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After 20 years of wandering (and basically staying away from his
violent dad), Tora (Kiyoshi Atsumi) has decided to return to his hometown
(his dad is dead by now) on a whim. Once back, pretty much the first thing
he does is to ruin his sister Sakura's (Chieko Baisho) chances to marry a
rich businessman thanks to his lack of manners and common sense. It takes
quite a bit for Tora to find out what he has done, but when he does, he
leaves his family, this time for good ... or so he thinks. Happens that
somewhere at a tourist spot where he is peddling books, he meets the
priest of his hometown, and, more importantly, his daughter Fuyuka
(Sachiko Mitsumoto), a woman he immediately falls in love with. Because of
her, he returns to his family once more. He finds out that Sakura has
since fallen in love with factory foreman Hiroshi (Gin Maeda), who wants
to marry her, but in thinking he has learned from his former mistake, Tora
now tries to drive them apart, as he thinks Hiroshi, who isn't rich and
has no university degree, is not good enough for his sister. Tora almost
succeeds, too, breaking both Sakura and Hiroshi's hearts, but when he sees
how genuine the love of the two of them is, he wills into their marriage
and sees to it that at the wedding, Hiroshi reconciles with his estranged
father (Takashi Shimura). All of this makes Tora more than happy, and to
make his life perfect, he plans to propose to Fuyuka - only to find out
she is already promised to another man. This throws Tora off to such a
degree that he leaves his hometown again to once more go on the lam -
maybe forever ... Tora San, Our Lovable Tramp is the
beginning of a Japanese success story, a film that spawned a movie series
that ran for 48 episodes between 1969 and 1995, with all films starring
Kiyoshi Atsumi and most of them being directed by its creator Yoji Yamada
- though to be quite correct, the movie was based on a television series
of the same name, also starring Atsumi and written/directed by Yoji
Yamada, a TV series that was quite popular in its own right. This all
says very little about the film itself though, which is a likeable and at
times bittersweet comedy that might be nothing to become excited about as
it lacks any rough edges and really good jokes - but exactly its
middle-of-the-road approach and its refusal to take narrative, directorial
or structural risks coupled with the instant likeability of its star
Kiyoshi Atsumi might be the roots of its success. And even though the film
(and the entire series) is often condemned for exactly these things, you
will find it hard to not at least somehow like Tora San, Our Lovable
Tramp.
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amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Tora San Our Lovable Tramp at adultvideouniverse.com
