Nobuhiko Obayashi
Known for Directing
Born
January 9, 1938
Died
April 10, 2020 (age 82)
Birthplace
Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Filmography
203 films
Known for Directing
Nobuhiko Obayashi (January 9, 1938 – April 10, 2020) was a Japanese director, screenwriter and editor of films and television advertisements who is well known for his surreal visual style. He began his career as a pioneering figure in Japanese experimental film during the 1960s before transitioning to directing more mainstream works such as television and feature films. Though he remains mostly unknown outside of Japan, he has made a prolific number of films in his 50 years of working with the medium.
Born
January 9, 1938
Died
April 10, 2020 (age 82)
Birthplace
Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
Filmography
203 films

Labyrinth of Cinema
2020 · 2h 59m
country: Japan
When lightning strikes a theater about to close its doors, three moviegoers are thrust back in time to the world inside the screen.

Hanagatami
2017 · 2h 49m
country: Japan
Spring, 1941: 16-year-old Toshihiko attends school in the coastal town of Karatsu, where his aunt cares for his ailing cousin. Immersed in the seaside's nature and culture, Toshihiko soon befriends the town's other extraordinary adolescents as they all contend with the war's gravitational pull.

Seven Weeks
2014 · 2h 51m
country: Japan
Relatives gather from afar in wintery Ashibetsu upon the death of patriarch Mitsuo. A mysterious woman named Nobuko suddenly shows up. Her appearance gradually exposes wartime secrets and Mitsuo's unknown past.

Casting Blossoms to the Sky: A Movie Document
2014 · 5h 53m
country: Japan
A comprehensive document of the six-month production of "Casting Blossoms to the Sky," mixing truth and fiction.

Casting Blossoms to the Sky
2012 · 2h 40m
country: Japan
In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, a journalist arrives in Nagaoka, a city decimated during a WWII air raid and by the 2004 Chūetsu earthquakes, to report on the disaster; there, she learns about the experiences of its inhabitants and stumbles upon a stage play written by an enigmatic student of her ex-boyfriend.

Scenery to Remember
2008 · 2h 18m
country: Japan
Toshiko does not have long to live. She wants to make the most of her time while she can and takes a sojourn to where her true hometown for which she has so much nostalgia and admiration. With her husband on her side she remains can-do and keeps her chin up, but can only lament the passing of time and what will happen next to everyone and everything she loves.

Song of Goodbye
2007 · 1h 59m
country: Japan
It is the second work of the Oita trilogy of Obayashi . Following " Nigori Snow ", Ise Masazo draws a song written by composers and songwriter "Farewell of 22 years old " as a motif and draws a story of love that spans two generations of mother and daughter.

Switching – Goodbye Me
2007 · 2h
country: Japan
After his parent's divorce, Kazuo Saito moves with his mother from Onomichi and must leave his girlfriend behind. At his new school, Kazuo is surprised to reunite with his childhood friend Kazumi.

The Motive
2004 · 2h 40m
country: Japan
Four people are discovered brutally murdered in an up-scale high-rise apartment. All the victims appear to be family, but as the investigation deepens it is discovered that one of the victims isn't related to the family.

The Last Snow
2002 · 1h 51m
country: Japan
After his wife leaves him, middle-aged Yusaku contemplates suicide, but receives a call from old friend Kenichiro, whose wife is in a coma.

Farewell
2001 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
Travelling to his hometown, a stressed, middle-aged businessman dials an old classmate from a public phone, and reconnects with lost fragments of his youth.

From the theme of Mahoroba "Doi Koinouta"
2001 · 55m
country: Unknown
Nobuhiko Obayashi's 2001 work "From the theme of Mahoroba". Obayashi filmed the works of Genjiro Ohno, a photographer who has been photographing the landscapes and people of Akita Prefecture for over 10 years.

Obayashi Nobuhiko's Special Message
2001 · 12m
country: Unknown
Special message from director Nobuhiko Obayashi.

The Stupid Teacher
2000 · 1h 29m
country: Japan
Film director Mario Baba meets a mysterious gentleman, and realizes he is a important man from his boyhood. The two chase each other around, causing a lot of commotion.

