Koji Wakamatsu
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
film director
who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima
's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses
(1976). He has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s."
His 2010 film, Caterpillar
, was nominated for the Golden Bear
at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival
.
, Miyagi
, Japan
on 1 April 1936. Wakamatsu worked as a construction worker before beginning his film career with Nikkatsu
in 1963.
's 1964 Daydream
. Nikkatsu submitted his (also known as Secrets Behind the Wall
) (1965) to the 15th Berlin International Film Festival
while the film was still under review by Eirin
, the Japanese film-rating board. This submission before passing Eirin's review was doubly embarrassing for the government since pink films, though already emerging as the dominant domestic cinematic genre, were not regarded as worthy of critical attention or international export. The film received an enthusiastic reception at the festival, but Nikkatsu, fearful of governmental retaliatory action, gave it a low-profile domestic release. Disappointed, Wakamatsu quit the studio to form his own company.
Wakamatsu's independent films of the late 1960s were very low-budget, but often artistically done works, usually concerned with sex and extreme violence mixed with political messages. Some critics have suggested that these films were an intentional provocation to the government, in order to generate free publicity resulting from censorship controversies. His films were usually produced for less than 1,000,000 yen (about $5,000), necessitating extreme cost-cutting measures including location shooting, single-takes, and natural lighting. His early films were usually in black and white with occasional bursts of color for theatrical effect.
His first self-produced film was , a story of a man who kidnaps, tortures and sexually abuses a woman until she finally escapes and stabs him to death. Freeze-frames
, flash-backs, hand-held camera
and locations limited to two rooms and a hallway add to the film's disturbing, claustrophobic
atmosphere. was a parody of Imamura
's A Man Vanishes
(1967). In Wakamatsu's film, a man leaves his family in Tokyo to travel and engage in various sexual escapades. When he returns home he finds out that his wife is starring in Imamura's documentary about her search for her missing husband.
was based on the murder of eight nursing students in the U.S. by Richard Speck
. was based on a serial-rapist case in Japan after World War II. is loosely based on the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family in the same year. With , he tried "to show how the revolutionary movements are always infiltrated by the moles working for the government". One of his most critically esteemed films is , which has been called a "'text book example' for the use of metaphor and symbolism in contemporary cinema."
was based on the "Asama-Sansō incident
". Long and harsh, this movie includes a long documentary part about the political background that led to this tragedy and the self-destruction of the Japanese radical left.
While directing many successful and critically praised Pink Films, Wakamatsu also became known for giving young filmmakers their first experience in working in the industry. Among those whose early careers were helped by Wakamatsu are Banmei Takahashi
, Genji Nakamura and Kan Mukai
.
His 2010 film, Caterpillar
, competed for the Golden Bear
at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival
.
In 2011, a new movie on the last days of acclaimed novelist and political activist Yukio Mishima
, focusing on the stream of events leading to the so-called Ichigaya incident of November 25th, 1970, was announced as being on its stage of full completion.
The film entitled "11.25 Jiketsu No Hi, Mishima Yukio To Wakamonotachi" [11.25自決の日、三島由紀夫と若者たち] features Japanese actor Arata
as Mishima, and is expected to be released sometime in late 2011 or 2012.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
film director
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:...
who directed such pinku eiga films as and . He also produced Nagisa Ōshima
Nagisa Oshima
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
's controversial film In the Realm of the Senses
In the Realm of the Senses
is a 1976 Franco-Japanese romantic drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima. It is a fictionalised and sexually explicit treatment of an incident from 1930s Japan, that of Sada Abe...
(1976). He has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s."
His 2010 film, Caterpillar
Caterpillar (film)
is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, partially drawn from Edogawa Rampo's banned short-story .The film is a critique of the right-wing militarist nationalism that guided Japan's conduct in Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The film deals with various...
, was nominated for the Golden Bear
Golden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival
60th Berlin International Film Festival
The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to February 21, 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama Apart Together, in competition, while the closing film is Japanese...
.
Early life
Kōji Wakamatsu was born in WakuyaWakuya, Miyagi
is a town located in Tōda District, Miyagi, Japan.As of 2010, the town has an estimated population of 17,417 and a population density of 212 persons per km².-Train stations:* Ishinomaki Line: Kami-Wakuya - Wakuya* Kesennuma Line: Nonodake-External links:...
, Miyagi
Miyagi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on 1 April 1936. Wakamatsu worked as a construction worker before beginning his film career with 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:...
in 1963.
