Madadayo (1993)

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Akira Kurosawa (writer)
Hyakken Uchida (essays)
(more)

Release Date:

20 March 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The final film by Japan's master filmmaker.

Plot:

Following World War II, a retired professor, approaching his autumn years, finds his quality of life drastically reduced in war torn Tokyo. Denying despair, he pursues writing and celebrates his birthday with his adoring students.

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Birthday | Air Raid | Beer | Japan

Awards:

6 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Tatsuo Matsumura	...	Professor Hyakken Uchida
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Professor's Wife
Hisashi Igawa	...	Takayama
Jôji Tokoro	...	Amaki
Masayuki Yui	...	Kiriyama
Akira Terao	...	Sawamura
Takeshi Kusaka	...	Dr. Kobayashi
Asei Kobayashi	...	Rev. Kameyama
Hidetaka Yoshioka	...	Takayama's son
Yoshitaka Zushi	...	Neighbor
Mitsuru Hirata	...	Tada
Nobuto Okamoto	...	Ôta
Tetsu Watanabe
Norio Matsui
Murohide Sugizaki
Ken Takemura
Hiroyoshi Takenouchi
Motohiro Shimaki
Masaaki Sasaki
Nobuyoshi Masuda
Masayoshi Nagasawa
Shu Nakahan
Yoshimitsu Shindo
Ryujiro Shin
Tatsuya Ito
Naoto Shigemizu
Masuo Amada
Minoru Hirano
Kôzô Nomura
Kazuhiko Sasai
Toshi Sasaki
Norimasa Nattori
Fumihiko Tsuburaya
Hiroshi Nagatsubaki
Tatsuya Sakaguchi
Yoshio Nakahira
Senzaburô Makimura		(as Sensaburo Makimura)
Yasuji Mita
Katsumi Chô
Norinobu Kodama
Yomaru Yokichi
Mikuni Toyama
Sumimaro Yochimi		(as Sumimaru Yoshimi)
Junichi Tsubota
Makoto Dainenji
Eiji Bandô
Kojiro Hayasaka
Masahiko Tanimura
Toshihiko Nakano
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Noriko Honma	...	Old lady holding a cat
Shigeo Katô	...	Stationmaster
Kôjirô Kusanagi	...	Man bought the land
Hiroshi Kuze
Utaroku Miyakoya	...	Packhorse driver
Shû Nakajima
Kimihiro Reizei	...	Murayama
Kinzoh Sakura	...	Police
Mie Suzuki	...	Fishmonger's daughter
Tetsuo Yamashita	...	Landlord
Takao Zushi	...	Kitamura

Directed by
Akira Kurosawa

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ishirô Honda		uncredited
Akira Kurosawa		writer
Hyakken Uchida		essays

Produced by
Seikichi Iizumi	....	associate producer
Yuzo Irie	....	executive producer
Gohei Kogure	....	producer
Hisao Kurosawa	....	producer
Yasuyoshi Tokuma	....	producer
Hiroshi Yamamoto	....	producer
Yo Yamamoto	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Shinichirô Ikebe

Cinematography by
Takao Saitô
Shôji Ueda

Film Editing by
Akira Kurosawa
Ishirô Honda		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Yoshirô Muraki

Costume Design by
Kazuko Kurosawa

Production Management
Teruyo Nogami	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ishirô Honda	....	assistant director
Takashi Koizumi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Hideo Nishizaki	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Takeji Sano	....	lighting technician

Other crew
Ishirô Honda	....	directorial advisor
Izuhiko Suehiro	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• DENTSU Music And Entertainment
• Daiei Motion Picture Company
• Kurosawa Production Co.
• Tokuma Shoten

Distributors

• Les Films du Paradoxe (1995) (France) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1993) (Japan) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2011) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (German speaking)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD) (AK 100 boxed set)
• Genius Products (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Jesnet (2009) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Miriam Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Sandrews (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Sveriges Television (SVT) (1993) (Sweden) (TV)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (Argentina) (video)
• Weinstein Company, The (2007) (USA) (all media)
• WinStar Cinema (2000) (USA) (subtitled)
• trigon-film (2011) (Austria) (all media)
• trigon-film (2011) (Germany) (all media)
• trigon-film (2011) (Luxembourg) (all media) (German Speaking)
• trigon-film (2011) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages
• Tokuma Shoten  cooperation company

Also Known As:

"Not Yet" -
"Ainda Não!" - Portugal
"Még nem!" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Madadayo" - Brazil
"Madadayo" - Spain
"Madadayo" - Denmark
"Madadayo il compleanno" - Italy
"Madadayo: El maestro de la vida" - Argentina
"O daskalos" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:7 | Singapore:PG | West Germany:6 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

DENTSU Music And Entertainment

Trivia:

Tatsuo Matsumura was 79 years old when he played the Professor, portraying the professor between the ages of 58 and 77. Matsumura was older than his character throughout the movie, almost twenty years older than the Professor he portrayed for most of the picture.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The story depicts Professor Hyakken's 60th birthday toward the end of World War II (1943-1945). But he was born in 1889; thus, he turned 60 years old in 1949.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

L'ESTRO ARMONICO Op. II, Concert No 1 in D Major, RV 230

Madadayo travels deeper than most light comedies.

Madadayo appears to be a light comedy on the surface, but, as in all Kurosawa films, he draws you deeper and deeper into the characters and takes his time to tell the story the way he wants to. Also, Madadayo is quite charming. I loved it. I felt I was transported to post war Japan and given more than just a glimpse into the Japanese personality, and that is a gift in my book. What a brilliant director Kurosawa was. I will miss him dearly.