Cinema of Japan
Encyclopedia
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived. Notable films from the Japanese film industry are: Tokyo Story
, Seven Samurai, Ugetsu
, Ikiru
, Godzilla
, among many others. In a ranking of the best films produced in Asia by the Sight & Sound
British film magazine, Japan made up 8 of the top 12, with Tokyo Story being ranked number one. In the United States, Japan has won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film 4 times, again more than any other country in Asia.
was first shown commercially by Thomas Edison
in the United States in 1894, the first showing in Japan took place in November 1896. The Vitascope
and the Lumière Brothers' Cinematograph were first presented in Japan in March 1897, and Lumière cameramen were the first to shoot films in Japan. Moving pictures, however, were not an entirely new experience for the Japanese because of their rich tradition of pre-cinematic devices such as gentō (utsushi-e) or the magic lantern
. The first successful Japanese film was viewed in late 1897 and showed various well-known sights in Tokyo.
1898 saw some of the first ghost films produced in Japan, the Shirō Asano shorts Bake Jizo (Jizo the Spook / 化け地蔵) and Shinin no sosei (Resurrection of a Corpse). The first documentary, the short Geisha no teodori (芸者の手踊り), was made in June 1899. Tsunekichi Shibata made a number of early films, including Momijigari, a 1899 record of two famous actors performing a scene from a well-known kabuki
play. Early films were influenced by traditional theater – for example, kabuki and bunraku
.
Most early Japanese cinema theatres employed benshi
, narrators whose dramatic readings accompanied the film and its musical score. As in the West, the score was often performed live.
In 1908, Shōzō Makino, considered the pioneering director of Japanese film, began his influential career with Honnōji gassen (本能寺合戦), produced for Yokota Shōkai
. Shōzō recruited Matsunosuke Onoe
, a former kabuki
actor, to star in his productions. Subsequently, Onoe became Japan's first film star, appearing in over 1,000 films, mostly shorts, between 1909 and 1926. The pair pioneered the jidaigeki
genre. Tokihiko Okada
was a popular romantic lead of the same era, similar in appeal to Rudolph Valentino
.
The first female Japanese performer to appear in a film professionally was the dancer/actress Tokuko Nagai Takagi, who appeared in four shorts for the American-based Thanhouser Company
between 1911 and 1914.
Among intellectuals, criticism of Japanese cinema grew in the 1910s. Criticism of cinema, beginning with early film magazines such as Katsudō shashinkai (begun in 1909) and a full-length book written by Yasunosuke Gonda
in 1914, developed through the decade as early film critics chastised the work of studios like Nikkatsu
and Tenkatsu
for being too theatrical (using, for instance, elements from kabuki
and shinpa
such as onnagata) and for not utilizing what were considered more cinematic techniques to tell stories, instead relying on benshi. In his 1917 film The Captain's Daughter, Masao Inoue
started using techniques new to the silent film era, such as the close-up and cut back. In a movement later called the Pure Film Movement
, writers in magazines such as Kinema Record
called for a broader use of such cinematic techniques. Some of these critics, such as Norimasa Kaeriyama
, went on to put their ideas into practice by directing such films as The Glow of Life (1918). The Pure Film Movement was central in the development of the gendaigeki
and scriptwriting. New studios established around 1920, such as Shochiku
and Taikatsu, aided the cause for reform. At Taikatsu, Thomas Kurihara
directed films scripted by the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki
, who was a strong advocate of film reform. Even Nikkatsu produced reformist films under the direction of Eizō Tanaka
. By the mid-1920s, actresses had replaced onnagata and films used more of the devices pioneered by Inoue. Some of the most discussed silent films from Japan are those of Kenji Mizoguchi
, whose later works (e.g., The Life of Oharu
) are still highly regarded.
Japanese films gained popularity in the mid-1920s against foreign films, in part fueled by the popularity of movie stars. Some stars, such as Tsumasaburo Bando
, Kanjūrō Arashi
, Chiezō Kataoka
, Takako Irie
and Utaemon Ichikawa
, were inspired by Makino Film Productions
and formed their own independent production companies. Directors such as Hiroshi Inagaki
, Mansaku Itami and Sadao Yamanaka
honed their skills at such independent studios. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa
created his own production company to produce the experimental masterpiece A Page of Madness
, starring Masao Inoue, in 1926. Many of these companies, while surviving during the silent era against major studios like Nikkatsu
, Shochiku
, Teikine, and Toa Studios, could not survive the coming of sound and the cost involved in converting to sound.
With the rise of left-wing political movements and labor unions at the end of the 1920s, films with left-wing "tendencies" (so-called tendency films) gained popularity, with prominent examples being directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
, Daisuke Itō
, Shigeyoshi Suzuki
, and Tomu Uchida
. In contrast with these commercially produced 35 mm film
s, the Marxist Proletarian Film League of Japan
(Prokino) made works independently in smaller gauges (such as 9.5mm
and 16mm
), with more radical intentions. Tendency films suffered from severe censorship heading into the 1930s, and Prokino members were arrested and the movement effectively crushed. Such moves by the government had profound effects on the expression of political dissent in 1930s cinema.
A later version of The Captain's Daughter was one of the first talkie
films. It used the Mina Talkie System, which later split into two groups; one remained the Mina Talkie System, while the other became the Iisutofyon Talkie System that was used to make Tojo Masaki's films.
The effects of the 1923 earthquake
, the Allied bombing of Tokyo during World War II
, as well as the natural effects of time and Japan's humidity
on inflammable and unstable Nitrate film have resulted in a great dearth of surviving films from this period.
Unlike in the West, silent films were still being produced in Japan well into the 1930s. A few Japanese sound shorts were made in the 1920s and 1930s, but Japan's first feature-length talkie was Fujiwara Yoshie no furusato (1930), which used the Mina Talkie System. Notable talkies of this period include Mikio Naruse
's Wife, Be Like A Rose! (Tsuma Yo Bara No Yoni, 1935), which was one of the first Japanese films to gain a theatrical release in the U.S.; Yasujiro Ozu
's An Inn in Tokyo, considered a precursor to the neorealism
genre; Kenji Mizoguchi
's Sisters of the Gion
(Gion no shimai, 1936); Osaka Elegy
(1936); Sadao Yamanaka
's Humanity and Paper Balloons
(1937); and The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
(1939).
The 1930s also saw increased government involvement in cinema, which was symbolized by the passing of the Film Law, which gave the state more authority over the film industry, in 1939. The government encouraged some forms of cinema, producing propaganda films
and promoting documentary films (also called bunka eiga or "culture films"), with important documentaries being made by directors such as Fumio Kamei
. Realism was in favor; film theorists such as Taihei Imamura
advocated for documentary, while directors such as Hiroshi Shimizu
and Tomotaka Tasaka
produced fiction films that were strongly realistic in style.
. Thus, many films from this period depict deeply patriotic and militaristic themes. In 1942 Kajiro Yamamoto
’s film Hawai Mare oki kaisen
or “The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay” portrayed the attack on Pearl Harbor, amazingly reproduced with a miniature scale model, among other special effects that Eiji Tsuburaya
(a special effects director) was in charge of.
Akira Kurosawa
made his feature film debut with Sugata Sanshiro
in 1943. With the SCAP
occupation following the end of WWII
, Japan was exposed to over a decade's worth of American animation
that had been banned under the war-time government. The first collaborations between Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune
were Drunken Angel
in 1948 and Stray Dog
in 1949. Yasujiro Ozu
directed the critically and commercially successful Late Spring
in 1949.
The Mainichi Film Award was created in 1946.
The 1950s were the Golden Age
of Japanese cinema. Three Japanese films from this decade (Rashomon
, Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story
) made the Sight & Sound
s 2002 Critics and Directors Poll for the best films of all time. The period after the American Occupation led to a rise in diversity in movie distribution thanks to the increased output and popularity of the film studios of Toho
, Daiei
, Shochiku
, Nikkatsu
, and Toei
.
The decade started with Akira Kurosawa's
Rashomon (1950), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
and the Golden Lion
at the Venice Film Festival
and marked the entrance of Japanese cinema onto the world stage. It was also the breakout role for legendary star Toshirō Mifune
. In 1953 Entotsu no mieru basho
by Heinosuke Gosho
was in competition at the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival
.
The first Japanese film in color was Carmen Comes Home
directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
and released in 1951. There was also a black-and-white version of this film available. Gate of Hell, a 1953 film by Teinosuke Kinugasa
, was the first movie that filmed using Eastmancolor film, Gate of Hell was both Daiei
's first color film and the first Japanese color movie to be released outside of Japan, receiving an Oscar in 1954 for Best Costume Design by Sanzo Wada
and an Honorary Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also won the Palme d'Or
at the Cannes Film Festival
, the first Japanese film to achieve that honour.
The year 1954 saw two of Japan's most influential films released. The first was the Kurosawa
epic Seven Samurai, about a band of hired samurai who protect a helpless village from a rapacious gang of thieves, which was remade in the West as The Magnificent Seven
. The same year, Ishirō Honda
released the anti-nuclear horror film Gojira
, which was translated in the West as Godzilla
. Though it was severely edited for its Western release, Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire industry of Kaiju
films. Also in 1954, both another Kurosawa film, Ikiru
, and Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story were in competition at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival
.
In 1955, Hiroshi Inagaki
won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Part I
of his Samurai trilogy
and in 1958 won the Golden Lion
at the Venice Film Festival
for Rickshaw Man
. Kon Ichikawa
directed two anti-war dramas: The Burmese Harp (1956), which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, and Fires On The Plain
(1959), along with Enjo
(1958), which was adapted from Yukio Mishima
's novel Temple Of The Golden Pavilion. Masaki Kobayashi made two of the three films which would collectively become known as The Human Condition Trilogy
: No Greater Love (1958), and The Road To Eternity (1959). The trilogy was completed in 1961, with A Soldier's Prayer.
Kenji Mizoguchi directed The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu
(1953) and Sansho the Bailiff
(1954). He won the Silver Bear at the Venice Film Festival
for Ugetsu. Mikio Naruse
made Repast (1950), Late Chrysanthemums (1954), The Sound of the Mountain (1954) and Floating Clouds (1955). Yasujiro Ozu directed Good Morning
(1959) and Floating Weeds
(1958), which was adapted from his earlier silent A Story of Floating Weeds
(1934), and was shot by Rashomon/Sansho the Bailiff cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa
.
The Blue Ribbon Awards
were established in 1950. The first winner for Best Film was Until We Meet Again
by Tadashi Imai.
