Kichitaro Negishi
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese film director
. Although his films are admired by critics in Japan for their intelligence, Negishi has received little international recognition for his work. He has not been credited with a distinctive style but he has been called a subtle director who often elicits strong performances from his actors. He won the award for Best Director at the 3rd Yokohama Film Festival
for Enrai
and Crazy Fruit
.
in the Faculty of Theatre and Film Arts, and as with several other filmmakers of his generation, began his career directing Roman porno films for the Nikkatsu
studio. He worked as Assistant Director on Toshiya Fujita
's March 1978 , based on the French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses
, but his debut as a director for Nikkatsu was with the June 1978 erotic thriller From Orion's Testimony: Formula For Murder. The young Negishi's success with this film was a factor in Nikkatsu's decision to focus more on projects emphasizing story.
After a disappointing second feature High School Girl, Negishi returned to form with the box office hit Wet Weekend
, which won the 9th Best Film award at the 1979 Yokohama Film Festival
. Negishi's next film for Nikkatsu, Rape Ceremony was a tale of disaffected youth concerning a feud between former motorcycle gang members and the high school boys who once idolized them and now accuse them of selling out to the system. In the June 1980 "Never in the Morning" Negishi uses the office romance sex-farce plot to poke fun at contemporary morality and sexual double standards.
Negishi began 1981 with Female Teacher: Dirty After School, the third entry in the 8 episode "Female Teacher" series from Nikkatsu, all based loosely on Noboru Tanaka
's 1973 hit film for Nikkatsu, Female Teacher: Private Life. Negishi's film is considered to be one of the best in the series and he was by this time one of Nikkatsu's top directors. His second film in 1981, Crazy Fruit
, another story of alienated youth, was based on a 1956 Nikkatsu film Crazed Fruit
, made before the studio's Roman porno period.
or Distant Thunder, produced by ATG
, New Century Producers (NCP) and Nikkatsu. This film, with its detailed realism and complexity, along with his earlier Roman porno feature Crazy Fruit, won him the Best Director award at the 1982 Yokohama Film Festival
. Negishi made one more Roman porno film for Nikkatsu, the June 1982 Cabaret Diary, a satirical look at hostesses and clients in a topless bar in Tokyo's Kabukichō district. Negishi left Nikkatsu after this film and was one of the founding members of Director's Company
along with eight other young directors.
Soon afterwards he made the light comedy My Wedding (Oretchi no uedingu) followed by the July 1983 thriller Detective Story
, starring Yusaku Matsuda
in a mixture of romance and mystery. Negishi received much favorable notice from his 1986 drama Uhohho tankentai
(literally "Ooh! Exploration Party") written by fellow director Yoshimitsu Morita. The movie, produced by Director's Company
and released by Toho
, won the Best Film award at the 1987 Yokohama Film Festival
as well as the Best Film prize at the Blue Ribbon Awards
, and was cited as "one of the forerunners of Japanese new age movies in the 80s." Also favorably received was his next project, the 1987 Eien no 1/2
, a modern, urban love story based on the novel by Shōgo Satō, which took the 4th Best Film award at the 1988 Yokohama Film Festival
.
Despite his success in the late 1980s, Negishi worked only sparingly for the next 15 years: a 1992 film based on the manga
series Kachō Kōsaku Shima
, the short feature Chibusa about a man (Kaoru Kobayashi
) caring for his leukemia-stricken wife, and Kizuna (1998), a thriller about a former yakuza
with Kōji Yakusho and Ken Watanabe
.
, brought Negishi recognition in Japan with Best Director awards from the 2006 Hochi Film Awards, the 2007 Kinema Junpo Awards, the 2007 Mainichi Film Concours, the 2006 Nikkan Sports Film Awards, and the 2005 Tokyo International Film Festival
, and international exposure at the 2007 Raindance Film Festival
.
Negishi's 2009 melodrama, Villon's Wife
, about an author and his long-suffering wife in post-war Japan, received ten nominations at the 2010 Japan Academy Awards including Best Film and Best Director. As in previous films, Negishi was able to evoke strong performances from his leads with Takako Matsu
winning several Best Actress awards. The film also brought Negishi a Best Director award from the 2009 Montreal World Film Festival
.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. Although his films are admired by critics in Japan for their intelligence, Negishi has received little international recognition for his work. He has not been credited with a distinctive style but he has been called a subtle director who often elicits strong performances from his actors. He won the award for Best Director at the 3rd Yokohama Film Festival
Yokohama Film Festival
The is a noticed yearly awards ceremony held in Japan. The festival was started as a small affair by fans and film critics, and first held on February 3, 1980. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year, and various awards are given to personnel...
for Enrai
Enrai
or Distant Thunder is a 1981 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Enrai is a low-key study of a farmer, Mitsuo Wada, in 1980s Japan when modernization and urbanization were threatening rural areas...
and Crazy Fruit
Crazy Fruit
is a 1981 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kichitaro Negishi. Both this film and the earlier version by Nikkatsu, Crazed Fruit, were based on the novel by Shintarō Ishihara.-Synopsis:...
