Keisuke Kinoshita
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
film director
.
Although lesser known internationally than his fellow filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa
(黒澤明), Kenji Mizoguchi
(溝口健二) and Yasujirō Ozu
(小津安二郎), Keisuke Kinoshita was nonetheless a household figure at home beloved by audience and critics alike, especially in the forties through the sixties. He was also prolific, turning out some 42 films in the first 23 years of his career. For this, Kinoshita explained, "can’t help it. Ideas for films have always just popped into my head like scraps of paper into a wastebasket."
, about halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto, to a family who owned a grocery store, Kinoshita was already a movie fan when he was eight. Vowing to become a filmmaker, he was, however, faced with opposition from his parents. When he was in high school, a film crew arrived in Hamamatsu for location shooting one day. He befriended actor Bando Junosuke when the latter came to his store for local products. Bando later helped him run away to Kyoto where most period films were made. But his grandfather came and took him back home the next day. His determination to become a filmmaker finally moved his parents into letting him pursue his own career and his mother even secured him an introduction to the Shochiku
Kamata studios, where Ozu, Mikio Naruse
and other famous directors worked. Without a university education, however, Kinoshita was not allowed to work as an assistant director and had to start as a photographer, for which he applied to the Oriental Photography School and graduated before he was finally admitted into Shochiku. There, he first worked in the film processing laboratory, then as a camera assistant, before he was advised by Kōzaburō Yoshimura
to switch to assistant director.
In 1940, Kinoshita was drafted into the war and went to China, but returned the following year due to illness. He re-entered Shochiku and was promoted to director in 1943. Adapting a famous novel, Kinoshita made The Blossoming Port with a large cast and budget. The same year also saw the emergence of another new director, Akira Kurosawa, but it was Kinoshita who won the much coveted New Director Award at the end of that year.
Throughout his career, Kinoshita made many films which were both critically and commercially successful, among which the best known were Morning for the Osone Family (Osone-ke no asa, 1946), Carmen Comes Home
(Karumen kokyo ni kaeru, 1951) (made in Fujicolor, the first color feature of Japan), Tragedy of Japan (Nihon no higeki, 1953), Twenty-Four Eyes
(Nijushi no hitomi, 1954), You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (Yagiku no gotoki kimi nariki, 1955), The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushi kō, 1958)), and The River Fuefuki (Fuefukigawa, 1960). He refused to be bound by genre, technique or dogma. He excelled in almost every genre, comedy, tragedy, social dramas, period films. He shot all films on location or in a one-house set. He pursued severe photographic realism with the long take, long-shot method, and he has gone equally far toward stylization with fast cutting, intricate wipes, tilted cameras and even medieval scroll-painting and Kabuki stage technique.
Two of Kinoshita's films won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film:
Kionshita's 1961 film Immortal Love
was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Although lesser known internationally than his fellow filmmakers such as 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 ;...
(黒澤明), 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...
(溝口健二) and Yasujirō 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...
(小津安二郎), Keisuke Kinoshita was nonetheless a household figure at home beloved by audience and critics alike, especially in the forties through the sixties. He was also prolific, turning out some 42 films in the first 23 years of his career. For this, Kinoshita explained, "can’t help it. Ideas for films have always just popped into my head like scraps of paper into a wastebasket."
Life and career
Born on 5 December 1912 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka PrefectureShizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
, about halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto, to a family who owned a grocery store, Kinoshita was already a movie fan when he was eight. Vowing to become a filmmaker, he was, however, faced with opposition from his parents. When he was in high school, a film crew arrived in Hamamatsu for location shooting one day. He befriended actor Bando Junosuke when the latter came to his store for local products. Bando later helped him run away to Kyoto where most period films were made. But his grandfather came and took him back home the next day. His determination to become a filmmaker finally moved his parents into letting him pursue his own career and his mother even secured him an introduction to the 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...
Kamata studios, where Ozu, 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...
and other famous directors worked. Without a university education, however, Kinoshita was not allowed to work as an assistant director and had to start as a photographer, for which he applied to the Oriental Photography School and graduated before he was finally admitted into Shochiku. There, he first worked in the film processing laboratory, then as a camera assistant, before he was advised by Kōzaburō Yoshimura
Kozaburo Yoshimura
was a Japanese film director. Born in Shiga Prefecture, he joined the Shōchiku studio in 1929. He debuted as director in 1934, but continued working as an assistant director for such filmmakers as Yasujirō Ozu and Yasujirō Shimazu after that. It was the 1939 film Danryū that established his status...
to switch to assistant director.
In 1940, Kinoshita was drafted into the war and went to China, but returned the following year due to illness. He re-entered Shochiku and was promoted to director in 1943. Adapting a famous novel, Kinoshita made The Blossoming Port with a large cast and budget. The same year also saw the emergence of another new director, Akira Kurosawa, but it was Kinoshita who won the much coveted New Director Award at the end of that year.
Throughout his career, Kinoshita made many films which were both critically and commercially successful, among which the best known were Morning for the Osone Family (Osone-ke no asa, 1946), 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...
(Karumen kokyo ni kaeru, 1951) (made in Fujicolor, the first color feature of Japan), Tragedy of Japan (Nihon no higeki, 1953), Twenty-Four Eyes
Twenty-Four Eyes
, based on the novel by Sakae Tsuboi, is a 1954 Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.-Synopsis:The movie follows the career of a schoolteacher named Ōishi in Shōdoshima during the rise and fall of Japanese ultra-nationalism in the beginning of the Shōwa period...