's Fistful of Dollars. Yasujiro Ozu made his final film, An Autumn Afternoon
, in 1962. Mikio Naruse directed the wide screen melodrama When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
in 1960; his final film was 1967's Scattered Clouds.
Kon Ichikawa captured the watershed 1964 Olympics
in his three-hour documentary Tokyo Olympiad
(1965). Seijun Suzuki
was fired by Nikkatsu
for "making films that don't make any sense and don't make any money" after his surrealist yakuza flick
Branded to Kill
(1967).
Nagisa Oshima
, Kaneto Shindo
, Masahiro Shinoda
, Susumu Hani
and Shohei Imamura
emerged as major filmmakers during the decade. Oshima's Cruel Story of Youth
, Night and Fog in Japan
and Death By Hanging
, along with Shindo's Onibaba
, Hani's She And He and Imamura's The Insect Woman
, became some of the better-known examples of Japanese New Wave filmmaking. Documentary played a crucial role in the New Wave, as directors such as Hani, Kazuo Kuroki
, Toshio Matsumoto
, and Hiroshi Teshigahara moved from documentary into fiction film, while feature filmmakers like Oshima and Imamura also made documentaries. Shinsuke Ogawa
and Noriaki Tsuchimoto
became the most important documentarists: "two figures [that] tower over the landscape of Japanese documentary."
Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes
(1964) won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival
, and was nominated for Best Director
and Best Foreign Language Film Oscars. Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan
(1965) also picked up the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Bushido, Samurai Saga
by Tadashi Imai won the Golden Bear at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival
. Immortal Love
by Keisuke Kinoshita
and Twin Sisters of Kyoto
and Portrait of Chieko
, both by Noboru Nakamura, also received nominations for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Lost Spring
, also by Nakamura, was in competition for the Golden Bear at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival
.
(1976), a film detailing a crime of passion involving Sada Abe
set in the 1930s. Controversial for its explicit sexual content, it has never been seen uncensored in Japan. However, the pink film industry became the stepping stone for young independent filmmakers of Japan.
Toshiya Fujita
made the revenge film Lady Snowblood
in 1973. It would go on to become a popular cult film in the West. In the same year, Yoshishige Yoshida
made the film Coup d'État
, a portrait of Ikki Kita, the leader of the Japanese coup of February 1936. Its experimental cinematography and mise-en-scène, as well as its avant-garde score by Ichiyanagi Sei, garnered it wide critical acclaim within Japan.
In 1976 the Hochi Film Award
was created. The first winner for Best Film was The Inugamis
by Kon Ichikawa
.
Kinji Fukasaku
completed the epic Battles Without Honor and Humanity series of yakuza films. Yoji Yamada
introduced the commercially successful Tora-San series
, while also directing other films, notably the popular The Yellow Handkerchief
, which won the first Japan Academy Prize for Best Film in 1978. New wave filmmakers Susumu Hani and Shohei Imamura retreated to documentary work
, though Imamura made a dramatic return to feature filmmaking with Vengeance Is Mine
(1979).
Dodes'ka-den by Akira Kurosawa and Sandakan No. 8
by Kei Kumai were nominated to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
gained in popularity, with new animated movies released every summer and winter, often based upon popular television anime. Mamoru Oshii
released his landmark Angel's Egg
in 1983. Hayao Miyazaki
adapted his manga
series Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind
into a feature film of the same name in 1984. Katsuhiro Otomo
followed suit with Akira
in 1988.
Akira Kurosawa directed Kagemusha
(1980), which won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival
, and Ran
(1985). Likewise, Seijun Suzuki made a comeback, beginning with Zigeunerweisen
in 1980. Shohei Imamura
won the Palme d'Or
at the Cannes Film Festival
for The Ballad of Narayama
(1983).
Yoshishige Yoshida
made A Promise
(1986), his first film since 1973's Coup d'État. It centered upon generational conflict during the height of Japan's economic boom, and nostalgia for traditional ways of life; the work received more international recognition than Yoshida's previous films, and was selected to be screened in the Un Certain Regard
section at Cannes
.
Juzo Itami
directed his first film, Ososhiki (The Funeral), in 1984. He achieved both critical and box office success with his quirky "Japanese Noodle Western" comedy Tampopo
in 1985, which remains popular. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
, who would generate international attention beginning in the mid-1990s, also made his initial debut in the 1980s with pink films and genre horror.
The availability of home video
made possible the creation of a direct-to-video
film industry, called V-Cinema
.
Because of economic recessions, the number of movie theaters in Japan had been steadily decreasing since the 1960s. The 1990s saw the reversal of this trend and the introduction of the Multiplex
in Japan.
Takeshi Kitano
emerged as a significant filmmaker with works such as Sonatine
(1993), Kids Return
(1996) and Hana-bi
(1997), which was given the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Shohei Imamura again won the Golden Palm (shared with Iran
ian director Abbas Kiarostami
), this time for The Eel
(1997). He became the fourth two-time recipient, joining Alf Sjöberg, Francis Ford Coppola
and Bille August
.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa gained international recognition following the release of Kyua
(1997). Takashi Miike
launched a prolific career, making up to 50 films in a decade, building up an impressive portfolio with titles such as, Audition
(1999), Dead or Alive
(1999) and The Bird People in China
(1998). Former documentary filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda
launched an acclaimed feature career with Maborosi
(1996) and After Life (1999).
Hayao Miyazaki directed two mammoth box office and critical successes, Porco Rosso
(1992) – which beat E.T.
(1982) as the highest-grossing film in Japan – and Princess Mononoke
(1997), which also claimed the top box office spot until Titanic
(1997).
Several new anime directors rose to widespread recognition, bringing with them notions of anime as not only entertainment, but modern art. Mamoru Oshii released the internationally acclaimed philosophical science fiction action film Ghost in the Shell
, based on the manga by Masamune Shirow
, in 1996. The film garnered great success and recognition in theatrical releases worldwide, and eight years later Oshii directed a sequel. Satoshi Kon
directed the award-winning psychological thriller Perfect Blue
, based on a novel by Toshiki Satō
. The film was theatrically released to decent commercial and considerable critical success in America and several other countries around the world. Hideaki Anno
also gained considerable recognition after the release of his successful and controversial psychological science fiction epic Neon Genesis Evangelion, which started as a TV series in 1995 and concluded with the theatrical release of The End of Evangelion
, the series' postmodern, apocalyptic conclusion, in 1997. (The film was not released internationally until the early 2000s, and then in straight-to-DVD format.) Evangelion is widely considered to be one of the most influential anime of all time.
was released, based on a popular novel by the same name. In 2002, Dolls
was released, followed by a high-budget remake, Zatoichi
in 2003, both directed and written by Takeshi Kitano. The J-Horror
films Ringu
, Kairo
, Dark Water
, Yogen
, the Grudge series
and One Missed Call were remade in English and met with commercial success. In 2004, Godzilla: Final Wars
, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
, was released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Godzilla. In 2005, director Seijun Suzuki
made his 56th film, Princess Raccoon
. Hirokazu Koreeda
claimed film festival awards around the world with two of his films Distance
and Nobody Knows. Takashi Miike
's prolific career continued. Yoji Yamada
, long time director of the popular Otoko wa Tsurai yo
comedy series, emerged in the 2000s with a trilogy of acclaimed revisionist samurai films, beginning with 2002's Twilight Samurai, followed by The Hidden Blade
in 2004 and Love and Honor
in 2006.
The number of movies being shown in Japan has steadily been increasing, with about 821 films released in 2006. Movies based on Japanese television series were especially popular during this period.
In anime, Hayao Miyazaki
came out of retirement to direct Spirited Away
in 2001, breaking Japanese box office records and winning the U.S. Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
. The film also won the Golden Bear at the 52nd Berlin International Film Festival
. Miyazaki's subsequent films, Howl's Moving Castle
and Ponyo, were released in 2004 and 2008 respectively.
In 2004, Mamoru Oshii released the anime movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
(known in Japan simply as "Innocence"), which, like the first film, received critical praise around the world; it was the sixth-ever animated film to be included in the Cannes Film Festival
, and one of only two to become a finalist for the Palme D'Or
award. His 2008 film The Sky Crawlers
was met with similarly positive international reception. Satoshi Kon also released three quieter, but nonetheless highly successful films in 2001, 2003 and 2006 respectively: Millennium Actress
, Tokyo Godfathers
, and Paprika. Katsuhiro Otomo
released Steamboy
, his first animated project since the 1995 short film compilation Memories
, in 2004, with subsequent theatrical releases internationally. In collaboration with Studio 4C, American director Michael Arias
released Tekkon Kinkreet
in 2008, to international acclaim. After several years of directing primarily lower-key live-action films, Hideaki Anno
formed his own production studio
and revisited his still-popular Evangelion franchise with the Rebuild of Evangelion
tetralogy, a new series of films providing an alternate retelling of the original story. The first film, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
released to considerable success in September 2007; after several delays in production, the second film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance was released in June 2009. The release schedule for the final two films has yet to be determined.
Anime films now account for 60 percent of Japanese film production. The 1990s and 2000s is considered to be "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age", due to the immense popularity of anime, both within Japan and overseas.
In February 2000, the Japan Film Commission Promotion Council was established. On November 16, 2001, the Japanese Foundation for the Promotion of the Arts laws were presented to the House of Representatives
. These laws were intended to promote the production of media arts, including film scenery, and stipulate that the government – on both the national and local levels – must lend aid in order to preserve film media. The laws were passed on November 30 and came into effect on December 7. In 2003, at a gathering for the Agency of Cultural Affairs, twelve policies were proposed in a written report to allow public-made films to be promoted and shown at the Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art.
by Kōji Wakamatsu
was in competition for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival
and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress
, Outrage
by Takeshi Kitano
was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
and Himizu
, by Sion Sono
was in competition for the Golden Lion
at the 68th Venice International Film Festival
.
Tokyo Story
is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with...
, Seven Samurai, Ugetsu
Ugetsu
Ugetsu is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Set in 16th century Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is inspired by short stories by Ueda Akinari and Guy de Maupassant...
, Ikiru
Ikiru
is a 1952 Japanese film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a minor Tokyo bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning. The film stars Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe.-Plot:...
, Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
, among many others. In a ranking of the best films produced in Asia by the Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
British film magazine, Japan made up 8 of the top 12, with Tokyo Story being ranked number one. In the United States, Japan has won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film 4 times, again more than any other country in Asia.