.
Early career - Nikkatsu
Negishi graduated from Waseda UniversityWaseda University
, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
in the Faculty of Theatre and Film Arts, and as with several other filmmakers of his generation, began his career directing Roman porno films for the Nikkatsu
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...
studio. He worked as Assistant Director on Toshiya Fujita
Toshiya Fujita (director)
, also known as Shigeya Fujita, was a Japanese filmmaker, film actor, and screenwriter. He was born in Pyongyang, Korea. After graduating from Tokyo University, he entered the Nikkatsu studio in 1955 and made his debut as a director in 1967. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award...
's March 1978 , based on the French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses
Les Liaisons dangereuses
Les Liaisons dangereuses is a French epistolary novel by Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782....
, but his debut as a director for Nikkatsu was with the June 1978 erotic thriller From Orion's Testimony: Formula For Murder. The young Negishi's success with this film was a factor in Nikkatsu's decision to focus more on projects emphasizing story.
After a disappointing second feature High School Girl, Negishi returned to form with the box office hit Wet Weekend
Wet Weekend
is a 1979 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kichitaro Negishi and starring Junko Miyashita.-Synopsis:Miyashita plays an office clerk who is having an affair with her married boss...
, which won the 9th Best Film award at the 1979 Yokohama Film Festival
Yokohama Film Festival
The is a noticed yearly awards ceremony held in Japan. The festival was started as a small affair by fans and film critics, and first held on February 3, 1980. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year, and various awards are given to personnel...
. Negishi's next film for Nikkatsu, Rape Ceremony was a tale of disaffected youth concerning a feud between former motorcycle gang members and the high school boys who once idolized them and now accuse them of selling out to the system. In the June 1980 "Never in the Morning" Negishi uses the office romance sex-farce plot to poke fun at contemporary morality and sexual double standards.
Negishi began 1981 with Female Teacher: Dirty After School, the third entry in the 8 episode "Female Teacher" series from Nikkatsu, all based loosely on Noboru Tanaka
Noboru Tanaka
was a Japanese film director best known known for his Roman Porno films, including three critically respected films known as the Showa trilogy: A Woman Called Sada Abe , Watcher in the Attic , and Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture! , all three starring Nikkatsu Roman porno queen Junko Miyashita...
's 1973 hit film for Nikkatsu, Female Teacher: Private Life. Negishi's film is considered to be one of the best in the series and he was by this time one of Nikkatsu's top directors. His second film in 1981, Crazy Fruit
Crazy Fruit
is a 1981 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kichitaro Negishi. Both this film and the earlier version by Nikkatsu, Crazed Fruit, were based on the novel by Shintarō Ishihara.-Synopsis:...
, another story of alienated youth, was based on a 1956 Nikkatsu film Crazed Fruit
Crazed Fruit
, also known as Juvenile Jungle, is a 1956 Japanese Sun Tribe film directed by Kō Nakahira. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Shintaro Ishihara, the older brother of Yujiro Ishihara.- Cast :* Masahiko Tsugawa - Haruji...
, made before the studio's Roman porno period.
Into mainstream film
Negishi made his breakthrough into mainstream film with his October 1981 EnraiEnrai
or Distant Thunder is a 1981 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Enrai is a low-key study of a farmer, Mitsuo Wada, in 1980s Japan when modernization and urbanization were threatening rural areas...
or Distant Thunder, produced by ATG
Art Theatre Guild
Art Theatre Guild was a film production company in Japan that started in 1961 and ran through to the mid 1980s. ATG, as it is abbreviated, released mostly Japanese New Wave films. Films released by ATG include Nagisa Oshima's Diary Of A Shinjuku Thief , Toshio Matsumoto's masterpiece Funeral...
, New Century Producers (NCP) and Nikkatsu. This film, with its detailed realism and complexity, along with his earlier Roman porno feature Crazy Fruit, won him the Best Director award at the 1982 Yokohama Film Festival
Yokohama Film Festival
The is a noticed yearly awards ceremony held in Japan. The festival was started as a small affair by fans and film critics, and first held on February 3, 1980. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year, and various awards are given to personnel...
. Negishi made one more Roman porno film for Nikkatsu, the June 1982 Cabaret Diary, a satirical look at hostesses and clients in a topless bar in Tokyo's Kabukichō district. Negishi left Nikkatsu after this film and was one of the founding members of Director's Company
Director's Company
was a Japanese film production company created in 1982 to provide a venue outside the major studio system for young proven filmmakers to grow artistically...
along with eight other young directors.
