Veteran movie director Yamada Yoji (74) is teaming up with actress Yoshinaga Sayuri (61) for the first time in 34 years. “Kaabee” (provisional title) is a drama set in Japan in 1941 immediately before the start of the Pacific War. It tells of a woman bringing up two daughters alone after her husband is arrested for a white-collar crime. Yoshinaga is often regarded as the quintessential Japanese “haha” (mother), and this will be her 112th movie. She last worked with Yamada in 1972 when he was in the middle of the 48 movies that made up the “Otoko wa Tsurai Yo” series. She played the “madonna” role, the female romantic foil to star Atsumi Kiyoshi’s Tora-san, twice in the series. The movie is based on an autobiographical story by Nogami Teruyo (79), who worked as a scriptwriter with the late Kurosawa Akira. It is scheduled for theater release in 2008.