Genres
- AnimeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
: AnimationAnimationAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
. Anime refers to "Japanese animation" in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. - JidaigekiJidaigekiis a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
: period pieces set during the Edo periodEdo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
(1603–1868) or earlier. - Samurai cinemaSamurai cinemaWhile earlier samurai period pieces were more dramatic rather than action-based, samurai movies post World War II have become more action-based, with darker and more violent characters. Post-war samurai epics tended to portray psychologically or physically scarred warriors. Akira Kurosawa stylized...
, a subgenre of jidaigeki, also known as chambara (onomatopoeia describing the sound of swords clashing). - Ninja: films about ninjaNinjaA or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
- J-HorrorJ-HorrorJapanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
: horror filmHorror filmHorror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s such as RingRing (film)is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family... - Cult HorrorCult filmA cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
, such as Battle RoyaleBattle Royale (film)is a 2000 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku based on the novel of the same name. It was written by Kenta Fukasaku and stars Takeshi Kitano. The film aroused international controversy.A sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, followed...
or Suicide Club - KaijuKaijuis a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
: monsterMonsterA monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
films, such as GodzillaGodzilla (1954 film)is a 1954 Japanese science fiction film directed by Ishirō Honda and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. The film stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura. The film tells the story of Godzilla, a giant monster mutated by nuclear radiation, who ravages Japan, bringing back the... - Pink films: softcoreSoftcoreSoftcore pornography is a form of filmic or photographic pornography or erotica that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography. It is intended to tickle and arouse men and women. Softcore pornography depicts nude and semi-nude performers engaging in casual social nudity or non-graphic...
pornographic films. Often more socially engaged and aesthically well crafted than simple pornography. - Yakuza filmYakuza filmis a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.-Ninkyo eiga:...
s: films about YakuzaYakuza, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
mobsters. - Seishun eiga: films about teenagers
- GendaigekiGendaigekiGendai-geki is a genre of film and television or theater play in Japan. Unlike the jidai-geki genre of period dramas, whose stories are set in the Edo period, gendaigeki stories are contemporary dramas set in the modern world.-See also:...
: modern life films - ShomingekiShomingekiShomin-geki is a genre of realist film and television or theater plays in Japan which focuses on the lives of common working class people....
: realistic films about common working people
Silent Era
Though the kinetoscopeKinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
was first shown commercially by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
in the United States in 1894, the first showing in Japan took place in November 1896. The Vitascope
Vitascope
Vitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...
and the Lumière Brothers' Cinematograph were first presented in Japan in March 1897, and Lumière cameramen were the first to shoot films in Japan. Moving pictures, however, were not an entirely new experience for the Japanese because of their rich tradition of pre-cinematic devices such as gentō (utsushi-e) or the magic lantern
Magic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
. The first successful Japanese film was viewed in late 1897 and showed various well-known sights in Tokyo.
1898 saw some of the first ghost films produced in Japan, the Shirō Asano shorts Bake Jizo (Jizo the Spook / 化け地蔵) and Shinin no sosei (Resurrection of a Corpse). The first documentary, the short Geisha no teodori (芸者の手踊り), was made in June 1899. Tsunekichi Shibata made a number of early films, including Momijigari, a 1899 record of two famous actors performing a scene from a well-known kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
play. Early films were influenced by traditional theater – for example, kabuki and bunraku
Bunraku
, also known as Ningyō jōruri , is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684.Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:* Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai—puppeteers* Tayū—the chanters* Shamisen players...
.
Most early Japanese cinema theatres employed benshi
Benshi
were Japanese performers who provided live narration for silent films . Benshi are sometimes also called or .-Role of the benshi:...
, narrators whose dramatic readings accompanied the film and its musical score. As in the West, the score was often performed live.
In 1908, Shōzō Makino, considered the pioneering director of Japanese film, began his influential career with Honnōji gassen (本能寺合戦), produced for Yokota Shōkai
Yokota Shōkai
was a Japanese film studio active in the early years of cinema in Japan. Its origins can be traced back to when Einosuke Yokota received one of the first Lumiere cinematograph machines in Japan from Katsutarō Inaba to conduct traveling exhibitions of the device. In 1901, Yokota founded Yokota...
. Shōzō recruited Matsunosuke Onoe
Matsunosuke Onoe
, sometimes known as Medama no Matchan , was a Japanese actor. His birth name is Tsuruzo Nakamura. He is sometimes credited as Yukio Koki, Tamijaku Onoe, or Tsunusaburo Onoe, and as a kabuki artist he went by the name Tsurusaburo Onoe...
, a former kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
actor, to star in his productions. Subsequently, Onoe became Japan's first film star, appearing in over 1,000 films, mostly shorts, between 1909 and 1926. The pair pioneered the jidaigeki
Jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
genre. Tokihiko Okada
Tokihiko Okada
was a Japanese silent film star in Japan during the 1920's and early 1930's. A Tokyo native, he first started at the Taikatsu studio and later he was a leading player for such legendary Japanese directors as Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. Film critic Tadao Sato recounts that Okada was among the...
was a popular romantic lead of the same era, similar in appeal to Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
.
The first female Japanese performer to appear in a film professionally was the dancer/actress Tokuko Nagai Takagi, who appeared in four shorts for the American-based Thanhouser Company
Thanhouser Company
The Thanhouser Company was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser.-See also:...
between 1911 and 1914.
Among intellectuals, criticism of Japanese cinema grew in the 1910s. Criticism of cinema, beginning with early film magazines such as Katsudō shashinkai (begun in 1909) and a full-length book written by Yasunosuke Gonda
Yasunosuke Gonda
was a Japanese sociologist and film theorist who played an important role in the study of popular entertainment and helped pioneer statistical studies of everyday life in Japan.-Career:...
in 1914, developed through the decade as early film critics chastised the work of studios like Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
and Tenkatsu
Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin
was a Japanese film studio active in the 1910s. The name translates as the "Natural Color Moving Picture Company," but it was known as Tenkatsu for short...
for being too theatrical (using, for instance, elements from kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
and shinpa
Shinpa
is a form of theater and cinema in Japan usually featuring melodramatic stories. Its roots can be traced to a form of agitation propaganda theater in the 1880s promoted by Liberal Party members Sadanori Sudo and Otojirō Kawakami...
such as onnagata) and for not utilizing what were considered more cinematic techniques to tell stories, instead relying on benshi. In his 1917 film The Captain's Daughter, Masao Inoue
Masao Inoue (actor)
was a Japanese film and stage actor and film director who contributed to the development of film and stage art in Japan.-Career:Born in Ehime Prefecture, Inoue first appeared on stage at age 17. Starting out in traveling theatrical troupes, he made his debut on the Tokyo stage in 1905 as a member...
started using techniques new to the silent film era, such as the close-up and cut back. In a movement later called the Pure Film Movement
Pure Film Movement
The was a trend in film criticism and filmmaking in 1910s and early 1920s Japan that advocated what were considered more modern and cinematic modes of filmmaking. Critics in such magazines as Kinema Record and Kinema Junpo complained that existing Japanese cinema was overly theatrical...
, writers in magazines such as Kinema Record
Kinema Record
was a Japanese film magazine published during the 1910s that played an important role in the Pure Film Movement. In 1914, with no serious film magazines being published in Japan at the time, Norimasa Kaeriyama, Yoshiyuki Shigeno and other students interested in movies formed the Japan...
called for a broader use of such cinematic techniques. Some of these critics, such as Norimasa Kaeriyama
Norimasa Kaeriyama
was a pioneering Japanese film director and film theorist.-Biography:Beginning with articles he submitted to Yoshizawa Shōten's magazine Katsudō shashinkai while still a student, Kaeriyama developed a long series of critiques of contemporary Japanese cinema that would make him the leading spokesman...
, went on to put their ideas into practice by directing such films as The Glow of Life (1918). The Pure Film Movement was central in the development of the gendaigeki
Gendaigeki
Gendai-geki is a genre of film and television or theater play in Japan. Unlike the jidai-geki genre of period dramas, whose stories are set in the Edo period, gendaigeki stories are contemporary dramas set in the modern world.-See also:...
and scriptwriting. New studios established around 1920, such as Shochiku
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
and Taikatsu, aided the cause for reform. At Taikatsu, Thomas Kurihara
Thomas Kurihara
was a Japanese actor and film director.- Life :Thomas Kurihara, birth name Kisaburō Kurihara , was born in Hadano, Kanagawa. Kurihara's father was a wood trader, but he failed in business. Kurihara went to United States and enrolled school for film actors in 1912...
directed films scripted by the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki
Junichiro Tanizaki
was a Japanese author, one of the major writers of modern Japanese literature, and perhaps the most popular Japanese novelist after Natsume Sōseki. Some of his works present a rather shocking world of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions; others, less sensational, subtly portray the dynamics...
, who was a strong advocate of film reform. Even Nikkatsu produced reformist films under the direction of Eizō Tanaka
Eizō Tanaka
was a early Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor.-Life and career:Tanaka initially trained as a stage actor in the shingeki movement under Kaoru Osanai, but eventually joined the Nikkatsu film studio in 1917...
. By the mid-1920s, actresses had replaced onnagata and films used more of the devices pioneered by Inoue. Some of the most discussed silent films from Japan are those of Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
, whose later works (e.g., The Life of Oharu
The Life of Oharu
is a 1952 historical fiction black-and-white film by director Kenji Mizoguchi starring Kinuyo Tanaka as Oharu, a one-time concubine of a daimyō who struggles to escape the stigma of having been sold into prostitution by her father...
) are still highly regarded.
Japanese films gained popularity in the mid-1920s against foreign films, in part fueled by the popularity of movie stars. Some stars, such as Tsumasaburo Bando
Tsumasaburo Bando
was one of the most prominent Japanese actors of the twentieth century. Famous for his rebellious, sword fighting roles in many jidaigeki silent films, he rose to fame after joining the Tōjiin Studio of Makino Film Productions in Kyoto in 1923.-Early life:...
, Kanjūrō Arashi
Kanjūrō Arashi
was a Japanese film actor. He entered the film industry in 1927 and came to fame playing Kurama Tengu, a character in the Bakumatsu era created by Jirō Osaragi in his novels. In the 1950s he portrayed the Emperor Meiji in several hit films and appeared in yakuza films in the 1960s...
, Chiezō Kataoka
Chiezo Kataoka
was a Japanese actor. Born in 1903 in Gunma Prefecture, he was raised in Tokyo. His first starring role in a film was in 1923. Specializing in jidaigeki, he played the lead in various films before and during World War II. After the war, he eventually joined Toei...