Shinobugawa
2000 · 50m
country: Japan
It is the 1950’s, and the protagonist, identified only as ‘I,’ has come from Tokyo to study, burdened by the high expectations of his poor family in northeastern Japan. He meets a young woman named Shino who works in a small restaurant in the Komagome area of Tokyo. They fall in love, and he takes her to his family home through the heavy snow for their wedding. He introduces Shino to his elderly parents and his sister; they spend their wedding night together listening to bells ringing on sleighs gliding past across the moonlit snow. The next morning, wrapped in their small world of happiness, they go to a hot spring in the mountains to begin their honeymoon.

The Nagaharu Yodogawa Story: A Cineaste's Life in Kobe
1999 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
Depicts the life of Nagaharu Yodogawa.

One Summer's Day
1999 · 2h 3m
country: Japan
Absent-minded fifth-grader Yuta is sent to spend the summer with his grandfather, whom Yuta's parents think is becoming senile and could benefit from Yuta's companionship. At first, Yuta thinks Gramps is a bit addled, too, but as he gets to know the old man better, he finds that his grandfather sees things quite differently from others.

I Want to Hear the Wind's Song
1998 · 2h 41m
country: Japan
A heartwarming, based-on-true-story of how a hearing-impaired couple, Masahiro and Namiko, knew each other, got married and began participating in the Triathlon. The story is told in flashbacks as Namiko awaits childbirth.

Sada
1998 · 2h 12m
country: Japan
On 17 May 1936–during a period of war, economic depression, public unease and growing militarism, a time of unrest and confusion when public opinion was, at best, unpredictable–Sada Abe killed and emasculated her lover. Condemned by the law, Sada finds herself lionised by the press and hailed as a 'saint' of love. Because hers was a crime of passion, the purity of her motivation elevates her from criminal to heroine.

Tom Cat Holmes and the Twilight Hotel
1998 · 2h 7m
country: Japan
The second TV movie Obayashi Nobuhiko directed based on Akagawa Jiro's Mikeneko Holmes series.

Tom Cat Holmes' Deduction
1996 · 2h 7m
country: Japan
A detective film by Nobuhiko Ōbayashi. Made for TV.

Goodbye for Tomorrow
1995 · 2h 21m
country: Japan
People from all walks of life all receive mysterious messages from loved ones who were killed 3 months earlier in a shipwreck. They are instructed to go to a small island in the Inland Sea that evening.

Turning Point
1994 · 1h 58m
country: Japan
A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials.

Samurai Kids
1993 · 1h 46m
country: Japan
With the help of a six-inch-tall ancient samurai warrior, a lonely young environmentalist finds self-confidence and new companionship in protecting Japan's beautiful naturality from human mismanagement.

Haruka, Nostalgia
1993 · 2h 45m
country: Japan
Ayase Shinsuke, a popular writer of a series of girl novels, visits Otaru, the town he grew up in. He meets a strange boy who calls himself by the author's real name.

Russian Lullabies
1993 · 1h
country: Japan
Film director Nobuhiko Obayashi went to Russia in 1992 and visited, with his crew, five families from five different cities and asked one member of each family to record their daily life in their homes on video. Using old lullabies as background, the documentary reveals the intimacy, joys, fears and expectations of these families.

The Rocking Horsemen
1992 · 2h 15m
country: Japan
It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.

Chizuko's Younger Sister
1991 · 2h 30m
country: Japan
The Kitao family is coping with the loss of the eldest daughter, Chizuko, who was killed in a freak accident the year prior. When the other daughter Mika is suddenly in a dangerous situation, Chizuko returns as a ghost to save her; reunited with her sister, Mika begins spending time with Chizuko again.

Why She Won't Marry
1990 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
A single mother uses marriage as a business, a way to make money and put food on the table. She regularly patronizes a bar, where she's friendly with the manager, unaware that not only is the man involved with her daughter but he secretly prefers the mother!

Making of 'Dreams'
1990 · 2h 31m
country: Japan
This 150-minute documentary, directed by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi on the set of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast and crew.

Beijing Watermelon
1989 · 2h 15m
country: Japan
Shunzo is a popular greengrocer in a town near Tokyo. His life, and the lives of his wife Michi, and their two children, undergoes a dramatic change when he encounters Li, a poor college student from China.

My Heart Belongs to Daddy
1988 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
A young woman moves in with her estranged father after her mother passes away.

The Discarnates
1988 · 1h 48m
country: Japan
A recently divorced writer is reunited with the ghosts of his parents who died when he was a boy. However, every time he sees them he loses more life energy. Now, he must choose between starting a new life or staying forever in the past.

