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IMDbPro

There Was a Father

Original title: Chichi ariki
  • 19421942
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 34m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
There Was a Father (1942)
Drama
A school-teacher struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite having neither money nor prospects.A school-teacher struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite having neither money nor prospects.A school-teacher struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite having neither money nor prospects.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
    • Yasujirô Ozu
    • Tadao Ikeda
    • Yasujirô Ozu
    • Takao Yanai
  • Stars
    • Chishû Ryû
    • Shûji Sano
    • Shin Saburi
    • Yasujirô Ozu
    • Tadao Ikeda
    • Yasujirô Ozu
    • Takao Yanai
  • Stars
    • Chishû Ryû
    • Shûji Sano
    • Shin Saburi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 17User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos27

    Chishû Ryû and Haruhiko Tsuda in There Was a Father (1942)
    Chishû Ryû and Haruhiko Tsuda in There Was a Father (1942)
    There Was a Father (1942)
    There Was a Father (1942)
    There Was a Father (1942)
    Mitsuko Mito in There Was a Father (1942)
    Takeshi Sakamoto in There Was a Father (1942)
    Chishû Ryû in There Was a Father (1942)
    Takeshi Sakamoto and Shûji Sano in There Was a Father (1942)
    Chishû Ryû and Shûji Sano in There Was a Father (1942)
    Chishû Ryû and Shûji Sano in There Was a Father (1942)
    Chishû Ryû and Takeshi Sakamoto in There Was a Father (1942)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Chishû Ryû
    Chishû Ryû
    • Shuhei Horikawa
    Shûji Sano
    Shûji Sano
    • Ryohei Horikawa
    Shin Saburi
    Shin Saburi
    • Yasutaro Kurokawa
    Takeshi Sakamoto
    Takeshi Sakamoto
    • Makoto Hirata
    Mitsuko Mito
    Mitsuko Mito
    • Fumiko Hirata
    Masayoshi Ôtsuka
    • Seiichi Hirata
    Shin'ichi Himori
    Shin'ichi Himori
    • Minoru Uchida
    Haruhiko Tsuda
    Haruhiko Tsuda
    • Ryohei as a child
    Shôtarô Fujimatsu
    Chiyoko Fumiya
    Masao Hayama
    Masao Hayama
    Kanji Kawahara
    • Teacher of junior high school
    Teruo Kisaragi
    Shôichi Kofujita
      Masami Kubota
      Yûsuke Kurata
      • Teacher of junior high school
      Kôji Mitsui
      Kôji Mitsui
      Ken'ichi Miyajima
        • Yasujirô Ozu
        • Tadao Ikeda
        • Yasujirô Ozu
        • Takao Yanai
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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      Storyline

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      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        Contains only 353 shots. The average shot length is 14.8 seconds.
      • Connections
        Referenced in I Lived, But... (1983)

      User reviews17

      Review
      Review
      Featured review
      8/10
      Very good Japanese drama from director Ozu
      In this Japanese drama from Shochiku and director Yasujiro Ozu, Mr. Horikawa (Chishu Ryu) is a respected school teacher who is raising his young son Ryohei (Haruhiko Tsuda) alone, after the death of Horikawa's wife. A tragedy causes Horikawa to resign his position and move to the country. As his son grows and needs better schooling, Horikawa makes the difficult decision to move to the city for better paying work. The father and son then spend the next decade or more barely seeing one another, as the grown son (Shuji Sano) attends university and then begins work in another city.

      This was made under the strictest conditions during wartime, when all films were required to have some element of propaganda that helped the war effort. Ozu gets by with having the father's sacrifice for his son's greater good work as a lesson to the Japanese populace to sacrifice for their country. It's there if you want to see it, but one could just as easily watch the film and not notice any propaganda. Ryu is terrific in his subdued way, his gently smiling man of simple virtue a living embodiment of the Ozu cinematic aesthetic.

      I was struck with how often Ozu uses shots of large, foreboding architecture, such as artless multi-story office buildings or smokestacks or harsh concrete bridge pilings, and juxtaposes these images with scenes of common familial love and warmth, as if to say that family life is the one antidote to the cold modern world. Ozu's movies aren't for everyone, and I would completely understand people finding them boring and pointless. But to me their Zen, regimented tranquility and deceptive simplicity are among the finest in world cinema. Recommended.
      helpful•1
      0
      • AlsExGal
      • Jan 2, 2023

      Details

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      • Release date
        • November 1982 (United States)
        • Japan
        • Japanese
      • Also known as
      • Production company
        • Shochiku
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Technical specs

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      • 1 hour 34 minutes
        • Black and White
        • Mono

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