1993年，山田洋次導演的《學校》在日本本士引起極大迴響，不僅贏得好評如潮，更在各大頒獎禮中獨領風騷。延續篇《學校II》將舞台移師至北海道一間供智障學童入讀的高中，但仍舊以刻劃帥生關係及反思教育意義為核心主題。山田在片中寄托了他對學校及老師們的期望：教育並非只靈培育老師心目中的好學生，老師的工作也並非只是教學，更重要的是跟學生建立深厚的關係。全片溫情洋溢，值得細味。 The Learning Circle, a film by Yamada Yoji and a follow-up to his 1993 hit A Class To Remember, is a moving story about the daily life of teachers and students at a high school for mentally-handicapped children. In this film, Yamada has depicted vividly and with genuine emotion the dreams and expectations he has for all schools and teacher: "Education is much more than merely minting students who are easy for schools and teachers to handle. A teacher's job is more than just teaching and guiding students, it is also to associate closely with them." 新學年又開始了。在北海道一間專供智障學童入讀的高中，青山龍平老師正在迎接新生。當中一位名叫高志的學生智商不算低，但過去曾受同學欺侮，心靈創傷使他從此一言不發。另一位學生佑矢就更是問題多多。他總是不肯乖乖坐著，一時大呼小叫，一時又像一枝箭似的飛奔出課室；問他甚麼也好，答案就衹有一個：午後紅茶－他最喜愛的飲料。資深老師也拿他沒法，於是把佑矢交給新到任的小林老師看管，害得他沒一刻能放鬆，差點得了神經衰弱。直到一天，一件前所未有的事發生了：佑矢忽然跳了起來，想要搶奪北川老師手中的文稿。這時，一直沒開口說過一句話的高志忽然疾言厲色地罵他。更令人意外的是郤是佑矢的反應──他第一次順著別人的意思去做。自那一天起，學校有了重大的改變，不僅是學生，老師也一樣…… 資料來源︰電影雙周刊—Home Entertainment DVD (香港)

本片榮獲藝學院賞最佳電影、最佳劇本、最佳男主角（西田敏行）最佳助演男配角（田中邦衛）最佳新人（萩原聖人、裕木奈江）暨最佳導演六項大獎！！ 《學校》是山田洋次構思了15年的意念。影片的背景是一所夜間中學，負責教學的是已屆中年的黑井先生。 他本來可以有機會調職到另一家正規學校任教，但他卻拒絕了。又一個學期要過去，在畢業禮即將來臨之前，黑井叫每個學生都以過去一年的日子做題材，寫下一些值得回味的事情。班上的同學，有不同年齡的、不同國藉和背景的，不約而同都發現：歲月雖然匆匆，但箇中悲喜，尤其是黑井的關懷，卻教他們永誌難忘。 本片是山田洋次創作生涯上的另一高峰：七年間已拍了四集，是山田繼《男人之苦》後的第二個成功系列。 Directed by the creator of the Tora-san series, Yamada Yoji, "A Class to Remember" unfolds in a night junior high school on the lower east side of Tokyo. Students from their teens to their sixties are enrolled. One of the most beloved teachers, Kuroi, asks each student to write an essay recalling their experience in the night school. In the midst of the class, a piece of tragic news arrives: Inoda, one of Kuroi's students, has passed away, upon which the whole class starts talking about each other's memory of Inoda. Compassionate and extremely poignant, "A Class to Remember", marks the beginning of another film series for Yamada. So far four installments have been made and all are box office hits.

2013 film by Yōji Yamada

Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof.

亮（吉冈秀隆饰）与家里的父亲发生了冲突，离家旅行到一个小镇，遇到了一家影院的经理活男（西田敏行饰），并留了下来工作，在影院工作的还有放映师常先生（田中邦卫饰），并认识了开咖啡店的八重子（田中裕子饰）。活男一直喜欢八重子，可惜后来终未能如愿，八重子离开了小镇。