Nagisa Oshima
Encyclopedia
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 (愛と希望の街; Ai to kibō no machi) in 1959
.
(青春残酷物語), The Sun's Burial (太陽の墓場) and Night and Fog in Japan
(日本の夜と霧) all followed in 1960. The last of these 1960 films explored - in challenging fashion - Ōshima's disillusionment with the traditional political left, and his frustrations with the right, and Shochiku withdrew the film from circulation after less than a week, claiming that, following the recent assassination of the Socialist Party leader by a right-wing extremist, there was a risk of “unrest”. Ōshima left the studio in response, and launched his own independent production company. Despite the controversy, Night And Fog In Japan was placed tenth in that year's Kinema Jumpos best-films poll (among Japanese critics), and it has subsequently amassed considerable acclaim abroad.
Subsequently, Ōshima directed The Catch (1961), based on a novella
by Kenzaburō Ōe
about the relationship between a wartime Japanese village and a captured African American
serviceman. The Catch has not traditionally been viewed as one of Ōshima's major works, though it did notably introduce a thematic exploration of bigotry
and xenophobia
, themes which would explored in greater depth in the later documentary Diary Of Yunbogi (1965), and the feature films Death By Hanging
and Three Resurrected Drunkards, both from 1968.
Ōshima then embarked upon a period of work in television, producing a series of documentaries; notably among them 1965's Diary Of Yunbogi. Based upon an examination of the lives of street children in Seoul
, it was made by Ōshima after a trip to South Korea
.
One of Ōshima's more formally unusual films was Band of Ninja (1967), an adaptation of the popular manga
by Sampei Shirato, Ninja Bugei-chō, a 16th-century saga of oppressed peasants and deadly ninja
. It is not a live-action film, or even an animated one; Ōshima simply photographed close-ups of Shirato's drawings and added voices. Ōshima had used the technique previously in some documentaries, and a willingness to make use of unorthodox techniques was an indication of the mature period of experimentalism which would soon surface in Ōshima's work. The film managed to become a modest critical and commercial success in Japan.
Ōshima directed three features in 1968. The first of these - Death By Hanging
(1968) presented the story of the failed execution of a young Korean
for rape and murder, and was loosely based upon an actual crime and execution which had taken place in 1958. The film utilizes non-realistic "distancing" techniques after the fashion of Brecht or Godard
to examine Japan's record of racial discrimination against its Korean minority, incorporating elements of farce
and political satire
, and a number of visual techniques associated with the cinematic new wave in a densely layered narrative. It was placed third in Kinema Jumpos 1968 poll, and has also garnered significant attention globally. Death By Hanging inaugurated a string of films (continuing through 1976's In the Realm of the Senses
) that clarified a number of Ōshima's key themes, most notably a need to question social constraints, and to similarly deconstruct received political doctrines.
Months later, Diary Of A Shinjuku Thief
- unites a number of Ōshima's thematic concerns, within a dense, collage-style presentation. Featuring a title which alludes to Jean Genet
's The Thief's Journal
, the film explores the links between sexual and political radicalism, specifically examining the day-to-day life of a would-be radical whose sexual desires take the form of kleptomania
. The fragmented narrative is interrupted by commentators, including an underground noh
performance troupe, a psychoanalyst, and an impromptu symposium
featuring actors from previous Ōshima films (along with Ōshima himself), all dissecting varied aspects of shifting sexual politics, as embodied by various characters within the film.
Boy (1969), based on another real-life case, was the story of a family who use their child to make money by deliberately getting involved in road accidents and making the drivers pay compensation.
(1971) was a satirical
look at Japanese attitudes, famously expressed in a scene where a marriage ceremony has to go ahead even though the bride is not present.
Ōshima is best known for In the Realm of the Senses
(Ai no korīda; 愛のコリーダ 1976), a film based on a true story of fatal sexual obsession
in 1930s Japan. Ōshima, a critic of censorship and his contemporary Akira Kurosawa
's humanism, was determined that the film should feature unsimulated sex and thus the undeveloped film had to be transported to France
to be processed and an uncensored version of the movie is still unavailable in Japan.
In his 1978 companion film to In the Realm of the Senses, Empire of Passion
(Ai no bōrei; 愛の亡霊), Ōshima took a more restrained approach to depicting the sexual passions of the two lovers driven to murder, and the film won the 1978 Cannes Film Festival
award for best director.
, which is set in a wartime prison camp, and features David Bowie
and Ryūichi Sakamoto
as examples of Western and Eastern military virtue. Max, Mon Amour
(1986), written with Luis Buñuel
's frequent collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière
, was a comedy about a diplomat's wife (Charlotte Rampling
) whose love affair with a chimpanzee
is quietly incorporated into an eminently civilised ménage à trois
.
