Yumeji

1991 2h 8m JA

😐

6.4

MID

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.4TMDB · 36★6.9IMDB · 760

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Following the life of Japanese artist and poet Yumeji Takehisa through the imagining of an encounter with a beautiful widow with a dark past.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Kenji Sawada
Yumeji Takehisa
Yoshio Harada
Wakiya
Tomoko Mariya
Tomoyo Wakiya
Masumi Miyazaki
Hikono
Tamasaburō Bandō V
Onshu Inamura
Kazuhiko Hasegawa
Onimatsu
Léona Hirota
Oyo
Akaji Maro
Criminal

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Seijun Suzuki
Writers: Yōzō Tanaka
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

35 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CRAFT

Did you know

Part of the "The Taisho Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Seijun Suzuki, shot by Junichi Fujisawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Shigeru Umebayashi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Akira Suzuki shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kenji Sawada and Yoshio Harada and Tomoko Mariya carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0103316 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Seijun Suzuki directs. Junichi Fujisawa behind the camera. Shigeru Umebayashi scores. Akira Suzuki cuts. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

135 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Part of the "The Taisho Trilogy" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Seijun Suzuki, shot by Junichi Fujisawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Shigeru Umebayashi. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Akira Suzuki shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Kenji Sawada and Yoshio Harada and Tomoko Mariya carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt0103316 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 36 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Junichi Fujisawa
Original score: Shigeru Umebayashi
Editing: Akira Suzuki
Production design: Noriyoshi Ikeya
Runtime: 128 min · 2h 8m
Status: Released
Original language: JA
IMDB: Yumeji (1991)
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 760 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

2 wins & 1 nomination

Part of

The Taisho Trilogy

After over a decade in the wilderness following his firing from Nikkatsu for Branded to Kill (1967), maverick director Seijun Suzuki returned with a vengeance with his critically-praised tryptic of cryptic supernatural dramas set during the liberal enlightenment of Japan’s Taisho Era (1912-26). Rarely seen outside of Japan, the films in the Taisho Trilogy are considered Suzuki’s masterpieces in his homeland. Presenting a dramatic turn from more his familiar tales of cops, gangsters and unruly youth, these surrealistic psychological puzzles drip with a lush exoticism, distinctively capturing the pandemonium of a bygone age of decadence and excess, when Western ideas, fashions, technologies and art fused into everyday aspect of Japanese life.