, Takako Irie
Takako Irie
was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family , she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own production company, Irie Productions, in 1932...
and Utaemon Ichikawa
Utaemon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film actor famous for starring roles in jidaigeki from the 1920s to the 1960s. Trained in kabuki from childhood, he made his film debut in 1925 at Makino Film Productions under Shōzō Makino. Quickly gaining popularity, he followed the example of Makino stars such as Tsumasaburō Bandō...
, were inspired by Makino Film Productions
Makino Film Productions
Makino Film Productions was a successful early film producing company active in Japanese cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. It was founded by the pioneering film director Shozo Makino in 1923....
and formed their own independent production companies. Directors such as Hiroshi Inagaki
Hiroshi Inagaki
was a Japanese filmmaker most known for the Academy Award-winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, which he directed in 1954.-Career:Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining the Nikkatsu studio as an actor in 1922...
, Mansaku Itami and Sadao Yamanaka
Sadao Yamanaka
was a Japanese film director and writer who directed 24 films during a seven-year period in the 1930s. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the jidaigeki, or historical film. Yamanaka died of dysentary in...
honed their skills at such independent studios. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa
Teinosuke Kinugasa
-External links:* *...
created his own production company to produce the experimental masterpiece A Page of Madness
A Page of Madness
-External links:*...
, starring Masao Inoue, in 1926. Many of these companies, while surviving during the silent era against major studios like Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
, Shochiku
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
, Teikine, and Toa Studios, could not survive the coming of sound and the cost involved in converting to sound.
With the rise of left-wing political movements and labor unions at the end of the 1920s, films with left-wing "tendencies" (so-called tendency films) gained popularity, with prominent examples being directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
, Daisuke Itō
Daisuke Itō (film director)
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who played a central role in the development of the modern jidaigeki and samurai cinema.-Career:Born in Ehime Prefecture, Itō joined the actors school at Shōchiku in 1920, but soon began writing screenplays under the recommendation of Kaoru Osanai. He...
, Shigeyoshi Suzuki
Shigeyoshi Suzuki (film director)
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Born in Tokyo, Suzuki graduated from Meiji University and entered the Shōchiku studio in 1925. He debuted as a director the next year with Tsuchi ni kagayaku, a film starring Denmei Suzuki...
, and Tomu Uchida
Tomu Uchida
was a Japanese film director. Tomu Uchida, whose name translates to “spit out dreams” is considered one of the less well known masters of Japanese cinema in the West, whose films are rarely screened and not widely available on DVD...
. In contrast with these commercially produced 35 mm film
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
s, the Marxist Proletarian Film League of Japan
Proletarian Film League of Japan
The was a left-wing film organization, known as Prokino for short, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Japan. Associated with the proletarian arts movement in Japan, it primarily used small gauge films such as 16mm film and 9.5mm film to record demonstrations and workers' lives and show...
(Prokino) made works independently in smaller gauges (such as 9.5mm
9.5 mm film
9.5 mm film is an amateur film format introduced by Pathé Frères in 1922 as part of the Pathé Baby amateur film system. It was conceived initially as an inexpensive format to provide copies of commercially-made films to home users, although a simple camera was released shortly afterwards.It...
and 16mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
), with more radical intentions. Tendency films suffered from severe censorship heading into the 1930s, and Prokino members were arrested and the movement effectively crushed. Such moves by the government had profound effects on the expression of political dissent in 1930s cinema.
A later version of The Captain's Daughter was one of the first talkie
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
films. It used the Mina Talkie System, which later split into two groups; one remained the Mina Talkie System, while the other became the Iisutofyon Talkie System that was used to make Tojo Masaki's films.
The effects of the 1923 earthquake
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...
, the Allied bombing of Tokyo during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as well as the natural effects of time and Japan's humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
on inflammable and unstable Nitrate film have resulted in a great dearth of surviving films from this period.
1930s
Mikio Naruse
was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook...
's Wife, Be Like A Rose! (Tsuma Yo Bara No Yoni, 1935), which was one of the first Japanese films to gain a theatrical release in the U.S.; Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
's An Inn in Tokyo, considered a precursor to the neorealism
Neorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
genre; Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...
's Sisters of the Gion
Sisters of the Gion
is a 1936 black and white Japanese film drama directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.The film is based on the novel Yama by Aleksandr Kuprin....
(Gion no shimai, 1936); Osaka Elegy
Osaka Elegy
is a 1936 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Mizoguchi considered the film his first serious effort as a director, and it was also his first commercial and critical success in Japan...
(1936); Sadao Yamanaka
Sadao Yamanaka
was a Japanese film director and writer who directed 24 films during a seven-year period in the 1930s. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the jidaigeki, or historical film. Yamanaka died of dysentary in...
's Humanity and Paper Balloons
Humanity and Paper Balloons
is 1937 black-and-white film directed by Sadao Yamanaka. It is his last film. Largely unknown outside of Japan until recent years, the film has been hailed by critics , and a number of other Japanese filmmakers as one of the most influential examples of jidaigeki, or Japanese period films...
(1937); and The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
, 1939) is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.The film is regarded as one of Mizoguchi's greatest pre-war achievements. Especially notable is Mizoguchi's now mature mise-en-scène compositions and extreme long takes.-Synopsis:...
(1939).
The 1930s also saw increased government involvement in cinema, which was symbolized by the passing of the Film Law, which gave the state more authority over the film industry, in 1939. The government encouraged some forms of cinema, producing propaganda films
Propaganda Films
Propaganda Films was a prolific and successful music video and film production company founded in 1983 by producers Steve Golin and Sigurjón Sighvatsson and directors David Fincher, Nigel Dick, Greg Gold and Dominic Sena...
and promoting documentary films (also called bunka eiga or "culture films"), with important documentaries being made by directors such as Fumio Kamei
Fumio Kamei
was a prominent left-wing Japanese documentary and fiction film director.-Biography:Kamei went to the Soviet Union in 1928 to study filmmaking, but had to return home because of an illness...
. Realism was in favor; film theorists such as Taihei Imamura
Taihei Imamura
was a Japanese film critic and film theorist. Born in Saitama Prefecture, he attended the Kobe University of Commerce but left before graduating. In 1935 he helped found the film dojinshi Eiga shūdan . Writing from a left-wing perspective, he was a strong advocate of the realistic aspects of...
advocated for documentary, while directors such as Hiroshi Shimizu
Hiroshi Shimizu (director)
was a Japanese film director, known for his silent films with detailed depictions of Japanese society.-Career:Shimizu was born in Shizuoka and attended Hokkaidō University but left before graduating. He joined the Shochiku studio in Tokyo in 1921 and made his directorial debut in 1924, at the age...
and Tomotaka Tasaka
Tomotaka Tasaka
was a Japanese film director.-Career:Born in Hiroshima Prefecture, he began working at Nikkatsu's Kyoto studio in 1924 and eventually came to prominence for a series of realist, humanist films made at Nikkatsu's Tamagawa studio in the late 1930s such as Robō no ishi and Mud and Soldiers, both of...
produced fiction films that were strongly realistic in style.
1940s
Because of World War II and the weak economy, unemployment became widespread in Japan. The weakness of the economy also had a very detrimental effect on the cinema industry. During this period, when Japan was expanding its growing Empire, the Japanese government saw cinema as the perfect propaganda tool to show people the glory and invincibility of the Empire of JapanEmpire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
. Thus, many films from this period depict deeply patriotic and militaristic themes. In 1942 Kajiro Yamamoto
Kajirō Yamamoto
was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor who was known for his war films and comedies and as the mentor of Akira Kurosawa.-Early life:Born in Tokyo, Yamamoto attended Keio University where he helped form a film appreciation society...
’s film Hawai Mare oki kaisen
Hawai Mare oki kaisen
, literally: The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay, is a 1942 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kajiro Yamamoto.There are special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya who would later co-create the widely-popular Godzilla franchise and fully create the also widely-popular Ultraman series.- Cast :* Susumu...
or “The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malay” portrayed the attack on Pearl Harbor, amazingly reproduced with a miniature scale model, among other special effects that Eiji Tsuburaya
Eiji Tsuburaya
was the Japanese special effects director responsible for many Japanese science-fiction movies, including the Godzilla series...
(a special effects director) was in charge of.
Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
made his feature film debut with Sugata Sanshiro
Sanshiro Sugata
was the directorial debut of the Academy Award-winning Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. First released in Japan on 25 March 1943 by Toho film studios, the film was eventually released in the United States on 28 April 1974. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Tsuneo...
in 1943. With the SCAP
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the Occupation of Japan following World War II...
occupation following the end of WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Japan was exposed to over a decade's worth of American animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
that had been banned under the war-time government. The first collaborations between Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
were Drunken Angel
Drunken Angel
is a 1948 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is notable for being the first of sixteen film collaborations between director Kurosawa and actor Toshirō Mifune.- Plot :...
in 1948 and Stray Dog
Stray Dog (film)
is a 1949 film noir police procedural directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring frequent collaborators Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura.-Plot:Action takes place during a heatwave in a bombed-out, post-war Tokyo...
in 1949. Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
directed the critically and commercially successful Late Spring
Late Spring
is a critically acclaimed black-and-white Japanese film drama, directed by Yasujirō Ozu , first released in Japan in September 1949. Based on the novel Father and Daughter by Kazuo Hirotsu, the story concerns a young woman who lives happily in Kamakura with her kindly professor father, a widower...
in 1949.
The Mainichi Film Award was created in 1946.
1950s
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
of Japanese cinema. Three Japanese films from this decade (Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
, Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story
Tokyo Story
is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with...
) made the Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
s 2002 Critics and Directors Poll for the best films of all time. The period after the American Occupation led to a rise in diversity in movie distribution thanks to the increased output and popularity of the film studios of Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
, Daiei
Kadokawa Pictures
is a Japanese movie studio.-History:One of the most famous studios in Japan and founded in 1942 as , it is best known for having produced the giant monster Gamera film series and the Daimajin Trilogy. It also produced the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyoshiro film series and the television series Shōnen Jet...
, Shochiku
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
, Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
, and Toei
Toei Company
is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, a modest vertically-integrated studio system by the standards of the 1930s United States; operates studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a...
.
