Nikkatsu Studios 100th anniversary retrospective set for U.S. and France
BY NORIKI ISHITOBI STAFF WRITER
2011/06/19
"Bakumatsu Taiyoden" (Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate), Director Yuzo Kawashima, 1957 ((c) Nikkatsu Corp.)
"Tokyo Nagaremono" (Tokyo Drifter), Director Seijun Suzuki, 1966 ((c) Nikkatsu Corp.)
"Oshidori Utagassen" (Singing Lovebirds), Director Masahiro Makino, 1939 ((c) Nikkatsu Corp.)
"Buta to Gunkan" (Pigs and Battleships), Director Shohei Imamura, 1961 ((c) Nikkatsu Corp.)
Nikkatsu Corp. will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012. From prewar period dramas and postwar action films to Roman Porno (soft-core romantic pornography) of the '70s and '80s, this film studio has created new cinematic genres for every era. Its unique group of offerings is attracting the attention of audiences around the world.
A large-scale retrospective of Nikkatsu films will be screened this fall starting at the Lincoln Center in New York, and later at the Festival of Three Continents film festival in Nantes and the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris. The screenings were made possible with cooperation from the Film Center at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and the Japan Foundation.
Nikkatsu was first established as Nippon Katsudo Shashin Co. (literally the Cinematography company of Japan) in 1912. Before World War II, the company gained popularity with historical dramas featuring actor Matsunosuke Onoe, affectionately known as "Eyeballs Matsu," and later turned out globally acclaimed directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi and Sadao Yamanaka in great numbers.
In 1954, after the end of the war, the company resumed film production, mass producing action and youth-oriented movies with spirited directors such as Seijun Suzuki and featuring young and upcoming stars like Yujiro Ishihara, Akira Kobayashi and Sayuri Yoshinaga.
In 1971, with its fortunes in decline, the company started to make Roman Porno films, working with directors such as Tatsumi Kumashiro, and releasing critically acclaimed, passion-filled masterpieces in the genre. It has also helped leaders of contemporary Japanese film, including directors Kichitaro Negishi and Yoshimitsu Morita, get their starts in the industry.
In October, the Lincoln Center is planning to screen about 40 films representative of each period in Nikkatsu's history. According to Richard Pena, the center's film society program director, there is currently a trend in the United States to review film history according to production company rather than director.
Cinematheque Francaise program director Jean-Francois Rauger, who is focusing on the success of Roman Porno, noted that many outstanding avant-garde films have been made in the genre, which depicts sex and violence, and there is great interest in the new filmmakers it is producing.
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the company's founding, director Yuzo Kawashima's masterpiece "Bakumatsu Taiyoden" (Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate) will be digitally restored.
The Nikkatsu retrospective, including Kawashima's film, will be screened in Japan in the fall of next year after it has completed its overseas showings.
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