ABSTRACT

Japanese Cinema includes twenty-four chapters on key films of Japanese cinema, from the silent era to the present day, providing a comprehensive introduction to Japanese cinema history and Japanese culture and society.

Studying a range of important films, from Late Spring, Seven Samurai and In the Realm of the Senses to Godzilla, Hana-Bi and Ring, the collection includes discussion of all the major directors of Japanese cinema including Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, Oshima, Suzuki, Kitano and Miyazaki.

Each chapter discusses the film in relation to aesthetic, industrial or critical issues and ends with a complete filmography for each director. The book also includes a full glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography of readings on Japanese cinema.

Bringing together leading international scholars and showcasing pioneering new research, this book is essential reading for all students and general readers interested in one of the world’s most important film industries.

chapter |24 pages

Introduction

ByAlastair Phillips, Julian Stringer

chapter |12 pages

The Salaryman's Panic Time

Ozu Yasujirō's I Was Born, But … (1932)
ByAlastair Phillips

chapter |13 pages

All for Money

Mizoguchi Kenji's Osaka Elegy (1936)
ByMori Toshie

chapter |13 pages

Turning Serious

Yamanaka Sadao's Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
ByFreda Freiberg

chapter |15 pages

Country Retreat

Shimizu Hiroshi's Ornamental Hairpin (1941)
ByAlexander Jacoby

chapter |12 pages

The Riddle of the Vase

Ozu Yasujirō's Late Spring (1949)
ByAbé Mark Nornes

chapter |12 pages

History through Cinema

Mizoguchi Kenji's The Life of O-Haru (1952)
ByJoan Mellen

chapter |10 pages

The Menace from the South Seas

Honda Ishirō's Godzilla (1954)
ByYomota Inuhiko, Sachiko Shikoda

chapter |12 pages

Seven Samurai and Six Women

Kurosawa Akira's Seven Samurai (1954)
ByD. P. Martinez

chapter |13 pages

Women's Stories in Post-War Japan

Naruse Mikio's Late Chrysanthemums (1954)
ByCatherine Russell

chapter |15 pages

A Cinematic Creation

Ichikawa Kon's Conflagration (1958)
ByKeiko I. McDonald

chapter |16 pages

Modernization without Modernity

Masumura Yasuzō's Giants and Toys (1958)
ByMichael Raine

chapter |12 pages

Questions of the New

Ōshima Nagisa's Cruel Story of Youth (1960)
ByMitsuhiro Yoshimoto

chapter |13 pages

Ethnicizing the Body and Film

Teshigahara Hiroshi's Woman in the Dunes (1964)
ByMitsuyo Wada-Marciano

chapter |12 pages

Dark Visions of Japanese Film Noir

Suzuki Seijun's Branded to Kill (1967)
ByDaisuke Miyao

chapter |12 pages

Eroticism in Two Dimensions

Shinoda Masahiro's Double Suicide (1969)
ByCarole Cavanaugh

chapter |12 pages

Transgression and the Politics of Porn

Ōshima Nagisa's in the Realm of the Senses (1976)
ByIsolde Standish

chapter |11 pages

Unsettled Visions

Imamura Shōhei's Vengeance is Mine (1979)
ByAlastair Phillips

chapter |13 pages

Playing with Postmodernism

Morita Yoshimitsu's The Family Game (1983)
ByAaron Gerow

chapter |10 pages

Transgression and Retribution

Yanagimachi Mitsuo's Fire Festival (1985)
ByDonald Richie

chapter |10 pages

Community and Connection

Itami Jūzō's Tampopo (1985)
ByLinda C. Ehrlich

chapter |11 pages

The Imagination of the Transcendent

Kore-eda Hirokazu's Maborosi (1995)
ByDavid Desser

chapter |12 pages

Therapy for him and her

Kitano Takeshi's Hana-Bi (1997)
ByDarrell William Davis

chapter |12 pages

The Original and the Copy

Nakata Hideo's Ring (1998)
ByJulian Stringer

chapter |14 pages

The Global Markets for Anime

Miyazaki Hayao's Spirited Away (2001)
ByRayna Denison

chapter |1 pages

Film Availability

ByAlastair Phillips, Julian Stringer