The decade started with Akira Kurosawa's
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
Rashomon (1950), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
and the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
and marked the entrance of Japanese cinema onto the world stage. It was also the breakout role for legendary star Toshirō Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
. In 1953 Entotsu no mieru basho
Entotsu no mieru basho
Entotsu no mieru basho is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. It was entered into the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Ken Uehara - Ryukichi Ogata* Kinuyo Tanaka - Hiroko Ogata* Hiroshi Akutagawa - Kenzo Kubo...
by Heinosuke Gosho
Heinosuke Gosho
was a Japanese film director who directed Japan's first talkie, The Neighbor's Wife and Mine, in 1931. He once served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan.- Selected filmography :* Aiyoku no ki...
was in competition at the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival
3rd Berlin International Film Festival
The 3rd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 18 to June 28, 1953.-Films in competition:* Sie fanden eine Heimat by Leopold Lindtberg* Entotsu no mieru basho by Heinosuke Gosho...
.
The first Japanese film in color was Carmen Comes Home
Carmen Comes Home
is a 1951 color Japanese film comedy directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Filmed using Fujicolor, it was Japan's first color film.- Cast :* Hideko Takamine as Lily Carmen, Aoyama Kin* Shūji Sano as the blind man Haruo Taguchi* Chishu Ryu as schoolmaster...
directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Keisuke Kinoshita
was a Japanese film director.Although lesser known internationally than his fellow filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa , Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu , Keisuke Kinoshita was nonetheless a household figure at home beloved by audience and critics alike, especially in the forties through the sixties...
and released in 1951. There was also a black-and-white version of this film available. Gate of Hell, a 1953 film by Teinosuke Kinugasa
Teinosuke Kinugasa
-External links:* *...
, was the first movie that filmed using Eastmancolor film, Gate of Hell was both Daiei
Kadokawa Pictures
is a Japanese movie studio.-History:One of the most famous studios in Japan and founded in 1942 as , it is best known for having produced the giant monster Gamera film series and the Daimajin Trilogy. It also produced the Zatoichi and Nemuri Kyoshiro film series and the television series Shōnen Jet...
's first color film and the first Japanese color movie to be released outside of Japan, receiving an Oscar in 1954 for Best Costume Design by Sanzo Wada
Sanzo Wada
is a painter and a costume designer who won the Academy Award for Costume Design in 1954 for Gate of Hell.-External links:...
and an Honorary Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also won the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, the first Japanese film to achieve that honour.
The year 1954 saw two of Japan's most influential films released. The first was the Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
epic Seven Samurai, about a band of hired samurai who protect a helpless village from a rapacious gang of thieves, which was remade in the West as The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven
The Magnificent Seven is an American Western film directed by John Sturges, and released in 1960. It is a fictional tale of a group of seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small agricultural village in Mexico from a group of marauding Mexican bandits...
. The same year, Ishirō Honda
Ishiro Honda
Ishirō Honda , sometimes miscredited in foreign releases as "Inoshiro Honda", was a Japanese film director...
released the anti-nuclear horror film Gojira
Godzilla (1954 film)
is a 1954 Japanese science fiction film directed by Ishirō Honda and produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka. The film stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura. The film tells the story of Godzilla, a giant monster mutated by nuclear radiation, who ravages Japan, bringing back the...
, which was translated in the West as Godzilla
Godzilla
is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
. Though it was severely edited for its Western release, Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire industry of Kaiju
Kaiju
is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
films. Also in 1954, both another Kurosawa film, Ikiru
Ikiru
is a 1952 Japanese film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a minor Tokyo bureaucrat and his final quest for meaning. The film stars Takashi Shimura as Kanji Watanabe.-Plot:...
, and Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story were in competition at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival
4th Berlin International Film Festival
The 4th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 18 to June 29, 1954.-Films in competition:* Det stora äventyret by Arne Sucksdorff* Hobson's Choice by David Lean* Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa...
.
In 1955, Hiroshi Inagaki
Hiroshi Inagaki
was a Japanese filmmaker most known for the Academy Award-winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, which he directed in 1954.-Career:Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining the Nikkatsu studio as an actor in 1922...
won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Part I
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
is a 1954 color Japanese film by Hiroshi Inagaki starring Toshirō Mifune. It is the first film of Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy of historical adventures. The film is adapted from Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi. The novel is loosely based on the life of the famous Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi...
of his Samurai trilogy
Samurai Trilogy
The Samurai Trilogy is a film trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshirō Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto and Koji Tsuruta as Kojirō Sasaki...
and in 1958 won the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
for Rickshaw Man
Rickshaw Man
Rickshaw Man is a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. Its original Japanese title is . It tells the story of a Matsugoro, a rickshaw man who becomes a surrogate father to the child of a recently widowed woman....
. Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
directed two anti-war dramas: The Burmese Harp (1956), which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, and Fires On The Plain
Fires on the Plain (film)
is a 1959 Japanese war film directed by Kon Ichikawa, starring Eiji Funakoshi. The screenplay, written by, Natto Wada, is based on the novel Nobi by Shohei Ooka, translated as Fires on the Plain. It initially received mixed reviews from both Japanese and international critics concerning its...
(1959), along with Enjo
Enjo
is a 1958 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa and adapted from the Yukio Mishima novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. It stands as one of his better known films...
(1958), which was adapted from Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima
was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
's novel Temple Of The Golden Pavilion. Masaki Kobayashi made two of the three films which would collectively become known as The Human Condition Trilogy
The Human Condition (film trilogy)
is a Japanese epic film trilogy made between 1959 and 1961. It is based on a novel by Gomikawa Junpei 五味川純平 .-Background:It was directed by Masaki Kobayashi and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. The trilogy follows the life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist and socialist, as he tries to survive in the fascist...
: No Greater Love (1958), and The Road To Eternity (1959). The trilogy was completed in 1961, with A Soldier's Prayer.
Kenji Mizoguchi directed The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu
Ugetsu
Ugetsu is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Set in 16th century Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō, and is inspired by short stories by Ueda Akinari and Guy de Maupassant...
(1953) and Sansho the Bailiff
Sansho the Bailiff
-External links:* at the Japanese Movie Database* * and QuickTime trailer* essay by Mark Le Fanu...
(1954). He won the Silver Bear at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
for Ugetsu. Mikio Naruse
Mikio Naruse
was a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who directed some 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967.Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook...
made Repast (1950), Late Chrysanthemums (1954), The Sound of the Mountain (1954) and Floating Clouds (1955). Yasujiro Ozu directed Good Morning
Good Morning (film)
is a 1959 comedy film by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. It is a loose remake of his own 1932 silent film I Was Born, But..., and one of only six films that Ozu made in color.-Plot:...
(1959) and Floating Weeds
Floating Weeds
is a 1959 film by Yasujiro Ozu and shot in colour by Kazuo Miyagawa, one of Japan's most highly regarded cinematographers. It is a remake of Ozu's own black-and-white silent film A Story of Floating Weeds ....
(1958), which was adapted from his earlier silent A Story of Floating Weeds
A Story of Floating Weeds
is a 1934 silent film directed by Yasujiro Ozu which he later remade as Floating Weeds in 1959 in color.-Plot:The film starts with a travelling kabuki troupe arriving by train at a provincial seaside town. Kihachi Ichikawa , the head of the troupe, is a very popular actor...
(1934), and was shot by Rashomon/Sansho the Bailiff cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa
Kazuo Miyagawa
is generally recognized as having been one of the finest Japanese cinematographers.Miyagawa is best known for his tracking shots, particularly those in Rashomon , the first of his three collaborations with preeminent filmmaker Akira Kurosawa....
.
The Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
were established in 1950. The first winner for Best Film was Until We Meet Again
Until We Meet Again (film)
is a 1950 Japanese film directed by Tadashi Imai.-Awards and nominations:1st Blue Ribbon Awards* Won: Best Film* Won: Best Director - Tadashi Imai-External links:...
by Tadashi Imai.
1960s
Production in the Japanese film industry reached its quantitative peak in the 1960s, with 547 movies being produced. It can also be regarded as the peak years of the Japanese New Wave movement, which began in the 1950s and continued through the early 1970s. Akira Kurosawa directed the 1961 classic Yojimbo, which many believe was at least partially inspired by John Ford Westerns and film noir classics; Yojimbo in turn influenced Westerns that followed, especially Sergio LeoneSergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's Fistful of Dollars. Yasujiro Ozu made his final film, An Autumn Afternoon
An Autumn Afternoon
is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It stars Ozu regular Chishu Ryu as the patriarch of the Hirayama family who oversees the wedding of his daughter, played by Shima Iwashita. It was Ozu's last film; he died in the following year...
, in 1962. Mikio Naruse directed the wide screen melodrama When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
is a 1960 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse.Keiko, a young widow, becomes a bar hostess in Ginza to make ends meet. The story recounts the struggles to maintain her independence in a male-dominated society...
in 1960; his final film was 1967's Scattered Clouds.
Kon Ichikawa captured the watershed 1964 Olympics
1964 Summer Olympics
The 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's...
in his three-hour documentary Tokyo Olympiad
Tokyo Olympiad
Tokyo Olympiad is a 1965 documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Ichikawa's film was considered a milestone in documentary filmmaking...
(1965). Seijun Suzuki
Seijun Suzuki
, born Seitaro Suzuki on May 24, 1923, is a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility...
was fired by Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
for "making films that don't make any sense and don't make any money" after his surrealist yakuza flick
Yakuza film
is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, also referred to as the Japanese Mafia.-Ninkyo eiga:...
Branded to Kill
Branded to Kill
is a 1967 Japanese yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, Annu Mari and Mariko Ogawa. It was a low budget, production line number for the Nikkatsu Company, originally released in a double bill with Shōgorō Nishimura's Burning Nature. The story follows Goro...
(1967).
Nagisa Oshima
Nagisa Oshima
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
, Kaneto Shindo
Kaneto Shindo
, Hiroshima, Japan) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His best known films include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note.Shindō has often made films dealing with Hiroshima or the atomic bomb...
, Masahiro Shinoda
Masahiro Shinoda
is a Japanese film director, originally associated with the Shochiku Studio, who came to prominence as part of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s.-Career:...
, Susumu Hani
Susumu Hani
is a Japanese film director, and one of the most prominent representatives of the 1960s Japanese New Wave. Born in Tokyo, he has directed both documentaries and feature films....
and Shohei Imamura
Shohei Imamura
was a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards.His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's filmsThe Eel , Dr...
emerged as major filmmakers during the decade. Oshima's Cruel Story of Youth
Cruel Story Of Youth
, was the second film directed by Nagisa Oshima.Oshima, who was only 28 at the time, made extensive use of hand-held cameras and location shooting, and the results drew comparisons to the French nouvelle vague filmmakers emerging at around the same time; the film became one of the primary films in...
