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JAPANESE NEW WAVE

By: arsaib

— "In 1959, Jean-Luc Godard released À bout de souffle (Breathless), a film which inaugurated a ‘New Wave’ of filmmaking in France and which also gave cinematic form to a new kind of film hero. Alienated, disaffected, violent, a product of the media (especially cinema), this new hero was an accurate harbinger of the youthful rebellions and protests that rocked France and the Western world a little later, in the ’60s.

In 1959, Ôshima Nagisa released Ai to kibo no machi (A Town of Love and Hope), the story of a slum youth who commits crimes with the same remorselessness as Godard’s protagonist. A new wave of filmmaking struck Japan, too, issuing challenges to established social and cinematic practice. The rebelliousness manifest in the West’s young could be attributed to the natural proclivities of youth, to adolescent high spirits among the ‘baby boom’ generation. In Japan, however, such stirrings were both more shocking and significant. In a society which prizes group identity, stability, respect for elders and their traditions, and a certain reluctance to express one’s feelings publicly, the events of the 1960s, presaged by Oshima’s film, indicated a potentially radical rethinking of Japanese society" (Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to The Japanese New Wave Cinema by David Desser).

I went back a little further and included the influential taiyozoku (“sun tribe”) films of the ‘50s. After all, Mr. Ôshima referred to none other than Crazed Fruit (1956) when he opined, "I felt that in the sound of the girl’s skirt being ripped and the hum of the motorboat slashing through the older brother, sensitive people could hear the wails of a seagull heralding a new age in Japanese cinema."

I’m not sure if we should be selective or as comprehensive as possible, but suggestions are most welcome.

1950s

1956

Children Who Draw, Susumu Hani
Punishment Room, Kon Ichikawa
Crazed Fruit, Ko Nakahira
Suzaki Paradise, Kawashima Yuzo

1957

Kisses, Yasuzo Masumura
Warm Current, Yasuzo Masumura
The Sun’s Legend, Kawashima Yuzo

1958

Giants and Toys, Yasuzo Masumura

1959

The Assignation, Ko Nakahira
A Town of Love and Hate, Nagisa Oshima

1960s

1960

Cruel Story of Youth, Nagisa Oshima
The Sun’s Burial, Nagisa Oshima
Night and Fog in Japan, Nagisa Oshima
Naked Island, Kaneto Shindo
The Warped Ones, Koreyoshi Kurahara

1961

Bad Boys, Susumu Hani
Pigs and Battleships, Shohei Imamura
The Catch, Nagisa Oshima

1962

The Revolutionary, Nagisa Oshima
Pitfall, Hiroshi Teshigahara

1963

She and He, Susumu Hani
The Insect Woman, Shohei Imamura

1964

Intentions of Murder, Shohei Imamura
Assassination, Masahiro Shinoda
Pale Flower, Masahiro Shinoda
Gate of Flesh, Seijun Suzuki
Tattooed Life, Seijun Suzuki
Woman in the Dunes, Hiroshi Teshigahara

1965

The Song of Bwana Toshi, Susumu Hani
Sea of Youth, Shinsuke Ogawa (documentary)
With Beauty and Sorrow, Masahiro Shinoda
A Story Written with Water, Yoshishige Yoshida

1966

Bride of the Andes, Susumu Hani
The Pornographers: An Introduction to Anthropology, Shohei Imamura
Violence at Noon, Nagisa Oshima
Fighting Elegy, Seijun Suzuki
Tokyo Drifter, Seijun Suzuki
The Face of Another, Hiroshi Teshigahara

1967

A Man Vanishes, Shohei Imamura
The Oppressed Students, Shinsuke Ogawa (documentary)
Manual of Ninja Arts, Nagisa Oshima
A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Song, Nagisa Oshima
Branded to Kill, Seijun Suzuki

1968

Inferno of First Love, Susumu Hani
The Profound Desire of the Gods, Shohei Imamura
Summer in Narita, Shinsuke Ogawa (documentary)
Death by Hanging, Nagisa Oshima
Three Resurrected Drunkards, Nagisa Oshima
The Man Without a Map, Hiroshi Teshigahara

1969

Aido, Susumu Hani
Ryakushô Renzoku Shasatsuma, Adachi Masao
Eros Plus Massacre, Yoshishige Yoshida
Funeral Parade of Roses, Toshio Matsumoto
Boy, Nagisa Oshima
Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, Nagisa Oshima
Double Suicide, Masahiro Shinoda
Go, Go Second Time Virgin, Koji Wakamatsu

1970s

1970

History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess, Shohei Imamura
The Man Who Left His Will on Film, Nagisa Oshima
Buraikan, Shuji Terayama

1971

Red Army, Adachi Masao
The Ceremony, Nagisa Oshima
Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Shuji Terayama
Throw Away Your Books, Let’s Go Into the Streets, Shuji Terayama
Summer Soldiers, Hiroshi Teshigahara

1972

Summer Sister, Nagisa Oshima

1973

Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute, Shohei Imamura
Coup d’Etat, Yoshishige Yoshida

1974

Matsu the Untamed Comes Home, Shohei Imamura
Pastoral, Shuji Terayama

1976

In the Realm of the Senses, Nagisa Oshima

 

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SAMMAX

24Nov11

I just find a mistake by a quick look; Buraikan aka Outlaws (1970) is directed by Masahiro Shinoda not Shuji Terayama who writes the script only. The link below is correct.

Ramin S. Khanjani

14Nov11

Maybe you can also include two other films Akio jissoji made during 70s: Mandara and Poem.

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LWRF

3Nov11

An addition to the above/below - I accidentally clicked on Post before I was ready! Though I was only going to add a questionmark and my best wishes.

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LWRF

3Nov11

Hello ARSAIB. Watched Giants and Toys last night - must have been startling at the time! We thought it good and very funny in places without being outstanding, it is perhaps a shade too relentlessly one note?...but then satire is not my favorite genre. An english satire fairly recently featured in Sight and Sound: The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, is an, albeit later, satire being re-evaluated. But though amusing I didn't think this was outstanding. Do you know that very odd Ronald Colman vehicle a satire set in the quiz show/advertising worlds: Champagne for Caesar (1950)? I was reading about another Masumura film Black Test Car, also The Precipice - do you know either of those? Do you think I should grit my teeth and try Red Angel? I don't know if you got my email reply to your last message regarding streaming/download links? This also mentioned our very high regard for Kisses, which makes a brilliant double bill with Crazed Fruit and is perhaps all the more valid for taking place set in a starker, less privileged world

  • Picture of arsaib

    arsaib

    7Nov11

    Hi, No, I'm not familiar with the British films you mentioned. I'll try to keep an eye out for them. Thanks. Masumura's satires have drawn comparisons with those of Wilder and Tashlin, but like most such analogies they only go so far. I have seen "Black Test Car". It's darker than "Giants & Toys" but it belongs to a similar register, so you might want to proceed with caution. "Red Angel" is certainly among his most popular films, though availability has played a role in that. I think it's definitely worth a look; Wakao Ayako, Masumura's favorite leading lady, is terrific in it. I didn't get your e-mail. Do you see it listed in the "sent messages" section of your Inbox. Actually, I'm not sure if it's even possible for you to send me a message without requesting to follow me first. Glad you liked "Kisses". Take care. Arsaib

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