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, he served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan
. (He actually won the inaugural Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award
in 1960.)
In 1996 Ōshima suffered a stroke, but he returned to directing in 1999 with the period piece Taboo
(Gohatto), featuring Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence actor Takeshi Kitano
and music by co-star and composer Ryūichi Sakamoto
. Oshima has since suffered two more strokes, so future films are unlikely.
A collection of Ōshima's essays and articles was published in English in 1993 as Cinema, Censorship and the State (ISBN 0-262-65039-8). A critical study by Maureen Turim, The Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese Iconoclast (ISBN 0-520-20666-5) appeared in 1998.
Nagisa Ōshima currently lives in Fujisawa
in Kanagawa Prefecture
.
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:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. After graduating from Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
he was hired by Shochiku Ltd.
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope (愛と希望の街; Ai to kibō no machi) in 1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
.
1960s
Ōshima's cinematic career and influence developed very swiftly, and early watershed films Cruel Story of YouthCruel Story Of Youth
, was the second film directed by Nagisa Oshima.Oshima, who was only 28 at the time, made extensive use of hand-held cameras and location shooting, and the results drew comparisons to the French nouvelle vague filmmakers emerging at around the same time; the film became one of the primary films in...
(青春残酷物語), The Sun's Burial (太陽の墓場) and Night and Fog in Japan
Night and Fog in Japan
is a 1960 film from Japanese director Nagisa Oshima. It is an intensely political film- both in subject matter and in thematic concerns such as political memory and the interpersonal dynamics of social movements.- Plot :In 1960, uninvited guests interrupt the wedding ceremony between Nozawa, a...
(日本の夜と霧) all followed in 1960. The last of these 1960 films explored - in challenging fashion - Ōshima's disillusionment with the traditional political left, and his frustrations with the right, and Shochiku withdrew the film from circulation after less than a week, claiming that, following the recent assassination of the Socialist Party leader by a right-wing extremist, there was a risk of “unrest”. Ōshima left the studio in response, and launched his own independent production company. Despite the controversy, Night And Fog In Japan was placed tenth in that year's Kinema Jumpos best-films poll (among Japanese critics), and it has subsequently amassed considerable acclaim abroad.
Subsequently, Ōshima directed The Catch (1961), based on a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by Kenzaburō Ōe
Kenzaburo Oe
is a Japanese author and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His works, strongly influenced by French and American literature and literary theory, deal with political, social and philosophical issues including nuclear weapons, social non-conformism and existentialism.Ōe was awarded...
about the relationship between a wartime Japanese village and a captured African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
serviceman. The Catch has not traditionally been viewed as one of Ōshima's major works, though it did notably introduce a thematic exploration of bigotry
Bigotry
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
, themes which would explored in greater depth in the later documentary Diary Of Yunbogi (1965), and the feature films Death By Hanging
Death by Hanging
is a 1968 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, acclaimed for its innovative Brechtian techniques and complex treatments of guilt and consciousness, justice, and the persecution of ethnic Koreans in Japan.- Plot synopsis :...
and Three Resurrected Drunkards, both from 1968.
Ōshima then embarked upon a period of work in television, producing a series of documentaries; notably among them 1965's Diary Of Yunbogi. Based upon an examination of the lives of street children in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, it was made by Ōshima after a trip to South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
One of Ōshima's more formally unusual films was Band of Ninja (1967), an adaptation of the popular 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...
by Sampei Shirato, Ninja Bugei-chō, a 16th-century saga of oppressed peasants and deadly ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
. It is not a live-action film, or even an animated one; Ōshima simply photographed close-ups of Shirato's drawings and added voices. Ōshima had used the technique previously in some documentaries, and a willingness to make use of unorthodox techniques was an indication of the mature period of experimentalism which would soon surface in Ōshima's work. The film managed to become a modest critical and commercial success in Japan.
Ōshima directed three features in 1968. The first of these - Death By Hanging
Death by Hanging
is a 1968 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, acclaimed for its innovative Brechtian techniques and complex treatments of guilt and consciousness, justice, and the persecution of ethnic Koreans in Japan.- Plot synopsis :...
(1968) presented the story of the failed execution of a young Korean
Korean people
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...
for rape and murder, and was loosely based upon an actual crime and execution which had taken place in 1958. The film utilizes non-realistic "distancing" techniques after the fashion of Brecht or Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
to examine Japan's record of racial discrimination against its Korean minority, incorporating elements of farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
and political satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, and a number of visual techniques associated with the cinematic new wave in a densely layered narrative. It was placed third in Kinema Jumpos 1968 poll, and has also garnered significant attention globally. Death By Hanging inaugurated a string of films (continuing through 1976's 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...
