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Director
in Focus - NARUSE Mikio
Naruse
is well-known for depicting the yearnings and struggles of the lower-middle classes
in Japanese society, usually told from the perspectives of female protagonists:
bar hostesses, geisha, maids, harassed wives, young women forced into marriages
for economic survival. This is particularly the case in his works after WWII.Departing
from feminine stereotypes, Naruse’s female characters are proactive, energised
and resolute in their daily battles with life and society.
Naruse consistently
showed how people with all their flaws and strengths, are shaped by their environment
in which they find themselves, having to carve out their own living and breathing
space. Naruse shows an acute understanding of and empathy with the ways in which
people try to play with the cards that history has dealt them. There is no sense
of destiny or fate in his films, but rather a stubborn, unrelenting desire for
a world in which one might live differently.
Perhaps he found some sympathy
with his characters. To begin with, Naruse was forced into film. After his father’s
death, he started work at Shochiku in the property department at 15, and rose
through the ranks to direct his first film at Shochiku in 1930. However, Naruse’s
career developed unevenly over the next 20 years as he struggled to conform to
the norms of the traditional Japanese studio system.
Naruse’s breakthrough
came in 1951 with GINZA COSMETICS, starring
Tanaka Kinuyo. After this return to form, Naruse continued his collaboration with
Tanaka in MOTHER (1952) – he proclaimed this
his “happiest” film. At the peak of this creative period between 1950 and 1956,
he made some of his most memorable films, such as LIGHTNING (1952) and FLOATING
CLOUDS (1955).
Although they approached their subject matter
in vastly different ways, Naruse’s minimalist style is often compared to that
of another master: Ozu Yasujiro. The late Kurosawa Akira, who once worked under
Naruse himself, described Naruse’s work as “a flow of shots that looks calm and
ordinary at first glance, reveals itself to be like a deep river with a quiet
surface disguising a fast-raging current underneath.”
DIRECTORS
The
career of Tanaka Kinuyo virtually encompasses the history of Japanese Cinema in
its first 50 years. Between 1924, when Tanaka made her debut as an actress at
the age of 14, and her death in 1977, she appeared in a total of 250 films and
TV productions, and worked with virtually all the masters of Japanese Cinema over
her five decade-long career. Some of the masterpieces she performed in: UGETSU
MONOGATARI (Mizoguchi Kenji; 1953); BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (Kinoshita Keisuke; 1958);
EQUINOX FLOWER (Ozu Yasujiro; 1958); RED BEARD (Kurosawa Akira; 1965); SANDAKAN
No. 8 (Kumai Kei; 1974) In 1953, she became the first woman director in Japan
with her directorial debut, LOVE LETTER, which
entered the Official Selection of the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. She went on to
direct another five films while continuing to act. Her performance in her final
screen appearance, SANDAKAN No. 8, won her the Silver Bear Award at the 1975 Berlin
Film Festival. Even after she passed away in 1977, Tanaka continues to be honoured
and loved. The prestigious Mainichi Film Awards created the Tanaka Kinuyo Award
in her honour. Ichikawa Kon also made a biopic of her extraordinary life: ACTRESS
(1987).
Kawase
Naomi was born in Nara in 1969. One of the most acclaimed and talented young Japanese
directors today, she graduated from the Osaka School of Photography (currently
the School of Visual Arts Osaka) in 1989.
Kawase first caught the attention
of international critics with her original documentary films EMBRACING
(1992) and KATATSUMORI (1994), winning awards
at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 1995. Kawase went on
to make history in 1997 when she became the youngest ever recipient of the Camera
D’Or for her debut feature film MOE NO SUZAKU (1996) at the Cannes Film Festival
that year. The next film THE WEALD (1997) was awarded Special Mention Prize at
the Vision du Reel in 1999.
HOTARU (2000)‚ premiered for the Competition
at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland in 2000‚ was awarded
two prizes‚ FIPRESCI Prize and CICAE Prize‚ as well as two additional awards‚
Best Achievement Award in Cinematography and Directing.
SHARA
(2003) was In Competition at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2003.
Her
latest documentary film BIRTH / MOTHER (2006)
received Special Prize at the Yamagata International Film Festival in 2007.
She
would confirm her brilliant reputation with a Grand Prix win at Cannes in 2007
for THE MOURNING FOREST (2007). Kawase continues
to win accolades for her documentaries and feature films. The film is now showing
throughout Japan.
Matsuoka Naomi was born in Nara in 1976. She studied at the Osaka University of Art where she met Kawase Naomi, and was Assistant Director and Music Director for Kawase’s HOTARU. BROKEN BLOSSOM is her first documentary, and it has won awards at festivals such as the Taiwan International Documentary Festival in 2004. Still a filmmaker, she now adds housewife and mother to her list of occupations. She has just finished a new documentary PATHOS, which is a follow-up to BROKEN BLOSSOM.
Born 1977 in Tokyo. Graduated in 1999 from the Japan Academy of Moving Images. For his graduation work, Matsue chose to explore his ethnic Korean roots in the autobiographical documentary ANNYONG KIMCHI, which participated in festivals worldwide, and won the NETPAC Special Mention at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 1999. Since then, Matsue has continued to work extensively in all aspects of documentary and film: directing more documentaries, acting in others' works such as MEIKE Mitsuru's THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI (SIFF 2006), being a judge for the "Winds of Asia" segment of the Tokyo International Film Festival, and movie critic for publications Shuukan Kinyoubi and Eiga Geijutsu.
