Kei Kumai — Director (13)

Movie

Rise, Fair Sun (1973)
朝やけの詩 IMDb TMDB
other title: La Chanson de l'aube / 朝やけの詩
A pioneer farmer's stubborn dream of building Japan's greatest ranch is put to the test when a leisure resort company sets its sights on his village's land.

Movie

To Love (1997)
愛する IMDb TMDB
other title: Aimer / 愛する
Mitsu works in a factory and has a crush on Tsutomu, a young man she met on the Tokyo streets. One day the two go out, and after some deception, Tsutomu manages to have his way with her. Coming from a broken home, he is frightened by love, so he cruelly allows her to wake up alone. A month passes and a more grown-up Tsutomu returns. The lovers joyously reunite and move in together. All is blissful until both notice a strange sore on Mitsu's arm. The doctors diagnose it as leprosy. Without telling Tsutomu, Mitsu checks into a leper sanitarium. Hanging out with society's pariahs gives her much insight. She discovers the old lepers to be wonderful people. In turn, Mitsu becomes their source of joy and renewed hope. Still, she misses her Tsutomu. One day, the doctors inform her that they erred and that the sore is not leprosy. Happily she heads back to her true love until she realizes with a guilty pang that to return to him would mean unhappiness for her newfound friends

Movie

Love and Faith (1978)
お吟さま IMDb TMDB
other title: Mademoiselle Ogin / お吟さま
Sen Rikyu is a ceremonial tea master who advises warlord Hideyoshi in sixteenth-century feudal Japan. His daughter, the beautiful Lady Ogin, has an unrequited love for Lord Ukon, who has angered Hideyoshi by becoming a Christian convert. Ogin's father Rikyu also displeases Hideyoshi by opposing the warlord's plan to invade China and Korea. When the animalistic Hideyoshi is rejected by Ogin, he threatens her and her father with arrest and worse.

Movie

The Long Death (1964)
帝銀事件 死刑囚 IMDb TMDB
other title: La Longue Mort / 帝銀事件 死刑囚
On January 26, 1948, a robbery of the Teigin bank took place in Tokyo - the criminal poisoned the bank employees and fled the scene with a large amount of money. In parallel with the investigation conducted by the Japanese police, journalists are also trying to find the culprit. Based on a true incident.

Movie

Darkness in the Light (2001)
日本の黒い夏 [冤enzai罪] WikiData IMDb TMDB NeoDB
other title: L'Été noir au Japon / 日本の黒い夏 [冤enzai罪] …
A middle-aged salaryman with a typical family, living quietly in a provincial city (Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture), wakes up one morning in the summer of 1994 to find himself the prime suspect in the biggest mass-murder case of the decade.

Movie

Willful Murder (1981)
日本の熱い日々 謀殺・下山事件 WikiData IMDb TMDB NeoDB
other title: L'Affaire Shimoyama / Willful murder …
The president of the Japanese National Railways is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and shutdowns. The government says that the president was murdered; the police claim it was a suicide. A quizzical reporter follows the case for years, but the basic question remains unanswered: was the victim killed by members of the burgeoning Communist movement in Japan, or was the death stage-managed by the authorities in hopes of discrediting the Communists?

Movie

A Chain of Islands (1965)
日本列島 IMDb TMDB
other title: L'Archipel du Japon / 日本列島
When a US army sergeant is found drowned in Tokyo Bay, an investigation is launched to determine how and why he lost his life. The investigation uncovers a black market scheme involving counterfeit money, murder, and conspiracy.

Movie

An Ocean to Cross (1980)
天平の甍 WikiData IMDb TMDB NeoDB
other title: Un océan à traverser / 天平の甍 …
Set in Japan's Tenpyou era (729-749 CE), four young monks are sent to China to study Buddhism and bring a high priest back to Japan with them. The film tells the tale of the four monks' youth and the life and times of the high priest Ganjin.

Movie

The Sands of Kurobe (1968)
黒部の太陽 WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Batalha no Abismo / Le Soleil de Kurobe …
Kitagawa is an engineer charged with construction of a gigantic tunnel through the Japan Alps for the transportation of equipment in the building of the massive Kurobe Dam. The tunnel crosses an earthquake fault and Kitagawa is beleaguered not only by cave-ins and flooding, but by strife between management and the workers's union. Adding to Kitagawa's stress is the knowledge that as his attention is pulled inexorably toward the tunnel construction, his youngest daughter is dying from leukemia.

Movie

The Long Darkness (1972)
忍ぶ川
other title: La Rivière Shinobu / 忍ぶ川
The relationship between Tetsuro, a university student from a disgraced, burdened family, and Shino, a waitress supporting her impoverished relatives. The couple decides to marry despite the significant emotional and social hardships each faces, viewing their love as a means to overcome the shame and despair inherited from their pasts.