Career
Between 1963 and 1965, he directed 20 exploitation films for the studio, based on sensational topics of the day. He became interested in the Pink Film genre after the success of Tetsuji TakechiTetsuji Takechi
was a Japanese theatrical and film director, critic and author. First coming to prominence for his theatrical criticism, in the 1940s and 1950s he produced influential and popular experimental kabuki plays. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he continued his innovative theatrical work in noh, kyōgen and...
's 1964 Daydream
Daydream (1964 film)
is a 1964 Japanese Pink film. The first of these softcore pornographic films to have a big budget and a mainstream release in Japan, it was shown at the Venice Film Festival and given two releases in the United States. Director Tetsuji Takechi remade the film in hardcore versions in 1981 and 1987...
. Nikkatsu submitted his (also known as Secrets Behind the Wall
Secrets Behind the Wall
Secrets Behind the Wall is a 1965 Japanese film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu. It was entered into the 15th Berlin International Film Festival....
) (1965) to the 15th Berlin International Film Festival
15th Berlin International Film Festival
The 15th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 25 to July 6, 1965.-Jury:* John Gillett * Alexander Kluge* Ely Azeredo* Monique Berger* Kyushiro Kusakabe* Jerry Bresler* Karena Niehoff* Hans Jürgen Pohland...
while the film was still under review by Eirin
Eirin
is the abbreviated name for , Japan's movie regulator. Eirin was established on the model of the American Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America's Production Code Administration in June, 1949, on the instructions of the US occupation force...
, the Japanese film-rating board. This submission before passing Eirin's review was doubly embarrassing for the government since pink films, though already emerging as the dominant domestic cinematic genre, were not regarded as worthy of critical attention or international export. The film received an enthusiastic reception at the festival, but Nikkatsu, fearful of governmental retaliatory action, gave it a low-profile domestic release. Disappointed, Wakamatsu quit the studio to form his own company.
Wakamatsu's independent films of the late 1960s were very low-budget, but often artistically done works, usually concerned with sex and extreme violence mixed with political messages. Some critics have suggested that these films were an intentional provocation to the government, in order to generate free publicity resulting from censorship controversies. His films were usually produced for less than 1,000,000 yen (about $5,000), necessitating extreme cost-cutting measures including location shooting, single-takes, and natural lighting. His early films were usually in black and white with occasional bursts of color for theatrical effect.
His first self-produced film was , a story of a man who kidnaps, tortures and sexually abuses a woman until she finally escapes and stabs him to death. Freeze-frames
Freeze frame shot
A freeze frame shot is used when one shot is printed in a single frame several times, in order to make an interesting illusion of a still photograph....
, flash-backs, hand-held camera
Hand-held camera
Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a filmmaking and video production technique in which a camera is held in the camera operator's hands as opposed to being mounted on a tripod or other base. Hand-held cameras are used because they are conveniently sized for travel and because they allow...
and locations limited to two rooms and a hallway add to the film's disturbing, claustrophobic
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms...
atmosphere. was a parody of Imamura
Shohei Imamura
was a Japanese film director. Imamura was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d'Or awards.His eldest son Daisuke Tengan is also a script writer and film director, and worked on the screenplays to Imamura's filmsThe Eel , Dr...
's A Man Vanishes
A Man Vanishes
is a 1967 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. A Region 2 DVD release in the Masters of Cinema series is scheduled for October 2011.- Plot :On the face of it, a documentary about an ordinary man who—like many Japanese every year—disappears without trace, leaving his job and fiancee behind,...
(1967). In Wakamatsu's film, a man leaves his family in Tokyo to travel and engage in various sexual escapades. When he returns home he finds out that his wife is starring in Imamura's documentary about her search for her missing husband.
was based on the murder of eight nursing students in the U.S. by Richard Speck
Richard Speck
Richard Franklin Speck was a mass murderer who systematically tortured, raped and murdered eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on July 14, 1966.- Monmouth, 1941–1950 :...
. was based on a serial-rapist case in Japan after World War II. is loosely based on the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family in the same year. With , he tried "to show how the revolutionary movements are always infiltrated by the moles working for the government". One of his most critically esteemed films is , which has been called a "'text book example' for the use of metaphor and symbolism in contemporary cinema."
was based on the "Asama-Sansō incident
Asama-Sanso incident
The was a hostage crisis and police siege in a mountain lodge near Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture, Japan that lasted from February 19, 1972 to February 28, 1972...
". Long and harsh, this movie includes a long documentary part about the political background that led to this tragedy and the self-destruction of the Japanese radical left.