) that clarified a number of Ōshima's key themes, most notably a need to question social constraints, and to similarly deconstruct received political doctrines.
Months later, Diary Of A Shinjuku Thief
Diary of a Shinjuku Thief
is a 1968 Japanese New Wave film by Nagisa Oshima.-Synopsis:The film centers around Birdie, a young, Japanese book thief who soon is caught by a woman named Umeko...
- unites a number of Ōshima's thematic concerns, within a dense, collage-style presentation. Featuring a title which alludes to Jean Genet
Jean Genet
Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
's The Thief's Journal
The Thief's Journal
The Thief's Journal is perhaps Jean Genet's most famous work. It is a part- fact, part-fiction autobiography that charts the author's progress through Europe in a curiously depoliticized 1930s, wearing nothing but rags and enduring hunger, contempt, fatigue and vice. Spain, Italy, Austria,...
, the film explores the links between sexual and political radicalism, specifically examining the day-to-day life of a would-be radical whose sexual desires take the form of kleptomania
Kleptomania
Kleptomania is an irresistible urge to steal items of trivial value. People with this disorder are compelled to steal things, generally, but not limited to, objects of little or no significant value, such as pens, paper clips, paper and tape...
. The fragmented narrative is interrupted by commentators, including an underground noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
performance troupe, a psychoanalyst, and an impromptu symposium
Symposium
In ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues, Plato's Symposium and Xenophon's Symposium, as well as a number of Greek poems such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara...
featuring actors from previous Ōshima films (along with Ōshima himself), all dissecting varied aspects of shifting sexual politics, as embodied by various characters within the film.
Boy (1969), based on another real-life case, was the story of a family who use their child to make money by deliberately getting involved in road accidents and making the drivers pay compensation.
1970s
The CeremonyThe Ceremony
is a 1971 film from Japanese director Nagisa Oshima. The film takes place in postwar Japan, following a Japanese clan through their wedding and funeral ceremonies, and the lengths the family goes to preserve their traditions in spite of the damage it causes to the younger generations.- Plot summary...
(1971) was a satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
look at Japanese attitudes, famously expressed in a scene where a marriage ceremony has to go ahead even though the bride is not present.
Ōshima is best known for 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...
(Ai no korīda; 愛のコリーダ 1976), a film based on a true story of fatal sexual obsession
Sada Abe
is remembered in Japan for erotically asphyxiating her lover, , on May 18, 1936, and then cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her handbag...
in 1930s Japan. Ōshima, a critic of censorship and his contemporary Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's humanism, was determined that the film should feature unsimulated sex and thus the undeveloped film had to be transported to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to be processed and an uncensored version of the movie is still unavailable in Japan.
In his 1978 companion film to In the Realm of the Senses, Empire of Passion
Empire of Passion
is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It was Japan's submission to the 51st Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee...
(Ai no bōrei; 愛の亡霊), Ōshima took a more restrained approach to depicting the sexual passions of the two lovers driven to murder, and the film won the 1978 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
award for best director.
1980s and 1990s
In 1983 Ōshima had a critical success with a film made partly in English, Merry Christmas, Mr. LawrenceMerry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a 1983 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, produced by Jeremy Thomas and starring Jack Thompson, David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yuya Uchida, and Takeshi Kitano.It was written by Oshima and Paul Mayersberg and based on Laurens van der Post's experiences...
, which is set in a wartime prison camp, and features David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Ryūichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
as examples of Western and Eastern military virtue. Max, Mon Amour
Max, Mon Amour
Max mon amour aka Max, My Love is a 1986 film directed by Nagisa Oshima and starring Charlotte Rampling, Anthony Higgins, Victoria Abril, Pierre Étaix and Milena Vukotic...
(1986), written with Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
's frequent collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière is a screenwriter and actor. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel...
, was a comedy about a diplomat's wife (Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
) whose love affair with a chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
is quietly incorporated into an eminently civilised ménage à trois
Ménage à trois
Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...
.
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, he served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan
Directors Guild of Japan
The is a trade union created to represent the interests of film directors in the film industry in Japan. It was founded in 1936, with Minoru Murata serving as the first president, and has continued to this day apart from a period between 1943 and 1949 when it was disbanded at first on orders from...
. (He actually won the inaugural Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award
Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award
The is given annually by the Directors Guild of Japan to a new director of a film released that year who is considered the most "suitable" for the award. The winner is selected by a committee formed of DGJ members. All formats—feature film, documentary, television, video, etc.—are eligible for...
in 1960.)
In 1996 Ōshima suffered a stroke, but he returned to directing in 1999 with the period piece Taboo
Taboo (1999 film)
is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It shows life in a samurai training school during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century, specifically concentrating on the issue of homosexuality in the shudō tradition in the partially-closed environment.-Plot...
