Shohei Imamura

[zedz]

Shohei Imamura (1926-2006)




Filmography

Stolen Desire / Nusumareta Yokujo (1958)

Nishi Ginza Station / Nishi Ginza Eki-Mae (1958)

Endless Desire / Hateshi Naki Yokubo (1958)

My Second Brother / Nianchan (1959)

Pigs and Battleships / Buta To Gunkan (1961) Criterion / JNWCC

The Insect Woman / Nippon Konchuki (1963) Criterion / JNWCC

Intentions of Murder / Akai Satsui (1964) Criterion / JNWCC

The Pornographers: Introduction to Anthropology / Jinruigaku Nyumon(1966) Criterion (R1)

A Man Vanishes / Ningen Johatsu (1967) JNWCC

The Profound Desire of the Gods / Kamigami No Fukaki Yokubo (1968) JNWCC

A History of Postwar Japan as Told by a Bar Hostess / Nippon Sengo Shi: Madamu Omboro No Seikatsu (1970)

In Search of Unreturned Soldiers / Mikikanhei O Otte Parts I and II (1971)

The Pirates of Bubuan / Bubuan No Kaizoku (1972)

Muhomatsu Returns Home / Muhomatsu Kokyo Ni Kaeru (1973)

In Search of Unreturned Soldiers / Mikikanhei O Otte Part III (1975)

Two Men Named Yoshinobu / Tsuiseki/Futari No Yoshinobu (1975)

Karayuki-San, The Making of a Prostitute / Karayuki-San (1975)

Vengeance Is Mine / Fukushu Suru Wa Ware Ni Ari (1979) Criterion (R1) / MoC (R2)

Eijankaika (1981) Panorama

The Ballad of Narayama / Narayama-Bushi Ko (1983) Animeigo / AK Video (no English subs) / Asian DVDs

Zegen / The Pimp, A Pander (1987)

Black Rain / Kuroi Ame (1989) Animeigo / Films san frontieres

The Eel / Unagi (1997)

Dr. Akagi / Kanzo Sensei (1998)

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge / Akai Hashi No Shita No Nurui Mizu (2001) HVE

11'09''01 (2002) omnibus film R1 / R2


Forum Dicussions

AnimEigo: Ichikawa, Imamura, Gosha, Okamoto, Minfune in 2008

The Pornographers Criterion

Shohei Imamura (d. May 30, 2006)

Shohei Imamura on DVD

Vengeance Is Mine Criterion

Vengeance Is Mine MoC


Web Resources

Senses of Cinema

Masters of Cinema

Japanese New Wave Cinema Classics Closes

Japanese Films Not on DVD


Books

Shohei Imamura - James Quandt (Cinematheque Ontario, 1997)

Shohei Imamura - Hubert Niogret (Dreamland, 2002) in French
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[Awesome Welles]

Short season of films will show at the ICA in London later this month. Fuller programme in Bristol and films to show at Glasgow Film Theatre.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Excellent, I think they showed some Imamura at the NFT some months back as part of a general post WW2 Japanese season, but I missed out. Only one of a handful of film makers to win the Palme D'Or twice!

[Michael Kerpan]

The main entry needs to be updated to reflect the existence of Criterions's (marvelous) box set wits Pigs, Insect Woman and Intentions of Murder. Also Animeigo's Narayama (not yet seen -- but sitting in my "watch soon" pile).

[orinwarf]

The main entry needs to be updated to reflect the existence of Criterions's (marvelous) box set wits Pigs, Insect Woman and Intentions of Murder. Also Animeigo's Narayama (not yet seen -- but sitting in my "watch soon" pile).

And don't forget Animeigo's upcoming edition of Black Rain, which can only be an improvement upon the glazed blur that is the O.O.P. Image DVD.

[zedz]

Thanks for that. That list was way out of date - it didn't even have a link to the MoC edition of Vengeance Is Mine. I also added one for the Animeigo edition of Ballad of Narayama, a great disc that a lot of people don't seem to know even exists.

Let me know if there's anything else that need updating.

[med]

Question re: the Animeigo release of Narayama

Was the medium or moderate (or whatever it was called) setting for subtitles a full translation of the dialogue without the annotations? When I checked it out from Netflix several months back, I chose what turned out to be the annotated setting. That was a bit annoying at first, though I soon was able to ignore it. And a follow-up question: is this feature typical for Animeigo? Should I expect it in the upcoming Black Rain release?

[zedz]

As far as I know, that was the only subtitle set available on the disc. It's an Animeigo quirk of long-standing, to the best of my knowledge (it's present on the few other discs of theirs I've got). It's distracting to start with, but as you say, you soon start to ignore it. (And once you know the film, there's the option of switching the subs off entirely).

[bigP]

Question re: the Animeigo release of Narayama

Was the medium or moderate (or whatever it was called) setting for subtitles a full translation of the dialogue without the annotations?

