follows the case for years, but the basic question remains unanswered: was the victim killed by members of the burgeoning Communist movement in Japan, or was the death stage-managed by the authorities in hopes of discrediting the Communists? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tatsuya Nakadai, Kei Yamamoto, (more)
- 1983
The setting for this story about the death of a victim of radiation sickness 37 years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) is the site of the blast itself. Seen against views of the bright ball of the setting sun, the larger city embraces the story of a school teacher who rides to work on her motorcycle each day, and whose vivacious personality garners her the support and love of her students. Because of the slow but inevitable effects of exposure to the radiation from the bomb, the school teacher begins to have severe symptoms of aplastic anemia that cannot be ignored. As a few of her closest students listen, she tells the story of what happened to her on that fateful day many decades earlier. Although this is a children's tale, the medical treatment suffered by the teacher, as well as the account of the blast itself, might be harsh going for the younger set. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1984
In a story strictly for the younger set, a little boy lives in a small seaside village with his newly-acquired puppy named Husty. He makes friends with the girl next door who aspires to become a great pianist, and the three -- canine, boy, and girl -- become best buddies. One day the girl is injured in a car crash and it seems she will completely lose her eyesight, already damaged in the accident. The boy is stricken with sadness, made all the worse when he learns that Husty is to be taken away from him for awhile. Not everything is bleak -- he still has his friend, and Husty will return to be a companion to both in a new and better way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuichi Saito, Hisashi Igawa, (more)
Infection director Masayuki Ochiai takes the helm for this remake of the 2004 horror hit from Thailand concerning a photographer and his girlfriend who are involved in a tragic auto accident, and subsequently begin to notice ghostly figures in the backgrounds of their pictures. Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor star in this supernatural frightener. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joshua Jackson, Megumi Okina, (more)