The Strange Pair
1988 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
An unreliable narrator recounts the love story of a loan shark, his wife, and their recently released from jail childhood friend.

The Drifting Classroom
1987 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
An entire Japanese international grade school—and all within—are mysteriously transported to a foreboding desert wasteland. As the story unfolds, the diminishing student body weathers this apocalyptic crisis while searching for clues about their surroundings, and dealing with psychological breakdown and dangerous exterior forces.

Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast
1986 · 2h 15m
country: Japan
During the fervently nationalist months leading up to World War II, a rebellious teenager is transferred to a new primary school in a small Inland Sea town. He vies with the school’s reigning bully, who takes a romantic interest in his older stepsister. When they learn she’s going to be sold to a brothel to pay off her father’s debts, they form an uneasy alliance to free her.

April Fish
1986 · 1h 49m
country: Japan
A Francophile filmmaker in a creative rut tries to pass off a free-spirited young actress as his movie-star wife in order to fool a chief from the South Seas.

His Motorbike, Her Island
1986 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
Ko, a motorbike enthusiast from the city wandering the Japanese countryside, falls for the carefree local Miyo and teaches her how to ride. When Miyo proves herself a biker prodigy, Ko begins to fear she's destined to crash.

Four Sisters
1985 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Four sisters with no consanguinity are living together since childhood. When facing misfortune and grievances in lives, they give support and encouragement to each other, even sacrifice oneself to help others.

Lonely Heart
1985 · 1h 52m
country: Japan
Lonely and love-stricken high-school student Hiroki pursues a girl, but another one mysteriously appears in his life. Is she a figment of his psyche, or is she real?

The Island Closest to Heaven
1984 · 1h 43m
country: Japan
A Japanese teenager travels to New Caledonia in search of the fabled "island closest to heaven" that her late father had told her about.

Kenya Boy
1984 · 1h 49m
country: Japan
An 11-year-old boy who goes to Africa with his father in 1941. Because he is Japanese, the father is detained by the British. The boy joins up with a beautiful native girl, and the adventure begins.

The Deserted City
1984 · 1h 45m
country: Japan
After noticing in the news there was a fire in an old canal town, Eguchi recalls visiting there a decade ago as a university student.

Lover, Come Back to Me
1983 · 1h 32m
country: Japan
Ken Ota is a Japanese-American GI. He comes to Hiroshima after WW2 looking for his big sister, but finds Keiko, a bomb victim with a keloid scar on her shoulder.

Legend of the Cat Monster
1983 · 1h 35m
country: Japan
A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter is tasked with writing her comeback film, which leads the two to live under the same roof.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
1983 · 1h 44m
country: Japan
Kazuko Yoshiyama is a third-year junior-high-school student. One day, while cleaning the lab, she smells lavender and faints. From then on, she has the power to travel through time.

Cute Devil
1982 · 1h 33m
country: Japan
Ryoko visits brother-in-law Koji to recover from her time at a mental hospital. But she becomes increasingly convinced that Koji's eight year old niece Alice was responsible for her sister Fuyuko's death. Several horrific deaths follow.

I Are You, You Am Me
1982 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
9th-graders Kazuo and Kazumi take a tumble at a temple in a small seacoast town in Japan. Through supernatural intervention, their minds and bodies are switched, and the result is a touching and hilarious coming-of-age comedy as they attempt to survive the pressures of junior high school life.

School in the Crosshairs
1981 · 1h 30m
country: Japan
Mitamura Yuka is a normal, shy high school student. Except for the fact that she has psychic powers. When a new student with similar powers begins to show her skills, creating a force of psychic Nazi student enforcers, Yuka and her friends vow to stop her. But behind it all is a mysterious force that will put Yuka's powers to the ultimate test!

The Adventures of Kosuke Kindaichi
1979 · 1h 53m
country: Japan
Obayashi's take on the famous Kosuke Kindaichi series, made popular partly thanks to the numerous movie-adaptions by Kon Ichikawa, the most known being The Inugami Family. Kosuke Kindaichi is the most famous detective in Japan. Kindaichi gets a new case to figure out who has beheaded a valuable statue and made off with its head.

Take Me Away!
1978 · 1h 32m
country: Japan
Kyoko met Tetsu during her trip to San Francisco. Soon they fell in love but getting married was not in his mind. They were to meet again back in Tokyo but Tetsu didn't turn up. She went to look for him in San Francisco but all she found was him with his new girlfriend. Kyoko went back to Tokyo and eventually married a big corporate CEO.

