Yasuzo Masumura

Yasuzo Masumura
Born August 25, 1924
Kōfu, Yamanashi, Japan
Died November 23, 1986
Japan
Occupation Film director, screenwriter

Yasuzo Masumura (増村 保造 Masumura Yasuzō, August 25, 1924 – November 23, 1986) was a Japanese film director.

Biography

Masumura was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei Film studio, later returning to university to study philosophy; he graduated in 1949. He then won a scholarship allowing him to study film in Italy at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia under Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti.[1]

Masumura returned to Japan in 1953. From 1955, he worked as a second-unit director on films directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa and Daisuke Ito, before directing his own first film, Kisses, in 1957.[2] Over the next three decades, he directed 58 films in a variety of genres.[3]

Legacy

Japanese film critic Shigehiko Hasumi said, "Young and influential filmmaker Shinji Aoyama declared that Masumura is the most important filmmaker in the history of postwar Japanese cinema."[4]

Filmography

  • Kisses (1957)
  • The Blue Sky Maiden (1957)
  • Warm Current (1957)
  • The Precipice (1958)
  • Giants and Toys (1958)
  • Futeki na Otoko (1958)
  • Oyafuko Dori (1958)
  • Saiko Shukun Fujin (1959)
  • Hanran (1959)
  • Bibo ni Tsumi Ari (1959)
  • Yami o Yokogire (1959)
  • Jokyo (1960)
  • Afraid to Die (1960)
  • The Woman Who Touched the Legs (1960)
  • A False Student (1960)
  • Koi ni Inochi o (1960)
  • A Lustful Man (1961)
  • A Wife Confesses (1961)
  • Urusai Imototachi (1961)
  • Tadare (1962)
  • The Black Test Car (1962)
  • Onna no Issho (1962)
  • Kuro no Hokokusho (1963)
  • Uso (1963)
  • Gurentai Junjoha (1963)
  • Gendai Inchiki Monogatari: Damashiya (1964)
  • Otto ga Mita 'Onna no Kobako' yori (1964)
  • Manji (1964)
  • Super Express (1964)

  • The Hoodlum Soldier (1965)
  • Seisaku's Wife (1965)
  • Irezumi (1966)
  • Nakano Spy School (1966)
  • Red Angel (1966)
  • Two Wives (1967)
  • Chijin no Ai (1967)
  • The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (1967)
  • Dai Akuto (1968)
  • Sekkusu Chekku: Daini no Sei (1968)
  • Tsumiki no Hako (1968)
  • Nureta Futari (1968)
  • Blind Beast (1969)
  • Senbazuru (1969)
  • Jotai (1969)
  • Denki Kurage (1970)
  • Yakuza Zessho (1970)
  • Shibire Kurage (1970)
  • Asobi (1971)
  • Shin Heitai Yakuza: Kasen (1972)
  • The Music (1972)
  • Hanzo the Razor:The Snare (1973)
  • Akumyo: Nawabari Arashi (1974)
  • Domyaku Retto (1975)
  • Lullaby of the Earth (1976)
  • Sonezaki Shinju (1978)
  • Eden no Sono (1980)
  • Konoko no Nanastu no Oiwai ni (1982)

References

  1. Rosenbaum, Jonathan (April 30, 1998). "Tales of Ordinary Madness: Films by Yasuzo Masumura". Chicago Reader.
  2. Mes, Tom (June 1, 2010). "Yasuzo Masumura: Passion and Excess". Midnight Eye.
  3. Parkinson, David (September 2005). "Yasuzo Masumura 2005". BBC.
  4. Rosenbaum, Jonathan (March 30, 2001). "Dialogue Between Shigehiko Hasumi and Jonathan Rosenbaum on Howard Hawks and Yasuzo Masumura". JonathanRosenbaum.net.

External links