Nagisa Oshima

Nagisa Oshima

Oshima in 2000
Native name 大島 渚 (Ōshima Nagisa)
Born (1932-03-31)March 31, 1932
Tamano, Okayama, Japan
Died January 15, 2013(2013-01-15) (aged 80)
Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
Occupation Film director
Screenwriter
Years active 1953–1999
Spouse(s) Akiko Koyama (1960-2013; his death)
Awards Cannes Film Festival
1978 Empire of Passion – Best Director (Prix de la mise en scène)

Nagisa Oshima (大島 渚, Ōshima Nagisa, March 31, 1932 – January 15, 2013) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His films include In the Realm of the Senses (1976), a sexually explicit film set in 1930's Japan, and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), about Japanese WW2 prisoners of war.

Early life

After graduating from Kyoto University, where he studied political history,[1] Oshima was hired by film production company Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959.

1960s

Oshima's cinematic career and influence developed very swiftly,[2] and such films as Cruel Story of Youth and Night and Fog in Japan followed in 1960. The last of these 1960 films explored Oshima's disillusionment with the traditional political left, and his frustrations with the right, and Shochiku withdrew the film from circulation after less than a week, claiming that, following the recent assassination of the Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma by the ultranationalist Otoya Yamaguchi, there was a risk of "unrest". Oshima left the studio in response, and launched his own independent production company. Despite the controversy, Night And Fog In Japan was placed tenth in that year's Kinema Jumpo's best-films poll of Japanese critics, and it has subsequently amassed considerable acclaim abroad.[3]

In 1961 Oshima directed The Catch, based on a novella by Kenzaburō Ōe about the relationship between a wartime Japanese village and a captured African American serviceman. The Catch has not traditionally been viewed as one of Oshima's major works, though it did notably introduce a thematic exploration of bigotry and xenophobia, themes which would be explored in greater depth in the later documentary Diary of Yunbogi, and feature films Death by Hanging and Three Resurrected Drunkards.[4] He embarked upon a period of work in television, producing a series of documentaries; notably among them 1965's Diary Of Yunbogi. Based upon an examination of the lives of street children in Seoul, it was made by Oshima after a trip to South Korea.[3][5]

Oshima directed three features in 1968. The first of these - Death by Hanging (1968) presented the story of the failed execution of a young Korean for rape and murder, and was loosely based upon an actual crime and execution which had taken place in 1958.[6] The film utilizes non-realistic "distancing" techniques after the fashion of Bertold Brecht or Jean-Luc Godard to examine Japan's record of racial discrimination against its Korean minority, incorporating elements of farce and political satire, and a number of visual techniques associated with the cinematic new wave in a densely layered narrative. It was placed third in Kinema Jumpo's 1968 poll, and has also garnered significant attention globally.[7] Death By Hanging inaugurated a string of films (continuing through 1976's In the Realm of the Senses) that clarified a number of Oshima's key themes, most notably a need to question social constraints, and to similarly deconstruct received political doctrines.[8]

Months later, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief unites a number of Oshima's thematic concerns within a dense, collage-style presentation. Featuring a title which alludes to Jean Genet's The Thief's Journal, the film explores the links between sexual and political radicalism,[9] specifically examining the day-to-day life of a would-be radical whose sexual desires take the form of kleptomania. The fragmented narrative is interrupted by commentators, including an underground noh performance troupe, a psychoanalyst, and an impromptu symposium featuring actors from previous Oshima films (along with Oshima himself), all dissecting varied aspects of shifting sexual politics, as embodied by various characters within the film.

Boy (1969), based on another real-life case, was the story of a family who use their child to make money by deliberately getting involved in road accidents and making the drivers pay compensation.

1970s

The Ceremony (1971) is a satirical look at Japanese attitudes, famously expressed in a scene where a marriage ceremony has to go ahead even though the bride is not present.

In 1976, Oshima made In the Realm of the Senses, a film based on a true story of fatal sexual obsession in 1930s Japan. Oshima, a critic of censorship and his contemporary Akira Kurosawa's humanism, was determined that the film should feature unsimulated sex and thus the undeveloped film had to be transported to France to be processed. An uncensored version of the movie is still unavailable in Japan. Oshima testified in a Japanese court about whether the film was obscene. "Nothing that is expressed is obscene," the director said. "What is obscene is what is hidden."[10]

In his 1978 companion film to In the Realm of the Senses, Empire of Passion, Oshima took a more restrained approach to depicting the sexual passions of the two lovers driven to murder, and the film won the 1978 Cannes Film Festival award for best director.[11][12]

1980s and beyond

In 1983 Oshima had a critical success with a film made partly in English, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, set in a wartime prison camp, and featuring rock star David Bowie and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, alongside Takeshi Kitano. The movie has become a cult classic. Max, Mon Amour (1986), written with Luis Buñuel's frequent collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, was a comedy about a diplomat's wife (Charlotte Rampling) whose love affair with a chimpanzee is quietly incorporated into an eminently civilised ménage à trois.