, Night and Fog in Japan
Night and Fog in Japan
is a 1960 film from Japanese director Nagisa Oshima. It is an intensely political film- both in subject matter and in thematic concerns such as political memory and the interpersonal dynamics of social movements.- Plot :In 1960, uninvited guests interrupt the wedding ceremony between Nozawa, a...
and Death By Hanging
Death by Hanging
is a 1968 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, acclaimed for its innovative Brechtian techniques and complex treatments of guilt and consciousness, justice, and the persecution of ethnic Koreans in Japan.- Plot synopsis :...
, along with Shindo's Onibaba
Onibaba
is a Japanese horror film based on a Buddhist parable. Directed by Kaneto Shindō, the film is set in rural Japan in the fourteenth century and features Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura as a woman and her daughter-in-law who attack and kill passing samurai, strip them of their valuable armor and...
, Hani's She And He and Imamura's The Insect Woman
The Insect Woman
is a 1963 film directed by Japanese director Shōhei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award.-Plot:...
, became some of the better-known examples of Japanese New Wave filmmaking. Documentary played a crucial role in the New Wave, as directors such as Hani, Kazuo Kuroki
Kazuo Kuroki
-Filmography:* Silence Has No Wings * Preparation for the Festival * Yūgure made * The Bridge of Tears * Tomorrow * Pickpocket * The Face of Jizo * The Blossoming of Kamiya Etsuko...
, Toshio Matsumoto
Toshio Matsumoto
' is a Japanese film director and video artist. He was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan and graduated from Tokyo University in 1955....
, and Hiroshi Teshigahara moved from documentary into fiction film, while feature filmmakers like Oshima and Imamura also made documentaries. Shinsuke Ogawa
Shinsuke Ogawa
was a Japanese documentary film director. Ogawa and Noriaki Tsuchimoto have been called the "two figures [that] tower over the landscape of Japanese documentary."-Career:...
and Noriaki Tsuchimoto
Noriaki Tsuchimoto
was a Japanese documentary film director known for his films on Minamata disease and examinations of the effects of modernization on Asia. Tsuchimoto and Shinsuke Ogawa have been called the "two figures [that] tower over the landscape of Japanese documentary."-Early years:Tsuchimoto was born in...
became the most important documentarists: "two figures [that] tower over the landscape of Japanese documentary."
Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes
Woman in the Dunes
is a film directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara and based on the novel of the same name by Kōbō Abe. The novel was published in 1962, and the film was released in 1964. Kōbō Abe also wrote the screenplay for the film version....
(1964) won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and was nominated for Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
and Best Foreign Language Film Oscars. Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan
Kwaidan (film)
is a 1964 Japanese portmanteau film directed by Masaki Kobayashi; the title means 'ghost story'. It is based on stories from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folk tales. The film consists of four separate and unrelated stories. Kwaidan is the archaic transliteration of Kaidan, meaning...
(1965) also picked up the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Bushido, Samurai Saga
Bushido, Samurai Saga
Bushido, Samurai Saga is a 1963 Japanese action film directed by Tadashi Imai. It was entered into the 13th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Golden Bear.-Cast:...
by Tadashi Imai won the Golden Bear at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival
13th Berlin International Film Festival
The 13th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1963.-Jury:* Wendy Toye * Harry R. Sokal* Fernando Ayala* Jean-Pierre Melville* B. R...
. Immortal Love
Immortal Love
Immortal Love is a 1961 Japanese drama film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.- Cast :*Hideko Takamine as Sadako*Keiji Sada as Takashi...
by Keisuke Kinoshita
Keisuke Kinoshita
was a Japanese film director.Although lesser known internationally than his fellow filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa , Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu , Keisuke Kinoshita was nonetheless a household figure at home beloved by audience and critics alike, especially in the forties through the sixties...
and Twin Sisters of Kyoto
Twin Sisters of Kyoto
is a 1963 Japanese drama film directed by Noboru Nakamura and based on the novel The Old Capital by the Nobel-winning Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata...
and Portrait of Chieko
Portrait of Chieko
is a 1967 Japanese drama film directed by Noboru Nakamura and based on a poem by the Japanese poet and sculptor Kōtarō Takamura. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.-Cast:* Shima Iwashita as Chieko Takamura...
, both by Noboru Nakamura, also received nominations for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Lost Spring
Lost Spring
is a 1967 Japanese drama film directed by Noboru Nakamura. It was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Michiyo Aratama* Yoshiko Kayama* Mariko Kaga* Mikijiro Hira* Mitsuko Mori* Eijirô Tôno...
, also by Nakamura, was in competition for the Golden Bear at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival
17th Berlin International Film Festival
The 17th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 23 to July 4, 1967.-Jury:* Thorold Dickinson * Rüdiger von Hirschberg* Knud Leif Thomsen* Michel Aubriant* Sashadhar Mukerjee* Aleksandar Petrović* Willard Van Dyke...
.
1970s
Nagisa Oshima directed In the Realm of the SensesIn the Realm of the Senses
is a 1976 Franco-Japanese romantic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe...
(1976), a film detailing a crime of passion involving Sada Abe
Sada Abe
is remembered in Japan for erotically asphyxiating her lover, , on May 18, 1936, and then cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her handbag...
set in the 1930s. Controversial for its explicit sexual content, it has never been seen uncensored in Japan. However, the pink film industry became the stepping stone for young independent filmmakers of Japan.
Toshiya Fujita
Toshiya Fujita
Toshiya Fujita is a professional footballer for J. League Division 2 side JEF United Ichihara Chiba.-Playing career:...
made the revenge film Lady Snowblood
Lady Snowblood (film)
is a 1973 Japanese film directed by Toshiya Fujita and starring Meiko Kaji. It is based on the manga of the same name by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Kazuo Kamimura and follows the story of the eponymous assassin seeking vengeance upon the bandits who raped her mother and murdered her father.It...
in 1973. It would go on to become a popular cult film in the West. In the same year, Yoshishige Yoshida
Yoshishige Yoshida
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.-Career:Graduating from Tokyo University, Yoshida entered the Shōchiku studio in 1955 and debuted as a director in 1960 with Rokudenashi...
made the film Coup d'État
Coup d'Etat (film)
is a 1973 Japanese film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. It was Japan's submission to the 46th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.-See also:*Cinema of Japan...
, a portrait of Ikki Kita, the leader of the Japanese coup of February 1936. Its experimental cinematography and mise-en-scène, as well as its avant-garde score by Ichiyanagi Sei, garnered it wide critical acclaim within Japan.
In 1976 the Hochi Film Award
Hochi Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...
was created. The first winner for Best Film was The Inugamis
The Inugamis
is a 1976 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa....
by Kon Ichikawa
Kon Ichikawa
was a Japanese film director.-Early life and career:Ichikawa was born in Ise, Mie Prefecture. In the 1930s Ichikawa attended a technical school in Osaka. Upon graduation, in 1933, he found a job with a local rental film studio, J.O. Studio, in their animation department...
.
Kinji Fukasaku
Kinji Fukasaku
was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...
completed the epic Battles Without Honor and Humanity series of yakuza films. Yoji Yamada
Yoji Yamada
is a Japanese film director best known for his Otoko wa Tsurai yo series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ....
introduced the commercially successful Tora-San series
Otoko wa Tsurai yo
Otoko wa tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as "Tora-san" , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans...
, while also directing other films, notably the popular The Yellow Handkerchief
The Yellow Handkerchief
is a 1977 Japanese film directed by Yoji Yamada. It was the winner of the first Best Picture award at the Japan Academy Prize.-Cast:* Ken Takakura: Yusaku Shima* Chieko Baisho: Mitsue Shima* Tetsuya Takeda: Kinya Hanada* Kaori Momoi: Akemi Ogawa* Hachirō Tako...
, which won the first Japan Academy Prize for Best Film in 1978. New wave filmmakers Susumu Hani and Shohei Imamura retreated to documentary work
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, though Imamura made a dramatic return to feature filmmaking with Vengeance Is Mine
Vengeance is Mine (1979 film)
Vengeance Is Mine is a 1979 film directed by Shohei Imamura, based on the book of the same name by Ryuzo Saki. It depicts the true story of serial killer Akira Nishiguchi .It stars Ken Ogata as Enokizu, with Mayumi Ogawa, Rentaro Mikuni, Mitsuko Baisho, Nijiko Kiyokawa and Chocho Miyako...
(1979).
Dodes'ka-den by Akira Kurosawa and Sandakan No. 8
Sandakan No. 8
is a 1974 Japanese film directed by Kei Kumai. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.-Plot:A young female journalist is researching an article on the history of Japanese women who were forced to work as prostitutes in Asian brothels during the early 20th century...
by Kei Kumai were nominated to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
1980s
During the 1980s, animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
gained in popularity, with new animated movies released every summer and winter, often based upon popular television anime. Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
released his landmark Angel's Egg
Angel's Egg
is a Japanese anime feature film produced by Tokuma Shoten in 1985. A collaboration between popular artist Yoshitaka Amano and director Mamoru Oshii, it incorporates surrealistic and existentialist qualities...
in 1983. Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
adapted his manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (manga)
is a post-apocalyptic manga written and illustrated by acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. It was serialised intermittently from 1982 to 1994 in Japan...
into a feature film of the same name in 1984. Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
followed suit with Akira
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
in 1988.
Akira Kurosawa directed Kagemusha
Kagemusha
is a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable...
(1980), which won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival
1980 Cannes Film Festival
The 33rd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 9-23. The showing of Andrei Tarkovsky's film Stalker is interrupted by an electricians strike.- Jury :*Kirk Douglas *Ken Adam *Robert Benayoun *Veljko Bulajić...
, and Ran
Ran (film)
is a 1985 Japanese-French jidaigeki film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film starred Tatsuya Nakadai as Hidetora Ichimonji, an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. It also stars Mieko Harada as the wife of Ichimonji's eldest son...
(1985). Likewise, Seijun Suzuki made a comeback, beginning with Zigeunerweisen
Zigeunerweisen (film)
is a 1980 independent Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and based on Hyakken Uchida's novel, Disk of Sarasate. It takes its title from a gramophone recording of Pablo de Sarasate's violin composition, Zigeunerweisen, which features prominently in the story...
in 1980. Shohei Imamura
Shohei Imamura
was a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards.His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's filmsThe Eel , Dr...
won the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
for The Ballad of Narayama
The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film)
is a 1983 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It stars Sumiko Sakamoto as Orin, Ken Ogata, and Shoichi Ozawa. It is an adaptation of the book Narayama bushiko by Shichiro Fukazawa and remake of the 1958 film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.- Plot :...
