Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2003)
"Joze to tora to sakana tachi" (original title)

Tsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she... See full summary »

Director:

Isshin Inudô

Writers:

Seiko Tanabe (novel), Aya Watanabe (screenplay)

Stars:

Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chizuru Ikewaki, Juri Ueno

4 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Satoshi Tsumabuki	...	Tsuneo
Chizuru Ikewaki	...	Joze (Kumiko)
Juri Ueno	...	Kanae
Hirofumi Arai	...	Koji
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
YosiYosi Arakawa	...	Bookstore Clerk
Noriko Eguchi	...	Noriko
Daigo Fujisawa	...	Ryuji
Kazuhiro Fujiwara	...	Haruki Kanai
Itsuji Itao	...	The Manager
Tai Kageyama	...	Master of Mahjong Bar
Anne Mari	...	Woman at Mahjong Bar
Yoshiyuki Morishita	...	The Pervert
Eiko Shinya	...	Joze's grand mother
Hiroyuki Tanaka	...	Patron (as Sabu)
Kôji Ôkura	...	Man at Mahjong Bar

Storyline

Tsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby carriage through the streets. They say she is carrying something for a crime syndicate, and they wonder what it is she has in the carriage. Money? Drugs? One day, the owner of the mah-jong parlour sends Tsuneo out to walk his dog. A baby carriage comes rolling down a hill and crashes into a guard rail. The old lady asks him to look into the carriage, where he finds a young woman clutching a knife. This is how Tsuneo first meets the girl who calls herself Josée.

---

Plot Keywords:

love | youth | disability | young love

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

13 December 2003 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asmik Ace Entertainment, Hakuhodo, IMJ Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

Quite brilliant

This is a small masterpiece, one of the best films released in 2004. On the cover, it's an unlikely romance between an easy-going college boy and a captivating girl who is disabled from the waist down, but it doesn't even begin to show how wonderfully astute this film is in dealing with still-youthful emotions of its characters. 'Joze' captures what it's like to be young and in love perfectly, but it's never self-conscious or brash about it; it also deals with the question of disability in a quiet, subtle way, never patronizing it or pandering to its sentimental possibilities. Satoshi Tsumabuki of 'Waterboys' fame plays nicely against type as the well-meaning but shallow Tsuneo, while Chizuru Ikewaki is truly beguiling as the titular heroine. 'Joze' is a romance whose refreshing honesty and quiet courage is so rare these days that it may well go down as one of a kind. It's also one of the very few films to achieve a level of true emotional resonance, with an ending that is both low-key and utterly devastating at the same time. It is a moment that stays in your mind long after you've left the cinema, growing more and more tender as you dwell on it.