Black Jack: The Visitor in the Eye
1977 · 1h 40m
country: Japan
Komori Chiaki is a budding tennis student. However, one day while training, her coach hits a ball into her eye on accident. At the hospital, the news that she will never regain the sight in her eye leaves her heartbroken. As a last resort, she undergoes a costly surgery from the mysterious doctor known as Black Jack, where after a successful operation, a mysterious figure starts to emerge in her vision, and only she can see it.

House
1977 · 1h 28m
country: Japan
Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.
Stampede Country
Stampede Country
1972 · 35m
country: Japan
A short film by Obayashi Nobuhiko made while making a commercial for Hitachi.
Happy Dinosaur's Album
Happy Dinosaur's Album
1972 · 15m
country: Japan
A short film by Obayashi Nobuhiko of people gathering by a beautiful lake in Canada.
Orere orara
Orere orara
1971 · 20m
country: Japan
A short film by Obayashi Nobuhiko of a collection of photos by Shinoyama Kishin of the Rio Carnival.
Memories of the Sea = Sabishinbo, Introduction
Memories of the Sea = Sabishinbo, Introduction
1970 · 20m
country: Unknown
A short film by Obayashi Nobuhiko.

Cheers in the Palm!
1969 · 24m
country: Unknown
A promotional movie that was shown to Kirin Brewery factory visitors at the time. Japanese history and family memories intertwine with a musical interlude that introduces song-by-song the industrial brewing process by a cute "Beer Spirit".

Foreign Correspondent - The Case of a Filmmaker
1968 · 12m
country: Japan
This is a work of Nobuhiko Obayashi when he was around 30 years old. This semi-documentary from the perspective of a young designer visiting Japan from Northern Europe tells the story of the filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi and his friends who the young designer encounters in Japan.

Confession
1968 · 1h 11m
country: Japan
A filmmaker recalls his youth in the town of Onomichi. In the present, he shoots a film in Onomichi alongside his cast, crew and family.
Japanese Erotica: Five Films on Love and Sex from the Japanese Underground of the Experimental Cinema
Japanese Erotica: Five Films on Love and Sex from the Japanese Underground of the Experimental Cinema
1967
country: Unknown
A program of five films on love and sex from the Japanese underground of the experimental cinema, assembled by avant-garde cineaste Takahiko Iimura, and shown at the American Cinematheque from January 19 to 25, 1967.

Emotion
1966 · 39m
country: Japan
Experimental short film depicting the life, perhaps real, perhaps a dream, of a young girl named Emi. Emi travels to the city where she encounters her counterpart, Sari, and falls in love with…a vampire?

Complexe
1964 · 14m
country: Japan
Nobuhiko Obayashi's short experimental film shows off persistence in film editing in the early 60s.

An Eater
1963 · 24m
country: Japan
A meditation on eating people and quiet waitresses.

Onomichi
1963 · 20m
country: Japan
A non-narrative tribute to the seaside town of Onomichi, where Obayashi grew up and where most of these films were made.

Remembrance
1963 · 17m
country: Japan
A woman and boy visit an ominous graveyard.

Nakasendo
1963 · 17m
country: Japan
An experimental film edited from footage of the Japanese countryside.
T-shi no gogo
T-shi no gogo
1962 · 25m
country: Japan
An Obayashi film made with Takabayashi Yoichi.

Thursday
1961 · 19m
country: Japan
A young couple go on a picnic in the forest, where the woman reveals that she is pregnant.

Dandanko
1960 · 11m
country: Japan
A short scene of a mother and her little son playing ball games on a set of steps together.

The Girl in the Picture
1958 · 32m
country: Japan
Obayashi 8mm short about a man who reminisces about a girl in his past (played by Obayashi's soon-to-be wife Kyoko).
Youth・Cloud
Youth・Cloud
1957 · 30m
country: Japan
A short visualization of a poem by Fukunaga Takehiko.
King Kong
King Kong
1952 · 2m
country: Japan
A puppet animation Obayashi made while he was a teenager.
The Stupid Teacher
The Stupid Teacher
1945 · 3m
country: Japan
An animated film Obayashi made while still a child.
Popeye's Treasure Island
Popeye's Treasure Island
1944 · 1m
country: Japan
An animated short Obayashi made while still a child.