(Nijushi no hitomi, 1954), You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (Yagiku no gotoki kimi nariki, 1955), The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushi kō, 1958)), and The River Fuefuki (Fuefukigawa, 1960). He refused to be bound by genre, technique or dogma. He excelled in almost every genre, comedy, tragedy, social dramas, period films. He shot all films on location or in a one-house set. He pursued severe photographic realism with the long take, long-shot method, and he has gone equally far toward stylization with fast cutting, intricate wipes, tilted cameras and even medieval scroll-painting and Kabuki stage technique.
Partial filmography
- 1943 The Living Magoroku 生きてゐる孫六 Ikite iru Magoroku
- 1943 Port of Flowers 花咲く港 Hana saku minato
- 1944 The Army 陸軍 Rikugun
- 1944 Jubilation Street 歓呼の町 Kanko no Machi
- 1946 The Girl I Loved わが恋せし乙女 Waga koiseshi otome
- 1946 Morning for the Osone Family 大曾根家の朝 Ōsone-ke no asa
- 1947 Phoenix 不死鳥 Fushichō
- 1947 Marriage 結婚 Kekkon
- 1948 Apostasy 破戒 Hakai
- 1948 The Portrait 肖像 Shōzō
- 1948 The Lady (aka, Woman) 女 Onna
- 1949 Broken Drum 破れ太鼓 Yabure daiko
- 1949 The Yotsuya Ghost Story I & II 新釈四谷怪談(前後編) Shin'yaku Yotsuya kaidan (sengo hen)
- 1949 Let's Toast the Young Lady お嬢さん乾杯！ Ojō-san kanpai!
- 1950 Wedding Ring (aka, Engagement Ring) 婚約指環 Kon'yaku yubiwa
- 1952 Fireworks by the Ocean (aka, Fireworks Over the Sea) 海の花火 Umi no hanabi
- 1952 A Record of Youth (aka, Boyhood) 少年期 Shonen-ki
- 1952 Carmen Comes HomeCarmen Comes Homeis 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...
カルメン故郷に帰る Karumen kokyō ni kaeru - 1952 Good Devil 善魔 Zenma
- 1952 Carmen's Innocent Love カルメン純情す Karumen junjōsu
- 1953 Tragedy of Japan (aka, A Japanese Tragedy) 日本の悲劇 Nihon no higeki
- 1954 Twenty-Four EyesTwenty-Four Eyes, based on the novel by Sakae Tsuboi, is a 1954 Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.-Synopsis:The movie follows the career of a schoolteacher named Ōishi in Shōdoshima during the rise and fall of Japanese ultra-nationalism in the beginning of the Shōwa period...
二十四の瞳 Nijushi no hitomi - 1954 The Garden of Women (aka, The Eternal Generation) 女の園 Onna no sono
- 1955 My First Love Affair (aka, You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthermum) 野菊の如き君なりき Nogiku no gotoki kimi nariki
- 1955 The Tattered Wings (aka, Distant Clouds) 遠い雲 Tōi kumo
- 1956 A Rose on His Arm 太陽とバラ Taiyō to bara
- 1956 Farewell to Dream (aka, Clouds at Twilight) 夕やけ雲 Yūyake-gumo
- 1957 Danger Stalks Near (aka, Candle in the Wind) 風前の灯 Fūzen no tomoshibi
- 1957 The Lighthouse (aka, Years of Joy and Sorrow) 喜びも悲しみも幾歳月 Yorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsukiYorokobi mo kanashimi mo ikutoshitsukiaka The Lighthouse or Times of Joy and Sorrow or Years of Joy and Sorrow, is a 1957 color Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita....
- 1958 The Eternal Rainbow この天の虹 Kono ten no niji
- 1959 The Snow Flurry 風花 Kaza-hana
- 1959 Farewell to Spring 惜春鳥 Sekishunchō
- 1958 The Ballad of Narayama 楢山節考 Narayama bushi kō
- 1960 The River Fuefuki 笛吹川 Fuefukigawa
- 1960 Spring Dreams 春の夢 Haru no yume
- 1961 Immortal LoveImmortal LoveImmortal 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...
(aka, The Bitter Spirit) 永遠の人 Eien no hito - 1962 Ballad of a Workman (aka, The Seasons We Walked Together) 二人で歩いた幾春秋 Futari de aruita ikushunjū
- 1962 This Year's Love 今年の恋 Kotoshi no koi
- 1963 Legend of a Duel to the Death 死闘の伝説 Shitō no densetsu
- 1963 Sing, Young People! 歌え若人達 Utae wakōdotachi
- 1964 The Scent of Incense 香華 Kōge
- 1967 Lovely Flute and Drum なつかしき笛や太鼓 Natsukashiki fue ya taiko
- 1969 Thus Another Day 今日もまたかくてありなん Kyō mo mata kakute arinan
- 1976 Love and Separation in Sri Lanka スリランカの愛と別れ Suri Ranka no ai to wakare
- 1979 Oh, My son! (aka, Impulse Murder) 衝動殺人・息子よ Shōdō satsujin musuko yo
- 1980 The Young Rebels 父よ母よ! Chichi yo, haha yo!
- 1983 Children of Nagasaki この子を残して Kono ko o nokoshite
- 1986 Big Joys, Small Sorrows 新・喜びも悲しみも幾歳月 Shin yorokobi mo kanoshimi mo ikutoshitsuki
- 1988 Father 父 Chichi
Honors
- Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with RosetteOrder of the Rising SunThe is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
, 1984.
Two of Kinoshita's films won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film:
- 1955 – Twenty-Four EyesTwenty-Four Eyes, based on the novel by Sakae Tsuboi, is a 1954 Japanese film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita.-Synopsis:The movie follows the career of a schoolteacher named Ōishi in Shōdoshima during the rise and fall of Japanese ultra-nationalism in the beginning of the Shōwa period...
(Nijushi no hitomi). - 1957 – The Rose on His Arm (Taiyo to Bara ).
Kionshita's 1961 film 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...
was nominated for 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...
.