The best Toshiaki Karasawa’s comedy movies
We present our ranking of the best Toshiaki Karasawa’s movies. Do you love cinema? Or are you looking for a movie of your favorite actor to watch tonight? Surely you have some to see or that you did not know yet about Toshiaki Karasawa.
Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald
7.7/10
A radio play is minutes away from airing at a Tokyo radio station. It is a weepy melodrama written by housewife Miyako, the winner of a competition run by the station. Suddenly, the hot-tempered lead actress Nokko decides she wants the name of her character to be Mary Jane and not Ritsuko. This leads to a chain of events which, live on-air, changes the play completely, taking it from an autobiographical fishing village romance to an ersatz American gangster drama cum disaster epic.
The Magic Hour
7.1/10
A hustler who gets in trouble with a gang boss in the port town of Sukago agrees to make good with the don by putting him in contact with a mysterious hitman -- an assassin the hustler has no idea how to contact. Instead, he hires an actor to play the role, though the thespian has no idea what he's getting into.
Suite Dreams
7/10
Set in a five star Tokyo hotel on New Year's Eve, the film follows the misadventures of various hotel staff and guests in the run-up to midnight. The plot involves numerous characters, the different problems or situations they face in the run-up to midnight, and the ways that these different storylines interact and are resolved. The film is reminiscent of the Hollywood screwball comedies of 1930s and 1940s, and explicitly references the 1932 film Grand Hotel, whose plot also followed the interlinked lives of various characters in a fictional hotel over a short period.
All About Our House
6.5/10
Two newlyweds decide to build their dream home, and hire an old friend named Yanagisawa to design it. Unfortunately, Yanagisawa isn’t licensed to build homes, so they call in the wife’s father, a retired carpenter, to help out. When Yanagisawa’s contemporary ideas clash with the old carpenter’s traditional Japanese methods, the project becomes a huge mess.
A Ghost of a Chance
6.9/10
Defence lawyer Emi is assigned to a particularly unusual case: a man is suspected of murdering his wealthy wife, and his only alibi is a 421-year old ghost, Rokubei. At first Emi is hesitant, but when she pursues her lead she is visited by the ghost herself. And so the fun begins in the courtroom when Prosecutor Osano starts to cross examine…
Last Cop The Movie
4.5/10
Based on the German TV series "Der letzte Bulle."
A Desirable Marriage
5.7/10
A human drama on the state of marriage today, following the battle between a mother and daughter over her marriage and humorous depictions of the people around them. When Mieko's husband passes away, she hopes to arrange a good marriage for her daughter Non, but things don't go as planned when Non reveals there's already a love interest in her life.
In the Hero
6.6/10
48-year-old Wataru Honjo is a big fan of Bruce Lee and works as a suit actor (stunts performer wearing costumes). Even though he doesn't have the typical body type for his profession he has worked in the business for 25 years. Wataru doesn't get along with cocky rookie suit actor Ryo Ichinose, but an incident draws them closer. Ryo Ichinose then takes an audition for a Hollywood movie and passes. For the fighting scene in the climax scene, the action actor quits citing the scene is too dangerous. The movie staff hears that Wataru is the best Japanese action actor and offers the job to him. Will Wataru go for it?