I think it was, although I only checked it when flipping between the subtitle options over the first annotated scene, and haven't yet watched it through with that setting as a whole yet. There was also a third option that only translated the key words that appeared in the full subtitled version, and all other subtitles were removed. In all credit to Animeigo, the idea of offering annotations for certain phrases and words is rather thoughtful for the semi-comfortable japanese speaker who may not be familiar with archaic words that are used in the films / novels setting but almost forgotten in modern japanese language when choosing to watch the film sans subtitles.

I would imagine the option would be in Black Rain if they deemed it necissary on that basis, though perhaps it will just become their practise from now on. I only have one other Animeigo release, The Battle of Okinawa, and can't remember the annotated subtitles appearing on that disc, though it is an older release and it may be a practise they adopted later.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The three options on the Narayama disc are "full" (dialogue + onscreen text + annotations), "limited" (dialogue only) and "captions only" (onscreen text + annotations). This is standard for Animeigo and has been for awhile -- the Battle of Okinawa disc works the same way. Some of their more recent releases go even further and offer both yellow and white subs, but I think this began after Narayama (which only has yellow). Presumably Black Rain will offer a choice. It seems like an oversight not to provide an option for dialogue and onscreen text sans annotations, but it's not a huge problem.

[bigP]

Ah yes, I've just noticed The Battle of Okinawa disc has the same subtitle set up (the full and limited anyway). Apologies for the wrong info, I was working from memory and couldn't remember the subtitles being so in depth.

[puxzkkx]

Anyone know who the actress is that plays Shima in "Endless Desire"? IMDb isn't helping me out.

[antnield]

Watanabe Misako

[puxzkkx]

Thanks

[zeroism]

I ran across this by chance and thought I'd post it, even though I'm nowhere near, in case anyone in the St. Louis area is interested:

April 7 - Eijanaika screening at University of Missouri

Isn't Eijanaika a Janus title? I wonder if we could expect it soon... I don't know that a screening like this would be of any consequence in terms of a possible CC release, though.

[stagefright50]

Thanks for the heads up! I will be there.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge is on Hulu Plus now. It's streaming not on Criterion but on Indie Crush. Not sure if former HVE titles will ever get the Criterion treatment but it's interesting that it's resurfaced at all.

[Cobpyth]

Which version of Unagi (1997) is the best one to watch, the theatrical version (117 minutes) or the director's cut (134 minutes)?

[knives]

Presumably the director's cut which I believe was the theatrical release in Japan.

[Michael Kerpan]

Definitely the longer version. (I think the Australian DVD release was this longer version).

[Mr Sausage]

Zegen (1987)

A movie examining Japanese comfort women, told through the lense of the true story of Iheiji Muraoka, who built a series of brothels for the Japanese military in Southeast Asia stocked with women, often poor, kidnapped from the mainland under the approval of the Japanese government. Japan helped build its empire on the back of this enterprise, then shut it down and abandoned all the people working in it when they decided it didn’t suit the image of a country newly emerged on the international stage. On one level, the movie is an allegory. Iheiji is an image of Japan itself, naïve and thrust suddenly into international politics by Russia, only to find himself in a position to expand his interests through immoral and shady dealings he justifies with blood and soil nationalism. Heady prosperity gives way to war and to widespread discontent among the oppressed local populations, leaving our central figure to exhaust himself with chasing delusions of further conquest and success well after his downfall. On a less symbolic level, Iheiji is also a victim of Japanese colonialism. Like so many of the characters in the film, he is used, bullied, and discarded by Japan. He is also sold an ideal of nationalism and fealty to the emperor that clouds his judgement, gives him leave him to commit crimes against humanity, and allows him to be taken advantage of by an ungrateful government with no interest in rewarding its servants.

This is a rich film, as you’d expect from Imamura, and yet it lacks the power and incisiveness of Imamura’s documentary work on the same subject. I felt I’d gotten precisely this story in The Making of a Prostitute, only not so diffuse, and in the words of its primary victims, the kidnapped women, instead of in a farce about a primary exploiter. Indeed, the decision to play the story as farce is unfortunate given that Imamura can’t muster the necessary energy. The prologue isn’t panicky enough, the first act full of the rush of success and ingenuity not frenetic and buoyant enough, and the downfall not quite so crushing or desperate. The film is pitched just a bit too low. There are moments when the farce works brilliantly, such as when it undercuts the solemnity and stoicism of seppuku (hard not to see it as a response to Mishima’s cult of suicide), but I’m not sure it finds the right note on which to bring everything together. One can, however, simply bask in the splendour of its period setting. As so often before, Imamura creates a living, breathing world around his story, one you feel extends well outside the camera’s lense. As a recreation of turn of the century Southeast Asia, it is persuasive and enthralling.