Chichi ariki (1942)

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Tadao Ikeda
Yasujirô Ozu
(more)

Release Date:

November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Son | Father Son Relationship | Student Group | Capsize | Fishing

Cast

Chishû Ryû	...	Shuhei Horikawa
Shûji Sano	...	Ryohei Horikawa
Shin Saburi	...	Yasutaro Kurokawa
Takeshi Sakamoto	...	Makoto Hirata
Mitsuko Mito	...	Fumiko Hirata
Masayoshi Otsuka	...	Seiichi Hirata
Shin'ichi Himori	...	Minoru Uchida
Haruhiko Tsuda	...	Ryohei as a child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shôtarô Fujimatsu
Chiyoko Fumiya
Masao Hayama
Kanji Kawahara	...	Teacher of junior high school
Teruo Kisaragi
Shôichi Kotôda
Masami Kubota
Yûsuke Kurata	...	Teacher of junior high school
Kôji Mitsui
Ken'ichi Miyajima
Tatsurô Nagai
Shin'yô Nara
Seiji Nishimura	...	Priest
Takashi Ogata
Giichi Okita
Tsuneo Osugi
Reikô Tani
Morihiko Tezuka
Jun Yokoyama
Kenji Ôyama

Directed by
Yasujirô Ozu

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tadao Ikeda
Yasujirô Ozu
Takao Yanai

Original Music by
Kyoichi Saiki

Cinematography by
Yûharu Atsuta

Film Editing by
Yoshiyasu Hamamura

Art Direction by
Tatsuo Hamada

Set Decoration by
Shotaro Hashimoto
Toshiaki Shimizu

Costume Design by
Taizô Saito

Makeup Department
Kiyoko Takagawa	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Rishichiro Isono	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nobuo Nishikawa	....	assistant director
Kiyoshi Suzuki	....	assistant director
Yoshio Tsukamoto	....	assistant director
Kôzô Yamamoto	....	assistant director

Art Department
Yakichi Otani	....	set designer

Sound Department
Mitsuru Kaneko	....	sound recordist
Rokusaburô Saitô	....	sound effects editor
Yoshisaburô Senoo	....	sound
Yoshihito Takagake	....	sound recordist
Akitaka Yoshida	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Seiji Inoue	....	assistant photographer
Kazuji Naito	....	lighting technician
Takeshi Saitô	....	assistant photographer
Kazuo Suzuki	....	assistant photographer
Yoshikazu Takeuma	....	assistant photographer

Other crew
Hidesaburô Fujioka	....	title designer
Chikara Inomata	....	archivist
Fumikazu Miyagishima	....	film development
Tayû Tajiri	....	stage manager

Production Companies

• Shôchiku Eiga

Distributors

• Shôchiku Eiga (1942) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Home Video (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Carlotta Films (2006) (France) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"There Was a Father" - International (English title) (literal English title), USA (literal English title)

Runtime:

USA:94 min | Japan:94 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Brazil:18 | USA:Not Rated

Company:

Shôchiku Eiga

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Life and Works of Yasujiro Ozu (1983)

Unusual Ozu film

Most of the films of Yasujiro Ozu take a very restricted time period: a few days at the most. "There Was a Father" is unusual in that the time span is actually quite long: it stretches over a number of years (this is also the case with "The Only Son"), as it chronicles the relationship of a widower with his son. The father, a schoolteacher (played by Chishu Ryu), struggles to make sure that his son has advantages that he never had; in this case, the son is appreciative of all that the father has done, and the relationship is one of the most heartwarming of all familial relationships in Ozu's work. "There Was a Father" represents one of the most beautiful depictions of a good parent in all of world cinema.