Jun IchikawaFilmography

Born:: January 1, 1948 in Tokyo, Japan
Occupation:: Director, Screenwriter
Biography:: Director Jun Ichikawa retains a status as one of the more important and interesting Japanese filmmakers to surface during the late 20th century, emerging as he did in the wake of Mizoguchi and Ozu. Intriguingly, unlike the said directors, Ichikawa approached cinema by treading down an explicitly...Read More

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Imago Mortis

Actors: Alberto Amarilla, Francesco Carnelutti, Alex Angulo, Geraldine Chaplin, Oona Chaplin

Synopsis: Inspired by the visually stylish Italian giallos of the 1970s, first time writer/director Stefano Bessoni's Imago Mortis follows a young film student on his quest to unmask a killer who projects his victims' last visions for the entire world to see. Bruno (Alberto Amarilla) is a student at the Read More

1/16/09
Buy a Suit

Crew: Director

2008
How to Become Myself

Crew: Director

2007
Tony Takitani

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Issey Ogata, Rie Miyazawa, Takahumi Shinohara, Hidetoshi Nishijima

Synopsis: A man who has lived a life of emotional isolation discovers the dark side of falling in love in this drama from Japanese filmmaker Jun Ichikawa. Tony Takitani (Issey Ogata) is the son of a Japanese musician with a passion for jazz who spent most of World War II in Shanghai, and was later sentenced Read More

7/29/05
Volevo Solo Dormirle Addosso

Actors: Giorgio Pasotti, Cristiana Capotondi, Faju, Ninni Bruschetta, Marcelo Catalano

2004
Cantando Dietro I Paraventi

Actors: Bud Spencer, Jun Ichikawa, Sally Ming, Camillo Grassi, Makoto Kobayashi

Synopsis: Directed by veteran helmer Ermanno Olmi, this Chinese folktale revolves around a young man (Davide Dragonetti) who mistakenly enters a brothel while trying to find his way through urban China circa the 1930s. Narrated by Bud Spencer, the young man succumbs to temptation, and the dialogue-free Read More

2003
Tokyo Marigold

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Recalling both Yasujiro Ozu and Eric Rohmer, Jun Ichikawa directs this quiet, understated tale about one woman's attempts at braving the rapids of romance. Following a breakup with her boyfriend, Eriko (Rena Tanaka) feels like her life is adrift. In the film's outset, Eriko is meandering from one Read More

2001
Zawa Zawa Shimokitazawa

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Veteran director Jun Ichikawa spins this affectionate portrait of the people who populate Shimokitazawa, a bohemian corner of Tokyo filled with small theater companies and smoky coffeehouses. The film centers on Yuki (Tomoko Kitagawa), a college-aged waitress at a hip café located near the train Read More

2000
A Tale of Osaka

Crew: Director

Actors: Chizuru Ikewaki, Kenji Sawada, Yuko Tanaka

Synopsis: With an eye to Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece Tokyo Story (1953), director Jun Ichikawa creates this drama about a dysfunctional family. Fourteen-year-old Shimotsuki, like most Japanese students her age, is struggling through studying for high school entrance exams -- until her world is shattered when Read More

1999
Tadon to Chikuwa

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Jun Ichikawa -- who directed such restrained Ozu-esque family dramas as Tokyo Kyodai and Tokyo Yakyoku -- completely departs from his humanistic mode of storytelling to direct this taunt psychological omnibus thriller about two working stiffs at the end of their rope. The first section focuses on Read More

1998
Tokyo Yakyoku

Crew: Director

Actors: Kyozo Nagatsuka, Kaori Momoi, Mitsuko Baisho, Takaya Kamikawa, Satoke Abe

Synopsis: Following up on his 1995 Ozu-like work Tokyo Kyodai with this restrained look at lost love, Ichikawa centers his film on Hamanaka (Kyozo Nagatsuka), a middle-aged native of Tokyo's old shitamachi district who returns to his job and his wife after years of meandering about the country. Soon he is Read More

1997
Tokiwaso no Seishun

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker Jun Ichikawa spins this historical drama based on the legendary Tokiwas collective of manga artists during the 1950s. All living in the same rooming house, the group's spiritual leader was Osamu Tezuka, the creator of the modern Japanese comic with such pioneering works as Jungle Read More

1996
The Tokyo Siblings

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Jun Ichikawa spins this family drama reminiscent of the works of Yasujiro Ozu. The film centers on a brother and sister who live in their family's traditional Japanese house long after both of their parents have died. Kenichi (Naoto Ogata), who is in his twenties, works in a used bookstore while Read More

1994
Byoin De Shinuto Iukoto

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Ittoku Kishibe, Masayuki Shionoya

Synopsis: Noted filmmaker Jun Ichikawa directs this elegiac semi-documentary look at cancer and death. The film focuses on five terminal cancer patients, all of whom are being treated in the same hospital by the same doctor (Ittoku Kishibe). Filmed with a fractured, episodic structure, Byoin quietly Read More

1993
Crepe

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Former TV commercial director Jun Ichikawa helmed this low-key comedy about a middle-aged hipster confronting his past. A 40-ish hair stylist (Masahi Tashiro) receives a phone call from his long-lost 14-year-old daughter who, after passing her high school exams, wants to meet her errant dad. The Read More

1993
Tsugumi

Crew: Director

1991
Goaisatsu

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Directors Toshio Terada, Jun Ichikawa, and Kaori Momoi spin this omnibus film about that cornerstone of Japanese society -- the goaisatsu. Long, stilted, and often painfully maudlin speeches delivered in the floral style of formal Japanese, the goaisatsu graces such public events as wedding Read More

1991
No Life King

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this movie, several "urban legends" evolve before the viewer's eyes. As the film opens, a group of boys have waited in line for hours to acquire the latest version of a video game. When a rumor goes around school that the game, "The Legend of Life King IV," is cursed, and that those who fail to Read More

1991
Bu-Su

Crew: Director

Actors: Yasuko Tomita, Michiyo Okusa, Minako Fujishiro, Mitsuko Oka

Synopsis: Mugido (Yasuko Tomita) is an 18-year-old country girl who comes to Tokyo to live with her aunt and train as a geisha. She divides her time between training in the ancient art of song and dance and her high-school academics, and her superficial classmates are a sharp contrast to the rigid training Read More

1987