
Machiko Kyō
Actor · 1924 – 2019 · Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Machiko Kyō (Japanese: 京 マチ子 Hepburn: Kyō Machiko, March 25, 1924 – May 12, 2019) was a Japanese actress whose film work occurred primarily during the 1950s. She rose to extraordinary domestic praise in Japan for her work in two of the greatest Japanese films of the 20th century, Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon and Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu. Machiko trained to be a dancer before entering films in 1949. The following year, she would achieve international fame as the female lead in Akira Kurosawa's classic film Rashōmon. Kyō starred in many more Japanese productions, including Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953) and Street of Shame (1956), Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell (1953), Kon Ichikawa's Odd Obsession (1959), Yasujirō Ozu's Floating Weeds (1959), and Hiroshi Teshigahara's The Face of Another (1966). Her only role in a non-Japanese film was as Lotus Blossom, a young geisha, in The Teahouse of the August Moon, starring opposite Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford. In her eighties, Kyō continued to perform in traditional Japanese theatrical productions put on by famed producer Fukuko Ishii. Her final role was as Matsuura Shino in the NHK television drama series Haregi Koko Ichiban in 2000. Kyō was nominated for a Golden Globe for The Teahouse of the August Moon, a great feat for an Asian actress at the time, and was awarded many prizes, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Awards of the Japanese Academy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Machiko Kyō, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies23
Movie8.0CrimeDramaFour people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Movie8.0FantasyDramaIn 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.
Movie7.8DramaScience FictionA businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his new doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality and causing him to question his identity.
Movie6.2ComedyIn post-WWII Japan, an American captain is brought in to help build a school, but the locals want a teahouse instead.
The Teahouse of the August Moon
1957 · 46 votes
Movie7.5DramaA theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.
Movie6.7RomanceDramaIn 8th-century China, the Emperor grieves the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their court influence. General An Lushan finds a distant relative working in their kitchen, whom they groom to present to the Emperor. The Emperor falls in love and she becomes the Princess Yang Kwei-fei. The Yangs are then appointed important ministers, though An Lushan is not given the court position he covets.
Movie7.1DramaHistoryJapan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.
Movie7.7DramaFollows five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.
Movie7.0DocumentaryDocumentary on film maker Akira Kurosawa
Kurosawa
2000 · 4 votes
MovieA beautiful dancer who lost her mother and was raised abroad searches for her long-lost father in the homeland she has always longed for.
Movie6.3DramaHistoryJapan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the target of a merciless revenge.
Movie7.2DocumentaryIn 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the life and career of his friend and mentor Mizoguchi.
Movie6.9DramaWhen bribe money from a rigged election funnels into a dam construction project, collusion, lust, greed and even murder are on the ballot.
Movie6.3DramaComedyA middle-aged husband of a younger woman finds her youth intimidating to the point that he cannot become aroused. His solution involves the introduction of his daughter's lover to his wife.
Movie6.3DramaThe eldest daughter of a rural family Mon returns home from Tokyo pregnant after an affair with a college student Kobata, which causes a scandal that will threaten the marriage prospects of the younger sister San, in her cash-strapped family. The ill-tempered eldest brother Inokichi decides to take on the role of disciplinarian, with harrowing results.
Movie9.0AdventureDramaThe picture belongs to the jidai gekki (historic) genre. It is a powerful story of violence and eroticism, picturing a world at once sordid and poetic, with two central themes which intermingle to compound an admirable panel of a critical period in Japanese history: the great famine in the mid 19th Century.
Movie7.0Drama
MovieRomanceSet against the backdrop of Nagasaki, a love story blossoms between an unfortunate circus girl and a shipbuilding engineer.
MovieDramaA seafaring man who hates women and a barmaid who hates men… drawn together and torn apart by a strange twist of fate… a melodrama of passion and intensity.
Movie7.1MysteryDramaThe cunning detective Akeichi must foil a kidnapping plot orchestrated by the notorious jewel thief known as Black Lizard.
Movie10.0DramaAn Indian prince leaves his world of comfort and riches behind to wander and meditate for six years in search of spiritual enlightenment. Siddartha (Cojoin Hong) turns his back on the old religion when people are starving needlessly and holy rituals include human sacrifices. During his meditations, he is tempted by erotic dancing women, demons, and the evil machinations of his criminal cousin. Devastate to attain the spiritual perfection and become the Buddha. He travels to convert followers by his kindness and wisdom, gaining a multitude of believers when he stops an elephant from crushing a local priest. Buddha of course goes on to become one of the great religious leaders of the world.
Movie7.0ComedyCrimeDetective Katahachi meets a young and beautiful pickpocket and doesn’t arrest her because she was not in the act. Instead, he listens to the story about her parents who killed himself and died for overwork to feel sorry about her.
MovieComedy
Series2
TV7.0MysteryCrimeTV series starring Ikko Furuya, based on the Kosuke Kindaichi mystery novel series by Seishi Yokomizo.
TV7.0DramaThe story takes place during the Muromachi period of Ancient Japan, in the midst of the Ōnin War. The main character in the series is Tomiko Hino, a historical figure with a bad reputation because of her actions to rebuild Kyoto after the Ōnin War.