Wikipedia

Masahiro Shinoda

Masahiro Shinoda (篠田 正浩, Shinoda Masahiro, born March 9, 1931) is a Japanese retired film director who had a filmmaking career that spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio from 1960 to 1965, before turning to independent cinema from 1966 onward. His film style was characterized by socially marginalized characters, many of whom turn to crime or suicide, and meticulous attention to pictorial beauty. He drew on traditional Japanese fiction and theater and some of his films bear the influence of Kenji Mizoguchi, whom he admired.

Masahiro Shinoda
"Kinema Junpo", 1962
Born (1931-03-09) March 9, 1931 (age 93)
Gifu, Gifu, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Alma materWaseda University
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1960-2003
Notable workPale Flower, Assassination, Double Suicide, Silence, Ballad of Orin, Childhood Days
SpouseShima Iwashita (m. 1967)

Early life

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Shinoda attended Waseda University, where he studied theater and also participated in the Hakone Ekiden long-distance race.[1]

Career

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He joined the Shōchiku Studio in 1953 as an assistant director,[2] where he worked on films by such directors as Yasujirō Ozu.[3] He debuted as a director in 1960 with One-Way Ticket for Love, which he also scripted.[2]

His focus on youth and the cultural and political turmoil of 1960s Japan made him a central figure in the Shōchiku New Wave alongside Nagisa Ōshima and Yoshishige Yoshida. He worked in a variety of genres, from the yakuza film (Pale Flower) to the samurai film (Assassination), but he particularly became known for his focus on socially marginal characters and for an interest in traditional Japanese theater, which found its greatest expression in Double Suicide, in which actors are manipulated like Bunraku puppets.[4] He also was interested in sports, directing a documentary on the 1972 Winter Olympics.[4] Also known for his collaborations with such artists as Shūji Terayama and Tōru Takemitsu, Shinoda left Shōchiku in 1965 to form his own production company, Hyōgensha.[4]

Awards

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His film Gonza the Spearman (1986) was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution.[5] He won the 1991 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year for Childhood Days.[6] His film Moonlight Serenade (1997) was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival.[7] He also won the Izumi Kyōka Prize in 2010 for a novel (Shinoda himself had earlier adapted a Kyōka novel for the screen for the 1979 film Demon Pond).[2]

Personal life

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Masahiro Shinoda's first marriage was with Kazuko Shiraishi, both had a daughter.[8] In 1967 he married the actress Shima Iwashita, who appears in several of his films.[2] He retired from directing after the release of Spy Sorge in 2003, a biopic on the life of Richard Sorge.

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Shinoda, Masahiro. "Atarashii sainō to deai o motomeru". Honne no essei. Wendy-Net. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Shinoda Masahiro". Nihon jinmei daijiten+Plus. Kōdansha. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Masahiro Shinoda in the 1960s". Melbourne Cinémathèque. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  4. ^ a b c Hirano, Kyoko. "Masahiro Shinoda". Film Reference. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Berlinale: 1986 Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
  6. ^ 第 14 回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品 (in Japanese). Japan Academy Prize. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
  7. ^ "Berlinale: 1997 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  8. ^ "Reading to the beat of Kazuko Shiraishi, the black sheep of Japan's poets". 28 October 2017.
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