How many films do you know? …The three wise men who know all about movies from the past, present and future have selected the 15 best “funny Japanese movies”.
Three wise men who know all about movies from all ages and cultures have selected 15 carefully selected films to introduce at a glance!
It’s already September, and yet the temperature continues to rise above 30 degrees Celsius. The only way to get over the depressing late summer heat is to watch movies that make you laugh from the bottom of your stomach!
For this issue, we invited Naobumi Higuchi, a film director and film critic, Noriki Ishitobi, a film critic, and Anko, a comedian who loves movies, to discuss the theme of “the most funny Japanese films.
Higuchi: I recommend the “Truck Bastard” series (’75-’79, directed by Norifumi Suzuki) as a reasonably funny film. It is a story about a deco-truck driver released by Toei at a time when the fever of real-life yakuza movies was beginning to cool down.
In a word, that film is the “value inversion” of “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” (’69-’95, directed by Yoji Yamada). Tora-san is platonic in his love life, but Momojiro, played by Bunta Sugawara, is completely interested in sex. But Momojiro, played by Bunta Sugawara, is even more pure-hearted than Tora-san, and this is what drew the sympathy of the audience.
Anko: After Tora-san, there have not been many films that have lasted this long. The original “Wild Speed,” wasn’t it?
Higuchi: In Tora-san, all the characters except for Tora Jiro are honest, whereas in this one, there are no proper adults at all. It’s rather funny that he’s even trying to bully Momojiro.
Anko: The only decent character is the beautiful woman who plays the madonna.
Ishitobi: I prefer films with laughter in action, horror, or romance to simple comedies, and “Bebop High School” (’85-’88, directed by Hiroyuki Nasu) is a film with an outstanding number of laughter elements in the action. I recommend it.
Anko: It is a school film starring Toru Nakamura (60) and Kojiro Shimizu (60), but the action is very flashy. The scene where they really dive into the river from a moving train is impressive. It is a dangerous “Stand by Me.
Ishitobi I am impressed that no one got hurt. No, maybe there were (laughs). I noticed that Hiroshi, played by Kojiro Shimizu, looks very much like Momojiro in “Truck Man” when he is angry. I think he was probably conscious of that.
Anko: The kind of laughter I look for in a film is one that makes me laugh out loud, and from that perspective, I would like to introduce “Playtime Never Ends” (’91, dir. Sadaaki Hagiwa). In this story, the police conduct a crime prevention drill with the aim of improving their image, and a serious policeman played by Masahiro Motoki (59), who was chosen to play a bank robber, succeeds in robbing a bank, and the police are in a panic.
Ishitobi: Many films that play with ideas become boring in the middle of the film, but it is amazing that you don’t get bored until the very end.
Anko: The training is conducted in a realistic situation, but the gun is unloaded, so the police just pretend to fire and say “bang! It is a work with a duality of silliness and realism, like when you say “bang! It is a work that is both silly and realistic. It is like a comedy act by “Un-jash”?
Higuchi: It is a successful work because the main character is Mokkun. It would not have been funny at all if it had been performed by an actor with a playful character. It is precisely because it is played by an actor with a serious impression that the strangeness of the phenomenon stands out.
Ishitobi Motoki-san is very stoic in his acting. His seriousness in this work led to laughter in the best way.
Anko: On the contrary, I am impressed that he accepted this role so well (laughs).
From the September 12 and 19, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY