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, he served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan.[13] He won the inaugural Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award in 1960.[14]

A collection of Oshima's essays and articles was published in English in 1993 as Cinema, Censorship and the State.[15] A critical study by Maureen Turim appeared in 1998.[16]

In 1996 Oshima suffered a stroke, but he recovered enough to return to directing in 1999 with the samurai film Taboo (Gohatto), set during the bakumatsu era and starring Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence actor Takeshi Kitano. Ryuichi Sakamoto, who had both acted in and composed for Lawrence, provided the score.

He subsequently suffered more strokes, and Gohatto proved to be his final film. Oshima had initially planned to create a biopic entitled Hollywood Zen based off the life of Issei actor Sessue Hayakawa. The script had been allegedly completed and set to film in Los Angeles, but due to constant delays, declining health, and Oshima's eventual death in 2013 (see below), the project went unrealized.[17][18]

Oshima had a degree of fluency in English. In the 2000s, he worked as a translator, translating four volumes by John Gray into Japanese, including "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". Oshima died on January 15, 2013 of pneumonia. He was 80.[1]

The 2013 edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival scheduled a retrospective of Oshima's films in September.[19]

Awards

Blue Ribbon Awards
1961 Night and Fog in Japan & Cruel Story of Youth – Best New Director
2000 Taboo – Best Director & Best Film

Cannes Film Festival[11]
1978 Empire of Passion – Best Director (Prix de la mise en scène)

Kinema Junpo Awards
1969 Death by Hanging – Best Screenplay
1972 The Ceremony – Best Director, Best Film & Best Screenplay
1984 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence – Readers' Choice Award for Best Film

Filmography

Films

Year English title Japanese title Romaji Notes
1959 Tomorrow's Sun 明日の太陽 Ashita no Taiyō Short (7 min), color.
1959 A Town of Love and Hope 愛と希望の街 Ai to Kibō no Machi 62 min, B&W.
1960 Cruel Story of Youth 青春残酷物語 Seishun Zankoku Monogatari 96 min, color.
1960 The Sun's Burial 太陽の墓場 Taiyō no Hakaba 87 min, color.
1960 Night and Fog in Japan 日本の夜と霧 Nihon no Yoru to Kiri 107 min, color.
1961 The Catch 飼育 Shiiku 105 min, B&W.
1962 The Rebel 天草四郎時貞 Amakusa Shirō Tokisada 101 min, B&W.
1965 The Pleasures of the Flesh 悦楽 Etsuraku 90 min, color.
1965 Yunbogi's Diary ユンボギの日記 Yunbogi no Nikki (Short) 24 min, B&W.
1966 Violence at Noon 白昼の通り魔 Hakuchū no Tōrima 99 min, B&W.
1967 Tales of the Ninja (Band of Ninja) 忍者武芸帳 Ninja Bugei-Chō 131 min, B&W.
1967 Sing a Song of Sex (A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs) 日本春歌考 Nihon Shunka-Kō 103 min, color.
1967 Double Suicide: Japanese Summer 無理心中日本の夏 Muri Shinjū: Nihon no Natsu 98 min, B&W.
1968 Death by Hanging 絞死刑 Kōshikē 117 min, B&W.
1968 Three Resurrected Drunkards 帰って来たヨッパライ Kaette Kita Yopparai 80 min, color.
1969 Diary of a Shinjuku Thief 新宿泥棒日記 Shinjuku Dorobō Nikki 94 min, B&W/color.
1969 Boy 少年 Shōnen 97 min, color.
1970 Man Who Left His Will On Film 東京戰争戦後秘話 Tōkyō Sensō Sengo Hiwa 94 min, B&W.
1971 The Ceremony 儀式 Gishiki 123 min, color.
1972 Dear Summer Sister 夏の妹 Natsu no Imōto 96 min, color.
1976 In the Realm of the Senses 愛のコリーダ Ai no Corrida 104 min, color.
1978 Empire of Passion 愛の亡霊 Ai no Bōrē 108 min, color.
1983 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 戦場のメリークリスマス Senjō no Merī Kurisumasu 123 min, color, UK/Japan.
1986 Max, Mon Amour マックス、モン・アムール Makkusu, Mon Amūru 97 min, color. France/USA/Japan.
1999 Taboo 御法度 Gohatto 100 min, color.

