Akio Jissoji (実相寺昭雄 Jissōji Akio?) (March 29, 1937, Tokyo – November 29, 2006, Tokyo) was a Japanese TV and film director best known outside of Japan for the 1960s TV series Ultraman and Ultra Seven, as well as for his auteur erotic ATG-produced Buddhist trilogy Mujō (無常)—Mandala (曼陀羅)—Uta (哥).
He was also known for his film adaptations of Japanese horror author, Rampo Edogawa. Jissoji possessed a very distinctive visual style that was notable even in Japanese cinema which is known internationally for its visual style. Every project he directed, from children’s action shows to the most disturbing adult films had an uncompromising approach to cinematic story telling. His episodes of the Ultraman TV shows are unique and quite unusual for children’s television. His career is also unusual in that he went back and forth from children’s television to film projects that were sexually provocative in some way or another. It’s perhaps this aspect of his work that has prevented wider distribution… read more
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/august_seasons/shinjuku_diaries_films_from_the_art_theatre_guild_of_ja The film will be screened at BFI Southbank as part of Shinjuku Diaries: Films from the Art Theatre Guild season (1st - 31st Aug) Screening on 3rd introduced by Roland Domenig
"Why worry of consequence, when after death you no longer exist?" We have a small amount of time on this earth and very little evidence of an afterlife ... so do we enjoy every pleasure we can get from this life whilst we have the chance? Or will this result in an unordered world, so chaotic and barbaric that those pleasurable things we strive for lose significance?