Soon afterwards he made the light comedy My Wedding (Oretchi no uedingu) followed by the July 1983 thriller Detective Story
Detective Story (1983 film)
is a 1983 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Naomi is a rich university student about to leave on a trip to America. Her father hires detective Shuichi Tsujiyama to watch over her, a situation that pleases neither Naomi or Shuichi. Things get complicated when Shuichi's ex-wife is...
, starring Yusaku Matsuda
Yusaku Matsuda
was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to a Zainichi Korean mother. His father is not known. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.-Career:...
in a mixture of romance and mystery. Negishi received much favorable notice from his 1986 drama Uhohho tankentai
House of Wedlock
is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Tokiko Enomoto finds out that her husband Kazuya, who mostly lives at an apartment near his work while she and their children live at home, has been having an affair with a live-in mistress, Ryōko, at his apartment...
(literally "Ooh! Exploration Party") written by fellow director Yoshimitsu Morita. The movie, produced by Director's Company
Director's Company
was a Japanese film production company created in 1982 to provide a venue outside the major studio system for young proven filmmakers to grow artistically...
and released by Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
, won the Best Film award at the 1987 Yokohama Film Festival
Yokohama Film Festival
The is a noticed yearly awards ceremony held in Japan. The festival was started as a small affair by fans and film critics, and first held on February 3, 1980. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year, and various awards are given to personnel...
as well as the Best Film prize at the Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
, and was cited as "one of the forerunners of Japanese new age movies in the 80s." Also favorably received was his next project, the 1987 Eien no 1/2
Eien no 1/2
, literally Half of Eternity, is a 1987 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:An unemployed young man who has just broken up with his girlfriend meets a woman at a bicycle race...
, a modern, urban love story based on the novel by Shōgo Satō, which took the 4th Best Film award at the 1988 Yokohama Film Festival
Yokohama Film Festival
The is a noticed yearly awards ceremony held in Japan. The festival was started as a small affair by fans and film critics, and first held on February 3, 1980. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year, and various awards are given to personnel...
.
Despite his success in the late 1980s, Negishi worked only sparingly for the next 15 years: a 1992 film based on the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Kachō Kōsaku Shima
Kacho Kosaku Shima
is the first in a number of Japanese manga series, by Kenshi Hirokane, about a fictional salaryman named Kōsaku Shima. The series ran from 1983-1992 under this title, winning the 1991 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category. It depicts the life of a salaryman, a Japanese white-collar worker...
, the short feature Chibusa about a man (Kaoru Kobayashi
Kaoru Kobayashi (actor)
is a Japanese actor born in Kyoto. He won the award for best actor at the 30th Yokohama Film Festival and the award for best supporting actor at the 8th Yokohama Film Festival for Sorobanzuku.- Films:Kobayashi has appeared in a vast number of films among them:...
) caring for his leukemia-stricken wife, and Kizuna (1998), a thriller about a former yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
with Kōji Yakusho and Ken Watanabe
Ken Watanabe
is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best...
.
Later career
After several years away from filmmaking, Negishi returned in 2004 with Tōkō no ki (literally "Translucent Tree"), an adult romantic drama about a documentary filmmaker and the daughter of the subject of one of his films from 25 years earlier. A year later, What the Snow Brings, a low key drama about a prodigal son returning home to his family in HokkaidoHokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, brought Negishi recognition in Japan with Best Director awards from the 2006 Hochi Film Awards, the 2007 Kinema Junpo Awards, the 2007 Mainichi Film Concours, the 2006 Nikkan Sports Film Awards, and the 2005 Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
, and international exposure at the 2007 Raindance Film Festival
Raindance Film Festival
Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates from various cities including: London, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin and Brussels...
.
Negishi's 2009 melodrama, Villon's Wife
Villon's Wife
is a 2009 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Sachi is the long-suffering wife of popular novelist Otani in post-World War II Japan. Brilliant but self-destructive, Otani spends his days drinking, running up debts, and looking for inspiration with other women...
, about an author and his long-suffering wife in post-war Japan, received ten nominations at the 2010 Japan Academy Awards including Best Film and Best Director. As in previous films, Negishi was able to evoke strong performances from his leads with Takako Matsu
Takako Matsu
, born , is a Japanese actress and pop singer/songwriter born on June 10, 1977 in Tokyo, Japan. The style of her music is often laid-back and relaxing.- Profile :* Interests: Watching movies and stage plays...
winning several Best Actress awards. The film also brought Negishi a Best Director award from the 2009 Montreal World Film Festival
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival , founded in 1977, is one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF...
.