Television

Year Original title English title Notes
1962 Kōri no Naka no Seishun Youth on the Ice 25 min
1963 Wasurerareta Kōgun Forgotten Soldiers 25 min
1963 Chiisana Bōken Ryokō A Small Child's First Adventure 60 min
1964 Watashi wa Beretto It's Me Here, Bellett 60 min
1964 Seishun no Ishibumi The Tomb of Youth 40 min
1964 Hankotsu no Toride A Rebel's Fortress 25 min
1964 Gimei Shōjo The Girl Under an Assumed Name 30 min
1964 Chita Niseigo Taiheiyō Ōdan Crossing the Pacific on the Chita Niseigo 2 x 30 min
1964 Aru Kokutetsu-Jōmuin A National Railway Worker 25 min
1964 Aogeba Tōtoshi Ode to an Old Teacher
1964 Aisurebakoso Why I Love You
1964 Ajia no Akebono The Dawn of Asia 13 x 60 min
1965 Gyosen Sonansu The Trawler Incident 30 min
1968 Daitōa Sensō The Pacific War (The Greater East Asian War) 2 x 30 min
1969 Mō-Takutō to Bunka Daikakumē Mao and the Cultural Revolution 49 min
1972 Kyojin-Gun Giants 73 min
1972 Joi! Bangla 24 min
1972 Goze: Mōmoku no Onna-Tabigēnin The Journey of the Blind Musicians
1973 Bengal no Chichi Laman The Father of Bangladesh
1975 Ikiteiru Nihonkai-Kaisen The Battle of Tsushima 50 min
1976 Ikiteiru Gyokusai no Shima The Isle of the Final Battle 25 min
1976 Ōgon no Daichi Bengal The Golden Land of Bengal
1976 Ikiteiru Umi no Bohyō The Sunken Tomb
1976 Denki Mō-Takutō The Life of Mao
1977 Yokoi Shōichi: Guamu-to 28 Nen no Nazo o Ou Human Drama: 28 Years of Hiding in the Jungle 49 min
1977 Shisha wa Itsumademo Wakai The Dead Remain Young 49 min
1991 Kyōto, My Mother's Place
1994 100 Years of Japanese Cinema 60min

Writings

Translations

Notes

  1. 1 2 Bergen, Ronald (January 15, 2013). "Nagisa Oshima obituary". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Bock 1978, p. 311
  3. 1 2 Bock 1978, p. 333
  4. ↑ Turim 1998, p. 168
  5. ↑ Oshima 1992, p. 101
  6. ↑ Richie, Donald (2001). A Hundred Years Of Japanese Film. Tokyo: Kodansha International. p. 198.
  7. ↑ Bock 1978, p. 335
  8. ↑ Sato, Tadao (1982). Currents In Japanese Cinema. Tokyo: Kodansha International. p. 177.
  9. ↑ Turim 1998, p. 88
  10. ↑ Lim, Dennis (January 15, 2013). "Nagisa Oshima, Iconoclastic Filmmaker, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  11. 1 2 "Festival de Cannes: Empire of Passion". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Nagisa Oshima". The Daily Telegraph. London. January 15, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Nihon eiga kantoku kyōkai nenpyō" (in Japanese). Nihon eiga kantoku kyōkai. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Nihon Eiga Kantoku Kyōkai Shinjinshō" (in Japanese). Directors Guild of Japan. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
  15. ↑ Oshima 1992
  16. ↑ Turim 1998
  17. ↑ Schilling, Mark. "Nagisa Oshima: a leading force in film". The Japan Times. The Japan Times. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "Gil Rossellini Interview with Nagsia Oshima (Part 3 of 3)". YouTube. YouTube. Event occurs at 3:15. Retrieved 21 December 2014. Yes, I am planning to shoot a story of a Japanese. His name is Sessue Hayakawa. He was the only Japanese star in Hollywood. It was the 1910s silent film period of Hollywood. I will try to describe this star and the situation of the Japanese in the states.
  19. ↑ "The 61st San Sebastian Festival will dedicate a retrospective to Nagisa Oshima". San Sebastian Film Festival. January 17, 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.

References

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