Kinoshita Keisuke
- Name: Kinoshita Keisuke
- Native name: 木下 惠介
- Also Known as: 木下恵介
- Nationality: Japanese
- Gender: Male
- Born: December 5, 1912
- Died: December 30, 1998
Although lesser known internationally than his fellow filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu, Kinoshita was nonetheless a household figure at home beloved by audience and critics alike, especially in the forties through the sixties. He was also prolific, turning out some 42 films in the first 23 years of his career.
Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, about halfway between Tokyo and Kyoto, to a family who owned a grocery store, Kinoshita was already a movie fan when he was eight. Vowing to become a filmmaker, he was, however, faced with opposition from his parents. His determination to become a filmmaker finally moved his parents into letting him pursue his own career and his mother even secured him an introduction to the Shochiku Kamata studios, where Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and other famous directors worked. Without a university education, however, Kinoshita was not allowed to work as an assistant director and had to start as a photographer, for which he applied to the Oriental Photography School and graduated before he was finally admitted into Shochiku. There, he first worked in the film processing laboratory, then as a camera assistant, before he was advised by Kozaburo Yoshimura to switch to assistant director.
In 1940, Kinoshita was drafted into the war and went to China, but returned the following year due to illness. He re-entered Shochiku and was promoted to director in 1943. Adapting a famous novel, Kinoshita made Port of Flowers with a large cast and budget. The same year also saw the emergence of another new director, Akira Kurosawa, but it was Kinoshita who won the much coveted New Director Award at the end of that year.
Throughout his career, Kinoshita made many films which were both critically and commercially successful, among which the best known were Morning for the Osone Family (Osone-ke no asa, 1946), Carmen Comes Home (Karumen kokyo ni kaeru, 1951) (made in Fujicolor, the first color feature of Japan[2]), Tragedy of Japan (Nihon no higeki, 1953), Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi, 1954), You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (Yagiku no gotoki kimi nariki, 1955), The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushi kō, 1958)), and The River Fuefuki (Fuefukigawa, 1960). He refused to be bound by genre, technique or dogma. He excelled in almost every genre, comedy, tragedy, social dramas, period films. He shot all films on location or in a one-house set. He pursued severe photographic realism in the long take, long-shot method, and he has gone equally far toward stylization with fast cutting, intricate wipes, tilted cameras and even medieval scroll-painting and Kabuki stage technique.
Kinoshita received the Order of the Rising Sun in 1984 and was awarded the Order of Culture in 1991 by the Japanese government. He died on December 30, 1998, of a stroke. His grave is in Engaku-ji in Kamakura, very near to that of his fellow Shochiku director, Yasujiro Ozu. Edit Biography
Screenwriter
Title | Rating |
---|---|
Twenty-Four Eyes | 6.8 |
Taiyo no Namida | 0.0 |
Green Light to Joy | 7.0 |
Shirobanba | 0.0 |
Magokoro | 0.0 |
Love Letter | 7.1 |
It Springs In My Heart | 6.0 |
Otoko no Iki | 0.0 |
Director
Title | Rating |
---|---|
Ashita Kara no Koi | 0.0 |
Sing, Young People! | 6.0 |
Farewell to Dream | 6.0 |
Twenty-Four Eyes | 7.9 |
Yotsuya Kaidan | 7.5 |
Here's to the Young Lady | 6.8 |
Apostasy | 7.0 |
The Portrait | 7.6 |
Marriage | 0.0 |
Morning for the Osone Family | 0.0 |
Army | 4.0 |
Jubilation Street | 5.0 |
Port of Flowers | 0.0 |
Screenwriter & Director
Title | Rating |
---|---|
Father | 5.0 |
Big Joys, Small Sorrows | 5.0 |
Children of Nagasaki | 7.7 |
Chichi yo Haha yo! | 0.0 |
Shodo Satsujin: Musuko yo | 7.0 |
The Scent of Incense | 7.2 |
Legend of a Duel to the Death | 7.7 |
This Year's Love | 6.0 |
Immortal Love | 7.6 |
The River Fuefuki | 2.0 |
Spring Dreams | 7.0 |
Thus Another Day | 6.0 |
Farewell to Spring | 6.0 |
The Snow Flurry | 6.0 |
Kono Ten no Niji | 6.0 |
The Ballad of Narayama | 7.9 |
Danger Stalks Near | 6.0 |
Taiyou To Bara | 6.0 |
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum | 7.9 |
The Tattered Wings | 8.0 |
Tragedy of Japan | 9.0 |
Carmen Falls In Love | 6.0 |
Fireworks Over the Sea | 6.0 |
Boyhood | 6.0 |
Carmen Comes Home | 6.9 |
The Good Fairy | 6.0 |
An Engagement Ring | 8.0 |
A Broken Drum | 6.0 |
A Woman Resists | 6.0 |
Phoenix | 0.0 |
The Living Magoroku | 0.0 |
Assistant Director
Title | Rating |
---|---|
One Sunset | 2.0 |
Zoku Minami no Kaze | 0.0 |
Movie
Title | Rating |
---|---|
Love Letter
Japanese Movie, 1953,
Photographer
(Support Role)
|
7.1
|
TV Show
Title | Rating |
---|---|
Kouhaku Uta Gassen
Japanese TV Show, 1951, 73 eps
[Judge] (Ep. 10)
(Guest)
|
7.8
|
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