Yasuzō Masumura (増村 保造, Masumura Yasuzō, 25 August 1924 – 23 November 1986) was a Japanese film director.[1][2]
Yasuzō Masumura | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | 25 August 1924 |
| Died | 23 November 1986 (aged 62) Japan |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
Biography
Masumura was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi.[1][2] After graduating from the law department at the University of Tokyo, he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei Film studio.[1] He later returned to university to study philosophy and graduated in 1951.[1] The following year, he won a scholarship allowing him to study film in Italy at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia under Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti.[3]
Masumura returned to Japan in 1953. From 1955, he worked as a second-unit director on films directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa and Daisuke Ito.[4] In 1957, he directed his own first film Kisses,[4] which caused film critic (and future director) Nagisa Ōshima to note, "a powerful irresistible force has arrived in Japanese Cinema."[5] Over the next three decades, he directed 58 films in a variety of genres.[6]
Legacy
According to film critic Shigehiko Hasumi, filmmaker Shinji Aoyama had declared Masumura "the most important filmmaker in the history of postwar Japanese cinema."[7]
Filmography
| Title | Year | Credited as | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Screenwriter | Assistant director | ||
| Princess Yang Kwei Fei | 1955 | Yes | ||
| Street of Shame | 1956 | Yes | ||
| Punishment Room | 1956 | Yes | ||
| Nihonbashi | 1956 | Yes | ||
| The Crowded Streetcar | 1957 | Yes | ||
| Kisses | 1957 | Yes | ||
| The Blue Sky Maiden | 1957 | Yes | ||
| Warm Current | 1957 | Yes | ||
| The Precipice | 1958 | Yes | ||
| Giants and Toys | 1958 | Yes | ||
| The Lowest Man | 1958 | Yes | ||
| Undutiful Street | 1958 | Yes | ||
| The Most Valuable Madam | 1959 | Yes | ||
| The Cast-Off | 1959 | Yes | ||
| Beauty the Enemy | 1959 | Yes | ||
| Across Darkness | 1959 | Yes | ||
| A Woman's Testament (first segment) | 1960 | Yes | ||
| Afraid to Die | 1960 | Yes | ||
| The Woman Who Touched the Legs | 1960 | Yes | ||
| A False Student | 1960 | Yes | ||
| Desperate to Love | 1961 | Yes | ||
| A Lustful Man | 1961 | Yes | ||
| A Wife Confesses | 1961 | Yes | ||
| The Burdened Sisters | 1961 | Yes | ||
| Stolen Pleasure | 1962 | Yes | ||
| Black Test Car | 1962 | Yes | ||
| Life of a Woman | 1962 | Yes | ||
| The Black Report | 1963 | Yes | ||
| When Women Lie | 1963 | Yes | ||
| Band of Pure-Hearted Hoodlums | 1963 | Yes | ||
| Modern Fraud Story: Cheat | 1964 | Yes | ||
| With My Husband's Consent | 1964 | Yes | ||
| Seventeen-year-old Wolf | 1964 | Yes | ||
| Manji | 1964 | Yes | ||
| Super-Express | 1964 | Yes | ||
| Hoodlum Soldier | 1965 | Yes | ||
| Seisaku's Wife | 1965 | Yes | ||
| Irezumi | 1966 | Yes | ||
| Nakano Spy School | 1966 | Yes | ||
| Red Angel (Movie) | 1966 | Yes | ||
| Two Wives | 1967 | Yes | ||
| A Certain Killer | 1967 | Yes | ||
| Just for You | 1967 | Yes | ||
| A Fool's Love | 1967 | Yes | ||
| The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka | 1967 | Yes | ||
| Evil Trio | 1968 | Yes | ||
| The Sex Check | 1968 | Yes | ||
| The House of Wooden Blocks | 1968 | Yes | ||
| One Day at Summer's End | 1968 | Yes | ||
| Blind Beast | 1969 | Yes | ||
| A Thousand Cranes | 1969 | Yes | ||
| 'Vixen | 1969 | Yes | ||
| Electric Jellyfish | 1970 | Yes | ||
| Ode to the Yakuza | 1970 | Yes | ||
| The Hot Little Girl | 1970 | Yes | ||
| Games | 1971 | Yes | ||
| New Hoodlum Soldier Story: Firing Line | 1972 | Yes | ||
| Music | 1972 | Yes | ||
| Hanzo the Razor:The Snare | 1973 | Yes | ||
| Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? | 1974 | Yes | ||
| Akumyo: Notorious Dragon | 1974 | Yes | ||
| Mainline to Terror | 1975 | Yes | ||
| Lullaby of the Earth | 1976 | Yes | ||
| The Love Suicides at Sonezaki | 1978 | Yes | ||
| The Garden of Eden | 1980 | Yes | ||
| For My Daughter's 7th Birthday | 1982 | Yes | ||
References
Further reading
- "Yasuzo Masumura Filmography". Blind Beast (Booklet). Arrow Films. 2021. AV373.
External links
- Yasuzō Masumura at IMDb
- Yasuzō Masumura at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)