University of Laughs

Oct 30, 2004

2h 1m

★ 7.0

Overview

In pre-war Japan, a government censor tries to make the writer for a theater troupe alter his comedic script. As they work with and against each other, the script ends up developing in unexpected ways.

Genres

Comedy

Drama

University of Laughs Trailers

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Cast

Mutsuo Sakisaka

Koji Yakusho

Hajime Tsubaki

Goro Inagaki

Masaya Takahashi

Masao Komatsu

Tae Kimura

Ai Kato

Roni Beck is a man whose only thought in life is to become a professional comedian, but who due to his lack of success must live hidden in his mother's appartment in an old people's home, continuing to believe firmly that his day in the limelight will come. One day Serge Grätzer, the director of the old people's home, discovers Roni, and makes him help out with the work. Serge then decides to take a hand in Roni's career, embezzling money to launch the budding comedian. Once again however success eludes Roni. In the end Serge decides to fulfil his own secret longings to be on the stage. This leads to a row between the two men. Despite a reconciliation, they never again appear together on the stage. And when Serge's embezzlement is discovered he has to flee with the police at his heels and the home has to be closes. In the end, Roni persuades Mr. Klein, an eccentric old man who likes to play the stock market, to save the home with the millions he has stashed away.

7.4

All Around Us

Jun 7, 2008

Kanao, a courtroom portrait artist, observes crimes, scandals and the decline of Japanese values without passing judgement. As he and his wife endure the tragedy of their first child’s death, hope slowly unfolds and their love story flickers to life once again.

6.5

Mixed Doubles

Oct 21, 2017

To get revenge on her ex-boyfriend and to help revive her late mother's tennis table club, a table tennis prodigy decides to take part in a mixed doubles table tennis tournament.

6.0

Tutta colpa di Giuda

Apr 10, 2009

A prison-set musical about a female theater director who sets up a reinterpretation of the Crucifixion.

7.0

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun

Dec 19, 1981

A high-school girl inherits a declining yakuza organization, which seeks to repair its fortunes under her leadership.

5.9

Molière

Aug 30, 1978

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is raised by his father and his grandfather because his mother dies when he's still very little. He works as a handyman, studies the law at a university and travels the country as an actor before he becomes the celebrated playwright Molière who impresses firstly the Duke of Orleans and then even King Louis XIV.

0.0

Red Curtain Hell

Nov 21, 2016

Set in real-time over the opening night of a troubled production of Hamlet: a cast of narcissistic actors, incompetent stage-crew and a megalomaniac director collide behind-the-scenes of the ongoing show to give the audience a night they'll never forget.

6.9

Paco and the Magical Book

Sep 13, 2008

Onuki asks people in a hospital to perform a play for Paco, who suffers from memory disorder. His only hope is to help Paco survive from her illness.

7.4

The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai

Jun 17, 2022

In the turbulent last days of the Edo period, Kawai Tsugunosuke, a Japanese samurai serving the Makino clan of Nagaoka, dreamt of independence from the restraints of vassalship. Despite his progressive views and his desire for his estate to remain neutral during the Boshin Civil War, he was bound by loyalty and duty to the clan and was compelled to choose sides.

6.0

Perfect Revolution

Sep 29, 2017

Kuma is an author, a sex obsessive and a wheelchair user. Beautiful and volatile Ryoko is unlike anybody he’s ever met before. She barrages into one of his lectures, demanding to know why he only talks of sex, not love, before declaring her own affection. It’s the first of many inappropriate acts by Ryoko and the start of a relationship that is by turns sweet, strange and toxic. Ryoko hopes that she and Kuma’s love can change the world. What she fails to realise is that sometimes it’s the small gestures, not the grand ones, that feel most revolutionary.

0.0

Bonnie May

Jun 10, 1920

Young actress Bonnie May finds work in a private play given at Mrs. Baron’s mansion, where she endears herself to all, especially Victor Baron, the invalid son who has written the play. He begs her to stay on to help him write another play, despite the reluctance of his mother.

6.2

Because of Him

Jan 18, 1946

A young woman who wants to break into the theater schemes to become the protege of a famous Broadway star.

8.0

Le Système Ribadier

Nov 13, 2013

No overview available.

7.1

Tremble All You Want

Dec 23, 2017

Yoshika has had a crush on Ichimiya, whom she calls "the One" since she was in middle school. Now, a 24-year-old salarywoman, her all-consuming fixation has prevented her from even considering another candidate for boyfriend until an office colleague asks her out.

7.0

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store

Sep 23, 2017

In 2012, Atsuya and his 2 childhood friends do something bad and run into an old general store. They decide to stay there until the morning. Late into the night, Atsuya sees a letter in the mailbox. The letter is addressed to the Namiya General Store and the letter was written by someone to consult about worries. Incredibly, the letter was written 32 years ago. The mailbox is somehow connected to the year 1980. Atsuya and his friends decide to write a reply and place their letter in the mailbox.

7.1

Umizaru 3: The Last Message

Sep 18, 2010

While a menacing typhoon approaches, an accident at the giant natural gas plant Regalia occurs. Japan Coast Guard rescue divers Daisuke Senzaki (Hideaki Ito), Tetsuya Yoshioka (Ryuta Sato) and engineer Hiroshiichirou Sakuragi (Masaya Kato) head together to the gas plant. During their rescue efforts an explosion occurs that traps Daisuke, Natsu Nishizawa Kazue Fukiishi and worker Hisayoneo Kizima (Gaku Hamada). Daisuke then looks for a way out for his party with a man he just meets Takuya Hotori. Because of the typhoon, even a helicopter cannot approach the Regalia. Meanwhile, at the head office of the Japan Coast Guard, the Japanese coast guard tries to find a way to rescue the trapped people, but the government officials put national interests first. Tension arises between these two parties. Daisuke's wife Tamakisai Senzaki (Ai Kato) prays for the safe return of Daisuke not only for her sake, but for their new born son.

4.5

National Theatre Live: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Feb 22, 2018

Tennessee Williams’ twentieth century masterpiece Cat on a Hot Tin Roof played a strictly limited season in London’s West End in 2017. An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

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6.5

Millowitsch Theater - Der Etappenhase

Aug 12, 1991

A comedy directed by Willy Millowitsch.

10.0

Love Stories of the Pale Night

Jun 15, 1966

A man living between dream and reality, making the woman he fell in love with as a statue and falling in love with her and then killing her in his dreams.

6.3

Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally

Feb 4, 1989

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

University of Laughs

Overview

Genres

University of Laughs Trailers