While directing many successful and critically praised Pink Films, Wakamatsu also became known for giving young filmmakers their first experience in working in the industry. Among those whose early careers were helped by Wakamatsu are Banmei Takahashi
Banmei Takahashi
is a Japanese film director. Takashi started his career in the pink film industry, making his directorial debut in 1972 with Escaped Rapist Criminal. Due to a disagreement with his producer, Takahashi quit the film industry for a couple years...
, Genji Nakamura and Kan Mukai
Kan Mukai
aka Hiroshi Mukai and was a Japanese film director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter, known for his pioneering work in the pink film genre...
.
His 2010 film, Caterpillar
Caterpillar (film)
is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, partially drawn from Edogawa Rampo's banned short-story .The film is a critique of the right-wing militarist nationalism that guided Japan's conduct in Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The film deals with various...
, competed for the Golden Bear
Golden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival
60th Berlin International Film Festival
The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 11 to February 21, 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama Apart Together, in competition, while the closing film is Japanese...
.
In 2011, a new movie on the last days of acclaimed novelist and political activist Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima
was the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
, focusing on the stream of events leading to the so-called Ichigaya incident of November 25th, 1970, was announced as being on its stage of full completion.
The film entitled "11.25 Jiketsu No Hi, Mishima Yukio To Wakamonotachi" [11.25自決の日、三島由紀夫と若者たち] features Japanese actor Arata
Arata (actor)
Arata is a Japanese actor from Tokyo, Japan. He writes his name in Japanese as ARATA using capital letters.-Filmography:* Wonderful Life * Shady Grove * Distance * Ping Pong...
as Mishima, and is expected to be released sometime in late 2011 or 2012.
Partial filmography
| English title | Japanese | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Secrets Behind the Wall Secrets Behind the Wall Secrets Behind the Wall is a 1965 Japanese film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu. It was entered into the 15th Berlin International Film Festival.... |
壁の中の秘事 | 1965 |
| The Embryo Hunts in Secret The Embryo Hunts in Secret , released in July 1966, is the first film made by Japanese director Kōji Wakamatsu independently of any movie studio. It was released just months after he had left Nikkatsu and formed his own company, Wakamatsu Productions.-Plot summary:... |
胎児が密猟する時 | 1966 |
| Vagabond of Sex | 性の放浪 | 1967 |
| Violated Angels Violated Angels is a film made by controversial Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu in 1967. Wakamatsu's most famous film, it is based on the mass murder spree of Richard Speck in 1966.- Plot :... |
犯された白衣 | 1967 |
| Go, Go Second Time Virgin Go, Go Second Time Virgin is a 1969 Japanese film by Kōji Wakamatsu. Acclaimed filmmaker Takeshi Kitano made his film debut as an extra.-Plot:Poppo, a teenage girl, is raped by four boys on the roof of a seven-story apartment building. She asks them to kill her, but they mock her and leave. Tsukio, a teenage boy, has been... |
ゆけゆけ二度目の処女 | 1969 |
| Dark Story of a Japanese Rapist | 日本暴行暗黒史 | 1969 |
| Sex jack | 性賊 | 1970 |
| Ecstasy of the Angels Ecstasy of the Angels is a later, more political, pink film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu.-Plot summary:The movie focuses on the actions of a revolutionary movement. One faction, with a leader called October, breaks into a US weapons depot and takes cases of hand bombs. While escaping several soldiers are killed and ... |
天使の恍惚 | 1972 |
| Sacred Mother Kannon | 聖母観音大菩薩 | 1977 |
| Ware ni utsu yoi ari Ware ni utsu yoi ari is a 1990 Japanese film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu.-Reception:It was chosen as the 2nd Best Film at the 12th Yokohama Film Festival. Keizō Kanie also won the Award for Best Actor. Renji Ishibashi won the Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 14th Japan Academy Prize and Yoshio Harada was nominated... |
われに撃つ用意あり | 1990 |
| Perfect Education 6 | 完全なる飼育 赤い殺意 | 2004 |
| United Red Army United Red Army (film) is an award-winning 2007 film written, directed and produced by Kōji Wakamatsu. It stars Akie Namiki as Hiroko Nagata and Go Jibiki as Tsuneo Mori, the leaders of Japan's leftist paramilitary group the United Red Army... |
連合赤軍 | 2008 |
| Caterpillar Caterpillar (film) is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Kōji Wakamatsu, partially drawn from Edogawa Rampo's banned short-story .The film is a critique of the right-wing militarist nationalism that guided Japan's conduct in Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The film deals with various... |
キャタピラー | 2010 |