One of the fathers of modern Japanese cinema, Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982) used experimental techniques in the 1920s and went on to direct more than 100 movies, including historical spectacles and several films that gained attention worldwide.
Roots in Tradition
Born in 1896 in Mie, Japan, Kinugasa was originally an actor in Kabuki theater. As a teenager, he had perfected the art of playing an onnagata, a male who performed female character roles. In 1917, he broke into movies as an onnagata, at a time when most Japanese films were basically cinematic versions of Kabuki plays.
In 1921, Kinugasa directed his first feature film, Imoto no shi (The Death of My Sister). Little is known about this or several other films he directed before the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, which destroyed all of Kinugasa's early work.
By the end of 1928, Kinugasa, a prolific filmmaker, had directed an amazing 44 silent movies. The two most significant were the first films that Kinugasa wrote - 1926's Kurutta Ippeji (Page of Madness) and 1928's Jujiro (Cross-roads or Crossways).
Page of Madness
Page of Madness broke new ground in Japanese cinema, which was evolving rapidly from the traditional Kabuki-inspired forms to the kind of abstract and surrealistic expressionism most famously embodied in the German silent masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. A Page of Madness was the Japanese counterpart to Caligari. The film was full of camera angles that distorted the physical plane and engaged other dark, absurdist stylistic touches that were popular with Expressionists.
The 58-minute film concerned an old man's efforts to rescue his wife from an insane asylum, but the wife is afraid to leave the asylum's confines. Kinugasa created a hallucinogenic world of shadows, frightening figures, and fragmented perspectives. The director wrote and financed the film himself, taking a substantial risk with his budding career.
Despite its avant-garde nature, the film was a surprising box-office success in Japan and it made enough money to propel Kinugasa's career forward. The film also received international attention, which gave notice that Japanese cinema was becoming more modern and experimental. The film helped inspire other Japanese directors to continue to produce films that would contribute to a unique national cinematic language.
International Career
Kinugasa's cinematic forays into deep psychological territory exacerbated his chronic depression. He left Japan, searching for his emotional center, and traveled widely throughout Europe. In Russia, he studied briefly for a time under the great director Sergei Eisenstein.
Before leaving Japan, Kinugasa had completed Jujiro (Crossroads), a film in which he combined experimental, subjective camera work with a story that used traditional themes and modern situations. The plot centered around a young man's tragic love for an assertive geisha. In a Shakespearean twist, the young man wounds his main rival in a brawl, blinding him.
Kinugasa brought a print of this film on his travels. He managed to convince officials at Berlin's U.F.A. studio to watch it, and they reacted positively toward the work. The studio officials helped to get the film distributed widely in Europe under the title Shadows of Yoshiwara. Audiences responded to its avant-garde techniques and dreamlike sequences. It was the first Japanese film to make an impact on European audiences.
On the strength of this showing, Kinugasa became an important international filmmaker. Critics raved over his use of close-ups and inventive camera angles. Eventually Kinugasa returned to Japan with the new status of a top-flight international director.
Turned toward Epics
Back in Japan, Kinugasa became a top studio director, and a productive one at that. In the 1930s he directed 17 more films, and he managed 9 more during the 1940s - despite World War II. In the 1950s, he became even more active with another 24 films to add to his credit.
Because of the international triumph of Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon, Kinugasa and other Japanese filmmakers turned their attention to period dramas and samurai epics. Kinugasa's 1952 film, Daibutsu kaigen (Saga of the Great Buddha), followed this trend.
In 1954, Kinogasa had an international hit, the critically acclaimed Jigokumon (Gate of Hell), a samurai epic that was shot entirely in Eastman color. Its vivid cinematography and exotic locations made it an audience favorite at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded a Grand Prix as 1954's best film.
Kinogasa had another hit at Cannes in 1959, when White Heron won a special mention award. By this time the filmmaker's career was winding down, and he made only a few more films.
As a whole, Kinugasa's impact as a filmmaker was considerable. He helped define the unique voice of Japanese cinema, and sustained both his experimental impulses and his conventional career as a popular director who brought international attention to the films of his native land.
Online
"A Page of Madness," British Film Institute,http://www.bfi.org.uk/collections/catalogues/disability/details.php?id=11 (January 3, 2004).
"Crossways," British Film Institute,http://www.bfi.org.uk/collections/catalogues/disability/details.php?id=99 (January 3, 2004).
"Teinosuke Kinugasa," All Movie Guide,http://www.allmovie.com/cg/x.dll (January 3, 2004).
"Teinosuke Kinugasa," ForeignFilms.com,http://www.foreignfilms.com/person.asp?person_id=1227 (January 3, 2004).
"Teinosuke Kinugasa," Internet Movie Database,http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0455938/ (January 3, 2004).
"Teinosuke Kinugasa," Yahoo! Movies,http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800069397&cf=gen&intl=us (January 3, 2004).
