The Three Big Brothers of the Japanese New Wave

By: John

According to David Desser (Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema), the Japanese New Wave began when Shochiku studios promoted Kiju Yoshida, Nagisa Oshima, and Masahiro Shinoda from assistant directors to the director’s chair. By 1960, each had made a film before reaching the age of 30, which wasn’t typically done in the studio system (with the exception of the silent period). The three films, Good-for-Nothing, A Town of Love and Hope, and Dry Lake (respectively) all dealt with rebellious youth. The directors may not have all been leftists, but because of their non-compliant attitude and the anti-authoritarian nature of their work, all but Masahiro Shinoda left the studio to form their own production companies. Oshima’s troubles started early, in 1960, while in the second year of his career. Night and Fog in Japan, a tale of dissension and fragmentation within the left-wing, was completely shelved by the studio for subversive content. And it is said that Shochiku made extensive cuts to Yoshida’s Escape from Japan, which may have prompted his move to locate independent funding and film Woman of the Lake through his production company, Gendai Eigasha, just two years later.

And although his films were of the same spirit as the three ruffians, Shohei Imamura was never stamped with the tag of “New Wave.” He was promoted to director in ’58 at Nikkatsu, but was able to stay with them, probably because the company is known for its risqué material, most notably its pink films. Despite hitting a slump towards the 1970s, like most of the industry, he found his place in the studio system, though he did contribute a work to the Art Theatre Guild, the brilliant documentary A Man Vanishes, based on a missing office worker.

Yet the three big brothers I speak of came before first crash of the new wave. They are Yuzo Kawashima, Ko Nakahira, and Yasuzo Masumura. The fresh perspective they provided to Japanese life, usually youthful and rebellious, laid the framework for the apostasy of the new wave.

Yuzo Kawashima, the least well known of the three, as none of his films are available with English subtitles, was the mentor of Shohei Imamura. Imamura worked as assistant director on five of his films: Burden of Love, Ashita Kuru Hito, Suzaku Paradise: Red Light District, Waga Machi, and Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate. He instilled in Imamura a love of the proletariat, as both dealt with the more humble facets of Japanese society, but often in its seedier aspects: pimps, thieves, prostitutes, etc… Kawashima died young at 45, in 1963.

Ko Nakahira burst onto the scene early with the youthful masterpiece, Crazed Fruit, when he was just 30. The film was screened at the Cinematheque Français to the amazement of Truffaut, who up until that time had probably only seen the more straightforward films of Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi. Nakahira continued to make films for the Nikkatsu company, most of which are unavailable, before making a surprise move to Hong Kong in the late 1960s and directing Shaw Bros. pictures under the name Yang Shu Hsi. To sum up the thrill of his taiyozoku (beach-bum genre) debut, Nagisa Oshima’s statement always comes to mind: “the sound of the motorboats and the ripping of the woman’s skirt heralded the sound of a new Japanese cinema.”

As a slave for Daiei studios, Yasuzo Masumura had a colorful career, sometimes churning out three pictures a year. His life was incredibly prolific, turning out a body of work that, like most of his contemporaries, provided a critical framework for the Japanese system at every level of society. Most famous are his business critiques: Giants and Toys and Black Test Car. He was also known for more expressive, yet macabre works, like Blind Beast. What stands out most to me are his characters, usually people who are immensely energetic, and thrive to make a place for themselves within the rigid Japanese system, but fail miserably. ALWAYS. Usually, his characters have a stubbornness that lead to their downfalls. The many films speak volumes on their own, but one noteworthy fact is that Masumura was the first Japanese to study at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, learning his craft from the leading figures in the Italian film establishment. He also made a movie with Yukio Mishima, Afraid to Die. The two previously had classes together in the 40s while at the University of Tokyo.