(1983).
Yoshishige Yoshida
Yoshishige Yoshida
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.-Career:Graduating from Tokyo University, Yoshida entered the Shōchiku studio in 1955 and debuted as a director in 1960 with Rokudenashi...
made A Promise
A Promise (film)
A Promise is a 1986 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Rentaro Mikuni - Ryosaku Morimoto* Sachiko Murase - Tatus, Ryosaku's wife...
(1986), his first film since 1973's Coup d'État. It centered upon generational conflict during the height of Japan's economic boom, and nostalgia for traditional ways of life; the work received more international recognition than Yoshida's previous films, and was selected to be screened in the Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
section at Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
.
Juzo Itami
Juzo Itami
, born , was an actor and a popular modern Japanese film director. Many critics came to regard him as Japan's greatest director since Akira Kurosawa. His 10 movies, all of which he wrote himself, are comic satires on elements of Japanese culture....
directed his first film, Ososhiki (The Funeral), in 1984. He achieved both critical and box office success with his quirky "Japanese Noodle Western" comedy Tampopo
Tampopo
is a 1985 Japanese comedy film by director Juzo Itami, starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first ramen western, a play on the term Spaghetti Western .-Plot summary:Tampopo begins when a pair of truck drivers, an experienced one named...
in 1985, which remains popular. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...
, who would generate international attention beginning in the mid-1990s, also made his initial debut in the 1980s with pink films and genre horror.
The availability of home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
made possible the creation of a direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
film industry, called V-Cinema
V-Cinema
Japanese is the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan in the 1980s. The term is a trademark of Toei Company but is widely used in the West to describe any Japanese direct-to-video release. In Japan the term used is...
.
1990s
Multiplex (movie theater)
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens, typically three or more. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an...
in Japan.
Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
emerged as a significant filmmaker with works such as Sonatine
Sonatine
is a 1993 Japanese film by Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. It won numerous awards and became one of Kitano's most successful and praised films, garnering him a sizable international fan base.-Plot:Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life...
(1993), Kids Return
Kids Return
All compositions by Joe Hisaishi.#"Meet Again" 5:02#"Graduation" 1:07#"Angel Doll" 2:21#"Alone" 1:15#"As a Rival" 1:29#"Promise... for Us" 5:08#"Next Round" 1:28#"Destiny" 3:31#"I Don't Care" 2:18#"High Spirits" 2:03#"Defeat" 2:29#"Break Down" 3:46...
(1996) and Hana-bi
Hana-bi
, released in the US as "Fireworks", is a 1997 Japanese film written, directed and edited by, and starring Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano. The film's score was composed by renowned Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi. This was their fourth collaboration...
(1997), which was given the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Shohei Imamura again won the Golden Palm (shared with Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian director Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...
), this time for The Eel
The Eel (Japanese film)
The Eel is a 1997 film directed by Shohei Imamura and starring Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho and Akira Emoto. The film is loosely based on the novel On Parole by celebrated author Akira Yoshimura, combined with elements from the director's 1966 film The Pornographers...
(1997). He became the fourth two-time recipient, joining Alf Sjöberg, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
and Bille August
Bille August
Bille August is a Danish Academy Award winning film and television director. His film Pelle the Conqueror from 1987 won the Palme D'or, Academy Award and Golden Globe. He is one of the very few directors to win the Palme D'or twice, winning the prestigious award again in 1991 for The Best...
.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa gained international recognition following the release of Kyua
Cure (film)
is a 1997 thriller film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Koji Yakusho, Masato Hagiwara, Tsuyoshi Ujiki and Anna Nakagawa.- Synopsis :...
(1997). Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike
is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
launched a prolific career, making up to 50 films in a decade, building up an impressive portfolio with titles such as, Audition
Audition (film)
is a 1999 Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Miike and starring Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina. It is based on a Ryu Murakami novel of the same title. Over the years, the film has developed a cult following.-Plot:...
(1999), Dead or Alive
Dead or Alive (film)
, abbreviated as DOA , is a 1999 Japanese yakuza action film directed by Takashi Miike. It stars Riki Takeuchi, as the Chinese Triad boss and former yakuza Ryūichi, and Show Aikawa, as the Japanese cop Detective Jojima, and focuses on their meeting and conflict...
(1999) and The Bird People in China
The Bird People in China
The Bird People in China is a 1998 Japanese movie directed by Takashi Miike. The film is considerably more mellow in tone than some of the director's more famous works, but is not the only such film.-Overview:...
(1998). Former documentary filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda
Hirokazu Koreeda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. His films explore themes of memory, death, and coming to terms with loss.Koreeda originally planned to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University instead worked as an assistant director on documentaries for TV Man Union...
launched an acclaimed feature career with Maborosi
Maborosi
Maborosi, known in Japan as Maboroshi no Hikari is a 1995 Japanese film by director Hirokazu Koreeda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano and Takashi Naitō...
(1996) and After Life (1999).
Hayao Miyazaki directed two mammoth box office and critical successes, Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso, known in Japan as is the sixth anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Studio Ghibli and released in 1992, of an Italian World War I fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates" in the Adriatic Sea. The man has been cursed and transformed into...
(1992) – which beat E.T.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
(1982) as the highest-grossing film in Japan – and Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 epic Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster...
(1997), which also claimed the top box office spot until Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
(1997).
Several new anime directors rose to widespread recognition, bringing with them notions of anime as not only entertainment, but modern art. Mamoru Oshii released the internationally acclaimed philosophical science fiction action film Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell (film)
"See You Everyday" is different from the rest of the soundtrack, being a pop song sung in Cantonese by Fang Ka Wing. It can be faintly heard playing in the marketplace scene, when Batou is hunting the ghost-hacked puppet....
, based on the manga by Masamune Shirow
Masamune Shirow
is an internationally renowned manga artist, born on November 23, 1961.Masamune Shirow is a pen name, based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune. He is best known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has since been turned into two theatrical anime movies, two anime TV series, an anime TV movie, and...
, in 1996. The film garnered great success and recognition in theatrical releases worldwide, and eight years later Oshii directed a sequel. Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon
was a Japanese anime director and manga artist from Kushiro, Hokkaidō and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association . He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art University. He is sometimes credited as in the credits of Paranoia Agent...
directed the award-winning psychological thriller Perfect Blue
Perfect Blue
is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon and written by Kon and Sadayuki Murai based on the novel of the same name by Yoshikazu Takeuchi. Junko Iwao plays Mima Kirigoe, a member of a Japanese pop-idol group called "CHAM!", who decides to pursue her career as...
, based on a novel by Toshiki Satō
Toshiki Sato
aka , , and is a Japanese film director and screenwriter best known for his pink films of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Kazuhiro Sano and Hisayasu Satō, he is known as one of the .-Life and career:...
. The film was theatrically released to decent commercial and considerable critical success in America and several other countries around the world. Hideaki Anno
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
also gained considerable recognition after the release of his successful and controversial psychological science fiction epic Neon Genesis Evangelion, which started as a TV series in 1995 and concluded with the theatrical release of The End of Evangelion
The End of Evangelion
is a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hideaki Anno along with Kazuya Tsurumaki; it ended the anime releases in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy remakes were announced in 2006....
, the series' postmodern, apocalyptic conclusion, in 1997. (The film was not released internationally until the early 2000s, and then in straight-to-DVD format.) Evangelion is widely considered to be one of the most influential anime of all time.
2000s
The 2000s have been the most productive period for Japanese cinema since 1955. In 2000 Battle RoyaleBattle Royale (film)
is a 2000 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku based on the novel of the same name. It was written by Kenta Fukasaku and stars Takeshi Kitano. The film aroused international controversy.A sequel, Battle Royale II: Requiem, followed...
was released, based on a popular novel by the same name. In 2002, Dolls
Dolls (film)
is a 2002 Japanese film written, edited and directed by Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. A highly stylized art film, Dolls is part of Kitano's non-crime film oeuvre, like 1991's A Scene at the Sea, and unlike most of his other films, he does not act in it...
was released, followed by a high-budget remake, Zatoichi
Zatoichi (2003 film)
is a 2003 Japanese samurai drama and action film, directed, written, co-edited, and starring Takeshi Kitano as his eleventh film. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman....
in 2003, both directed and written by Takeshi Kitano. The J-Horror
J-Horror
Japanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
films Ringu
Ring (film)
is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel Ring by Kōji Suzuki, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Ōtaka as members of a divorced family...
, Kairo
Kairo (film)
is a 2001 Japanese horror film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The film was based on his novel of the same name, and was released in the United States in 2005 as Pulse. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
, Dark Water
Dark Water (2002 film)
Dark Water is a 2002 Japanese drama-horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ring and Ring 2. Dark Water is based on Floating Water, a short story by Koji Suzuki. Its Japanese name is Honogurai mizu no soko kara , which is also the name of the horror anthology by Koji Suzuki...
, Yogen
Yogen
is a 2004 Japanese horror film directed by Tsuruta Norio. Yogen is based on the manga Kyoufu Shinbun by Jiro Tsunoda, published in "Shonen Champion" in 1973.- Plot :...
, the Grudge series
Ju-on
is the title of a series of horror films by Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-on projects to fruition.-History:...
and One Missed Call were remade in English and met with commercial success. In 2004, Godzilla: Final Wars
Godzilla: Final Wars
is a 2004 Japanese science fiction-kaiju film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, written by Wataru Mimura and Isao Kiriyama and produced by Shogo Tomiyama. It is the twenty-eighth film in the Godzilla film series, and the sixth in terms of the series' Millennium era...
, directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
Ryuhei Kitamura
-External links:*...
, was released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Godzilla. In 2005, director Seijun Suzuki
Seijun Suzuki
, born Seitaro Suzuki on May 24, 1923, is a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are renowned by film enthusiasts worldwide for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility...
made his 56th film, Princess Raccoon
Princess Raccoon
is a 2005 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki. The "raccoon" of the English title is actually a translation for the tanuki. It is a love story set in the musical genre and stars Zhang Ziyi as a tanuki princess and Joe Odagiri as the banished prince she falls in love with...
