Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Great Passage

Original title: Fune wo amu
  • 20132013
  • 2h 14m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
85,680
12,621
The Great Passage (2013)
Drama
Majime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, 'The Great Passage.' In the eclectic team, he becomes imme... Read allMajime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, 'The Great Passage.' In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems. Will 'The Gr... Read allMajime, an eccentric man in publishing company, who has unique ability of words, joins the team that will compile a new dictionary, 'The Great Passage.' In the eclectic team, he becomes immersed in the world of dictionaries. But the team is overwhelmed with problems. Will 'The Great Passage' ever be completed?
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
85,680
12,621
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Yûya Ishii
    • Writers
      • Shiwon Miura(based on the novel by)
      • Kensaku Watanabe(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Ryûhei Matsuda
      • Aoi Miyazaki
      • Joe Odagiri
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Yûya Ishii
    • Writers
      • Shiwon Miura(based on the novel by)
      • Kensaku Watanabe(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Ryûhei Matsuda
      • Aoi Miyazaki
      • Joe Odagiri
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 5User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 16 wins & 16 nominations

    Photos

    The Great Passage (2013)
    Chizuru Ikewaki, Hiroko Isayama, Gô Katô, Kaoru Kobayashi, Ryûhei Matsuda, Aoi Miyazaki, Joe Odagiri, Shingo Tsurumi, Misako Watanabe, Kaoru Yachigusa, and Haru Kuroki in The Great Passage (2013)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Ryûhei Matsuda
    Ryûhei Matsuda
    • Mitsuya Majime
    Aoi Miyazaki
    Aoi Miyazaki
    • Kaguya Hayashi
    Joe Odagiri
    Joe Odagiri
    • Masashi Nishioka
    Kaoru Kobayashi
    Kaoru Kobayashi
    • Kouhei Araki
    Gô Katô
    Gô Katô
    • Tomosuke Matsumoto
    Haru Kuroki
    Haru Kuroki
    • Midori Kishibe
    Misako Watanabe
    Misako Watanabe
    • Take
    Chizuru Ikewaki
    • Remi Miyoshi
    Shingo Tsurumi
    • Director Murakoshi
    Hiroko Isayama
    • Kaori Sasaki
    Kaoru Yachigusa
    Kaoru Yachigusa
    • Chie Matsumoto
    Shôhei Uno
    • Shinichiro Miyamoto
    Ryû Morioka
    • Egawa
    Yoshiki Saitô
    • Kobayashi
    Kumiko Asô
    Kumiko Asô
    • Actress On Poster
    Dennis Falt
    • Publisher
    Naoki Matayoshi
    • Togawa
    Kazuki Namioka
    • Editor
    • Director
      • Yûya Ishii
    • Writers
      • Shiwon Miura(based on the novel by)
      • Kensaku Watanabe(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Rage
    7.0
    Rage
    Key of Life
    7.3
    Key of Life
    A Story of Yonosuke
    7.5
    A Story of Yonosuke
    0.5 mm
    7.3
    0.5 mm
    The Chef of South Polar
    7.0
    The Chef of South Polar
    Little Nights, Little Love
    6.2
    Little Nights, Little Love
    Tora-san in Goto
    8.0
    Tora-san in Goto
    Café Funiculi Funicula
    6.7
    Café Funiculi Funicula
    Dance with Me
    6.8
    Dance with Me
    The Kirishima Thing
    7.2
    The Kirishima Thing
    The Great Passage
    7.4
    The Great Passage
    100 Yen Love
    7.1
    100 Yen Love

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Official submission of Japan to the Oscars 2014 best foreign language film category.
    • Connections
      Remade as The Great Passage (2016)

    User reviews5

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Warm, Funny, Charming, And A Class Act!
    Viewed at CineMatsuri 2014 and on BRD. Winner of six Japanese Academy Awards (including: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actor; and Best Screenplay). And it's easy to see why. One may quibble with the translated title, but not in the least with the quality of this compact and low-keyed, but audience-magnet of a motion picture. This unpretentious tale captures and distills basic cultural traits that helped Japan become the second largest global economy after losing WWII: perseverance and attention to even the smallest detail along, of course, with a lot of hard work and extreme patience. The story centers on a very shy, entry-level salary-man who is a lexicon geek. He is short-straw "selected" by his superiors at a book company to try to save and complete (or take the blame for ditching--there are a number of plot twists) a publishing project seemingly doomed from the start: a multi-year effort to develop a definitive, uniquely-fashioned, and marketable dictionary in hard-copy format! (The film seems to take place in the 1990's, so the age of free, online digital dictionaries has yet to dawn. But hand-held electronic dictionaries were already quite common.) A coming-of-age movie, but one that does not contains the usual trivia. This time out it includes a coming-of-age marked by confidence emerging from feelings of inferiority, leadership from passivity, maturation from micro interests (just compiling words) to macro concerns (writing, editing, and marketing dictionaries), and focused tenacity from just going (no where) with the flow. The movie also provides another indication that mature, quality films targeting grownups (and those who think like real adults) are returning to the Japanese cinema. Disc surround sound field (in 5.1 digital) and dialog looping are excellent. The lack of English subtitles on discs in current release is not all bad. Repeated viewings can help expand your understanding of informal, every-day conversational Japanese. The dialog is fairly straight forward and not too complex. It also contains very little slang. Plus the actors provide plenty of communication cues using body language (an acting technique found uniquely in most/all quality Japanese films, both "classical and "modern"). Not much more needs to be added given the film's acclaim and popularity (all screenings were sold out where I saw the movie). Oh yes, there is just one thing, an open question really: when will Shochiku Studio home video release this movie gem with English subtitles and the proper regional codes for USA players?! (Until then, be careful: there are many disc versions in release as of the time of this review, but--as far as I can discover--no DVDs using Region 1 (USA) encryption with English subtitles and no BRDs using Region A/1 (North America) encryption with English subtitles.) WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
    helpful•2
    1
    • net_orders
    • Apr 22, 2016

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 13, 2013 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Hành Trình Vĩ Đại
    • Filming locations
      • Tokyo, Japan
    • Production companies
      • TV Tokyo
      • Shochiku
      • Asmik Ace Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $7,362,767
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 14 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Great Passage (2013)
    Top Gap
    What is the English language plot outline for The Great Passage (2013)?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    New & Upcoming Superhero Movies and Series
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    Fall TV Guide: The Best Shows Coming This Year
    See the full list
    View image
    Photos
    Double Take: Celebrity Twins
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Back to top
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more access
    Sign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.