Ashura no gotoku   2003   Japan Like Asura
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Director:Yoshimitsu Morita
Studio:Toho Company
Writer:Kuniko Mukoda, Tomomi Tsutsui
IMDb Rating:6.7 (85 votes)
Awards:9 wins & 11 nominations
Genre:Comedy, Drama
Duration:135 min
Languages:Japanese
IMDb:0397317
Search:NetflixYouTube
Yoshimitsu Morita  ...  (Director)
Kuniko Mukoda, Tomomi Tsutsui  ...  (Writer)
 
Shinobu Ohtake  ...  Tsunako Mitamura - First Daughter
Hitomi Kuroki  ...  Makiko Satomi - Second Daughter
Eri Fukatsu  ...  Takiko Takezawa - Third Daughter
Kyôko Fukada  ...  Sakiko Kamiuchi - Fourth Daughter
Tatsuya Nakadai  ...  Kotaro Takezawa
Kaoru Yachigusa  ...  Takezawa Fuji
Kaoru Kobayashi  ...  Takao Satomi
Shidô Nakamura  ...  Shizuo Katsumata
Rikiya Kurokawa  ...  Hidemitsu Jinnai (as Rikiya)
Kaori Momoi  ...  
Mitsugorô Bandô  ...  
Misako Konno  ...  Tomoko Tsuchiya
Yoshino Kimura  ...  Keiko Akagi
Tôru Masuoka  ...  Ogata
Masami Nagasawa  ...  Yoko Satomi
Nobuyasu Kita  ...  Cinematographer
Kô Ôtani  ...  Composer
Shinji Tanaka  ...  Editor
Comments: An almost goofy mainstream affair about four sisters who discover their 70 something dad is having an affair. The sisters represent four generations, and they're a veritable babe-farm: Shinobu Otake wears the kimono and is a handsome woman if there ever was one; Hitomi Kuroki plain-janes it for this one but I've seen Tokyo Tower (2005-Japan) so I know what's underneath it; Eri Fukatsu plays things wound up so tight I perspired watching her, waiting for her to explode. Great performance; Kyoto Fukada is the youngster who doesn't care much about anything. It's all pretty light, but not slapstick. Definitely quality stuff from talented people.

Summary: The "Asura" of the title refers to a Hindu goddess whose beautiful face belies her tempestuous nature. In the film, the first Asura-like character we meet is the excitable Takiko (Eri Fukatsu), the third daughter of the Takezawa clan, who calls her three sisters together for an emergency meeting. Her big news: Their father (Tatsuya Nakadai) is seeing another woman, whose 10-year-old son may be his love child. The other sisters are skeptical -- until Takiko produces photos taken by a gormless private investigator she has hired. With the proof in front of them, they vow to never tell their saint of a mother (Kaoru Yachikusa).

The revelation not only brings the sisters together, but brings to the surface problems they thought they had hidden or buried. The eldest -- the widowed Tsunako (Shinobu Otake) -- is a flower-arrangement teacher who may look the soul of kimonoed propriety, but is having an affair with a married man. Meanwhile, second sister Makiko (Hitomi Kuroki) may seem to be living the Japanese dream with her salaryman husband and two adorable kids, but she suspects that hubby is cheating. Takiko, a librarian with the stereotypical glasses and prim air, is fading into spinsterhood until the detective, a socially inept type with comic facial tics, starts courting her. Her first instinct is to fend him off -- she is too much the eternal virgin to feel comfortable with any man, however harmless. Her second is to hide their budding relationship. Finally, family baby Sakiko (Kyoko Fukada) is shacked up with a hunky, thick-skulled boxer, but is not ready to tell her parents the truth.


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