. Hirokazu Koreeda
Hirokazu Koreeda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. His films explore themes of memory, death, and coming to terms with loss.Koreeda originally planned to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University instead worked as an assistant director on documentaries for TV Man Union...
claimed film festival awards around the world with two of his films Distance
Distance (film)
Distance is a 2001 film by Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, starring Arata, Tadanobu Asano, Iseya Yusuke, Terajima Susumu, and Natsukawa Yui.-Plot:...
and Nobody Knows. Takashi Miike
Takashi Miike
is a highly prolific and controversial Japanese filmmaker. He has directed over seventy theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. In the years 2001 and 2002 alone, Miike is credited with directing fifteen productions...
's prolific career continued. Yoji Yamada
Yoji Yamada
is a Japanese film director best known for his Otoko wa Tsurai yo series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ....
, long time director of the popular Otoko wa Tsurai yo
Otoko wa Tsurai yo
Otoko wa tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as "Tora-san" , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans...
comedy series, emerged in the 2000s with a trilogy of acclaimed revisionist samurai films, beginning with 2002's Twilight Samurai, followed by The Hidden Blade
The Hidden Blade
is a 2004 film, set in 1860s Japan, directed by Yoji Yamada. The plot revolves around several samurai during a time of change in the ruling and class structures of Japan. The film was written by Yamada with Yoshitaka Asama and, like its predecessor The Twilight Samurai, based on a short story by...
in 2004 and Love and Honor
Love and Honor
is a 2006 film set in Japan of the Edo period. It is the final film in Yoji Yamada's acclaimed Samurai Trilogy .-Plot:Shinnojo, a low level samurai, lives with his pretty, dutiful and loyal wife Kayo...
in 2006.
The number of movies being shown in Japan has steadily been increasing, with about 821 films released in 2006. Movies based on Japanese television series were especially popular during this period.
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
came out of retirement to direct Spirited Away
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
in 2001, breaking Japanese box office records and winning the U.S. Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
. The film also won the Golden Bear at the 52nd Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. Miyazaki's subsequent films, Howl's Moving Castle
Howl's Moving Castle (film)
is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones...
and Ponyo, were released in 2004 and 2008 respectively.
In 2004, Mamoru Oshii released the anime movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, known simply as in japan, is a 2004 science fiction film and sequel to the anime film, Ghost in the Shell. Released in Japan on March 6, 2004, with an U.S. release on September 17, 2004, Innocence had a production budget of approximately $20 million...
(known in Japan simply as "Innocence"), which, like the first film, received critical praise around the world; it was the sixth-ever animated film to be included in the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and one of only two to become a finalist for the Palme D'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
award. His 2008 film The Sky Crawlers
The Sky Crawlers
is a Japanese novel series by Hiroshi Mori. First published by Chuōkōron-shinsha in June 2001 and spanning five books, it follows the journeys and tribulations of a group of young fighter pilots involved in dogfight warfare, and is set during an alternate historical period. The series is unlike...
was met with similarly positive international reception. Satoshi Kon also released three quieter, but nonetheless highly successful films in 2001, 2003 and 2006 respectively: Millennium Actress
Millennium Actress
is a 2001 Japanese anime by director Satoshi Kon and animated by the Studio Madhouse. It tells the story of a documentary filmmaker investigating the life of an elderly actress in which reality and cinema become blurred.-Plot:...
, Tokyo Godfathers
Tokyo Godfathers
is a 2003 anime film by the late Japanese director Satoshi Kon.Tokyo Godfathers was Kon's third animated movie, which he wrote and directed. Keiko Nobumoto, noted for being the creator of the Wolf's Rain series and a head scriptwriter for Cowboy Bebop, co-wrote the script with Kon.Tokyo Godfathers...
, and Paprika. Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
released Steamboy
Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk film, produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release, following Akira. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2004. Steamboy is the most expensive full length Japanese animated movie made to date...
, his first animated project since the 1995 short film compilation Memories
Memories (film)
Memories is an anime produced in 1995 by artist/director Katsuhiro Otomo which were based on three of his manga short stories. The film is composed of three episodes: , and...
, in 2004, with subsequent theatrical releases internationally. In collaboration with Studio 4C, American director Michael Arias
Michael Arias
Michael Arias is an American-born filmmaker active primarily in Japan.Though Arias has worked variously as visual effects artist, animation software developer, and producer, he is best known for his directorial debut, the anime feature Tekkonkinkreet, which established him as the first...
released Tekkon Kinkreet
Tekkon Kinkreet
is a three-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto, which was originally serialized from 1993 to 1994 in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits and first published in English as Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White. It was adapted into a 2006 feature-length Japanese anime film of the same name, directed by...
in 2008, to international acclaim. After several years of directing primarily lower-key live-action films, Hideaki Anno
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
formed his own production studio
Studio Khara
is a Japanese anime production company best known for its work on the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy of films in conjunction with Gainax; is the primary animation production studio for the films. It was founded by Hideaki Anno in May, 2006, and was first mentioned publicly on 1 August when...
and revisited his still-popular Evangelion franchise with the Rebuild of Evangelion
Rebuild of Evangelion
Rebuild of Evangelion, known in Japan as , is a Japanese animated film series and a remake of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion series. It is being produced by Studio Khara and KlockWorx in partnership with Gainax...
tetralogy, a new series of films providing an alternate retelling of the original story. The first film, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone
is a 2007 Japanese animated film written and chief directed by Hideaki Anno. It is the first of four films released in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy based on the original anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was produced and co-distributed by Anno's Studio Khara in partnership with Gainax...
released to considerable success in September 2007; after several delays in production, the second film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance was released in June 2009. The release schedule for the final two films has yet to be determined.
Anime films now account for 60 percent of Japanese film production. The 1990s and 2000s is considered to be "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age", due to the immense popularity of anime, both within Japan and overseas.
In February 2000, the Japan Film Commission Promotion Council was established. On November 16, 2001, the Japanese Foundation for the Promotion of the Arts laws were presented to the House of Representatives
House of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
. These laws were intended to promote the production of media arts, including film scenery, and stipulate that the government – on both the national and local levels – must lend aid in order to preserve film media. The laws were passed on November 30 and came into effect on December 7. In 2003, at a gathering for the Agency of Cultural Affairs, twelve policies were proposed in a written report to allow public-made films to be promoted and shown at the Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art.
2010s
Three films have so far received international recognition by being selected to compete in major film festivals: CaterpillarCaterpillar (film)
is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, partially drawn from Edogawa Rampo's banned short-story .The film is a critique of the right-wing militarist nationalism that guided Japan's conduct in Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The film deals with various...
by Kōji Wakamatsu
Koji Wakamatsu
is a Japanese film director who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses...
was in competition for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival
60th Berlin International Film Festival
The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to February 21, 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama Apart Together, in competition, while the closing film is Japanese...
and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress
Silver Bear for Best Actress
The Silver Bear for Best Actress is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actress.-Awards:- External links :*...
, Outrage
Outrage (2010 film)
Outrage is a 2010 Japanese yakuza film directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival...
by Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
and Himizu
Himizu (film)
is 2011 Japanese drama film based on a manga of the same name by Minoru Furuya. Himizu is directed by director Sion Sono, whose works includes films like Cold Fish and Guilty of Romance ....
, by Sion Sono
Sion Sono
is a controversial Japanese filmmaker and poet. He was born in Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, and is best known for his films as well as avant-garde poetry performances.-Early career:...
was in competition for the Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
at the 68th Venice International Film Festival
68th Venice International Film Festival
The 68th annual Venice Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, took place from 31 August to 10 September 2011. American film director Darren Aronofsky was announced as the Head of the Jury. American actor and film director Al Pacino was presented with the Glory to the Film-maker award on 4 September,...
.
See also
- Cinema of the world
- History of cinema
- Japan Academy Prize
- List of Japanese actors
- List of Japanese actresses
- List of Japanese film directors
- List of Japanese films
- genres:
- List of jidaigeki
- List of Nikkatsu Roman Porno films
- Japanese films about ninjas
- Samurai cinemaSamurai cinemaWhile earlier samurai period pieces were more dramatic rather than action-based, samurai movies post World War II have become more action-based, with darker and more violent characters. Post-war samurai epics tended to portray psychologically or physically scarred warriors. Akira Kurosawa stylized...
- Tokusatsu
- genres:
- List of Japanese language films
- List of Japanese movie studios
- Nuberu baguNuberu baguThe Japanese New Wave, or , is the term for a group of Japanese filmmakers emerging from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. The term also refers to their work, in a loose creative movement within Japanese film, from a similar time period.- History :...
(The Japanese New Wave) - Pink film
- SeiyūSeiyuVoice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
- Tendency filmTendency filmA is a name given to the socially conscious, left-leaning films produced in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s. These were in general produced by the commercial studios, in contrast to the politically radical independent films of the Proletarian Film League of Japan...
- List of Japanese submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- Television in JapanTelevision in JapanTelevision broadcasting in Japan started in 1939, making the country one of the first in the world with an experimental television service. In spite of that, because of the beginning of World War II in the Pacific region, this first experimentation lasted only a few months...
External links
- Japan Society Film Program – Offering curated film series with international and US premieres, special guests, lectures and the annual JAPAN CUTS: Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema
- Toki Akihiro & Mizuguchi Kaoru (1996) A History of Early Cinema in Kyoto, Japan (1896–1912). Cinematographe and Inabata Katsutaro.
- Film in Japan
- Kato Mikiro (1996) A History of Movie Theaters and Audiences in Postwar Kyoto, the Capital of Japanese Cinema.
- Asia Society: The Cinema Scene – Asia Society's regular podcast program containing news, reviews and interviews related to Asian Film
- Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
- Kinema Club
- Midnight Eye
- Resources for the Study of Japanese Cinema at the University of Iowa Library
- Japanese Cinema to 1960 by Gregg Rickman
- The Problem of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Horror Films, discussion paper by Timothy Iles in the Electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 6 October 2005.
- Female Voices, Male Words: Problems of Communication, Identity and Gendered Social Construction in Contemporary Japanese Cinema, discussion paper by Timothy Iles in the *Reviews of Japanese Films, in the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies
- Japan Cultural Profile – national cultural portal for Japan created by Visiting Arts/Japan Foundation
- Japanese Film Festival (Singapore)Japanese Film Festival (Singapore)-2011 :The Japanese Film Festival was held from 2 to 10 July at the National Museum of Singapore. The festival theme was Journey.- Festival Highlights :Opening Film:* Mother Water / マザーウォーター by Matsumoto Kana / 松本 佳奈...
– An annual curated film program focusing on classic Japanese cinema and new currents, with regular guest directors and actors. - Movies Books Guide - Best of Japanese Movies
- JapaneseDirectors.com - Top director profiles and guide to English subtitled DVD releases