Japanese movies find fans in France beyond the art-house crowd as Paris embraces ‘Tora-san’ in Otoko wa Tsurai yo
- Otoko wa Tsurai yo, with its unlucky-in-love protagonist Tora-san, brought the house down in Paris, where the 50-film Japanese movie series was recently shown
- The warm reception highlights how ‘tastes are changing’ in France, where Japanese cinema, long restricted to art houses, is now drawing a mainstream audience
In March, film buffs in Paris descended on the Maison de la culture du Japon for the final instalment of a Japanese movie series about a travelling salesman who is unlucky in love that had run for decades in its homeland.
The 280-seat hall was filled to near capacity, and after enthusiastic applause at the end, many in the audience expressed sadness that after 50 films, the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series had finally reached its conclusion.
In all, the showing of what was one of Japan’s most popular movie franchises drew over 10,000 film-goers to the cultural institute over its more than two-year run, in some of the clearest evidence yet that French interest in Japanese cinema, long restricted to art house classics, is now broadening to more mainstream releases.
Titled in English It’s Tough Being a Man, the series had 48 instalments between 1969 and 1995 in Japan and starred Kiyoshi Atsumi as Tora-san, who is invariably left brokenhearted at the end of each episode.
Evoking the spirit of Tokyo’s old shitamachi downtown and family life in simpler times during the post-war Showa era of the 1950s and 1960s, the series has iconic status in Japan.