(Gohatto), featuring Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence actor Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
and music by co-star and composer Ryūichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
. Oshima has since suffered two more strokes, so future films are unlikely.
A collection of Ōshima's essays and articles was published in English in 1993 as Cinema, Censorship and the State (ISBN 0-262-65039-8). A critical study by Maureen Turim, The Films of Oshima Nagisa: Images of a Japanese Iconoclast (ISBN 0-520-20666-5) appeared in 1998.
Nagisa Ōshima currently lives in Fujisawa
Fujisawa, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 407,731 and a population density of 5,870 people per km². The total area is 69.51 km²-Geography:...
in Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
.
2000s
In 2008, curator James Quandt of Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto put together a retrospective of Oshima's work that toured North America in 2008-2009.Filmography
| Year | English title | Japanese title | Romaji | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Tomorrow's Sun | 明日の太陽 | Ashita no taiyō | Short (7 min), color. |
| 1959 | A Street of Love and Hope | 愛と希望の街 | Ai to kibō no machi | 62 min, B&W. |
| 1960 | Cruel Story of Youth Cruel Story Of Youth , was the second film directed by Nagisa Oshima.Oshima, who was only 28 at the time, made extensive use of hand-held cameras and location shooting, and the results drew comparisons to the French nouvelle vague filmmakers emerging at around the same time; the film became one of the primary films in... |
青春残酷物語 | Sēshun zankoku monogatari | 96 min, color. |
| 1960 | The Sun's Burial | 太陽の墓場 | Taiyō no hakaba | 87 min, color. |
| 1960 | Night and Fog in Japan Night and Fog in Japan is a 1960 film from Japanese director Nagisa Oshima. It is an intensely political film- both in subject matter and in thematic concerns such as political memory and the interpersonal dynamics of social movements.- Plot :In 1960, uninvited guests interrupt the wedding ceremony between Nozawa, a... |
日本の夜と霧 | Nihon no yoru to kiri | 107 min, color. |
| 1961 | The Catch | 飼育 | Shiiku | 105 min, B&W. |
| 1962 | The Rebel | 天草四郎時貞 | Amakusa shirō tokisada | 101 min, B&W. |
| 1963 | A Small Child's First Adventure | 小さな冒険旅行 | Chiisana bōken ryokō | 60 min, color. |
| 1964 | It's Me Here, Bellett | 私はベレット | Watashi wa beretto | 60 min, color. |
| 1965 | The Pleasures of the Flesh | 悦楽 | Etsuraku | 90 min, color. |
| 1965 | Yunbogi's Diary | ユンボギの日記 | Yunbogi no nikki | 24 min, B&W. |
| 1966 | Violence at High Noon | 白昼の通り魔 | Hakuchū no tōrima | 99 min, B&W. |
| 1967 | Tales of the Ninja/Band of Ninja | 忍者武芸帳 | Ninja bugei-chō | 131 min, B&W. |
| 1967 | Sing a Song of Sex (A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs) | 日本春歌考 | Nihon shunka-kō | 103 min, color. |
| 1967 | Double Suicide: Japanese Summer | 無理心中日本の夏 | Muri shinjū: Nihon no natsu | 98 min, B&W. |
| 1968 | Death by Hanging Death by Hanging is a 1968 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, acclaimed for its innovative Brechtian techniques and complex treatments of guilt and consciousness, justice, and the persecution of ethnic Koreans in Japan.- Plot synopsis :... |
絞死刑 | Kōshikē | 117 min, B&W. |
| 1968 | Three Resurrected Drunkards | 帰って来たヨッパライ | Kaette kita yopparai | 80 min, color. |
| 1969 | Diary of a Shinjuku Thief Diary of a Shinjuku Thief is a 1968 Japanese New Wave film by Nagisa Oshima.-Synopsis:The film centers around Birdie, a young, Japanese book thief who soon is caught by a woman named Umeko... |
新宿泥棒日記 | Shinjuku dorobō nikki | 94 min, B&W/color. |
| 1969 | Boy | 少年 | Shōnen | 97 min, color. |
| 1970 | Man Who Left His Will On Film | 東京戰争戦後秘話 | Tōkyō sensō sengo hiwa | 94 min, B&W. |
| 1971 | The Ceremony | 儀式 | Gishiki | 123 min, color. |
| 1972 | Dear Summer Sister | 夏の妹 | Natsu no Imōto | 96 min, color. |
| 1976 | 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... |
愛のコリーダ | Ai no corrida | 104 min, color. |
| 1978 | Empire of Passion Empire of Passion is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It was Japan's submission to the 51st Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee... |
愛の亡霊 | Ai no bōrē | 108 min, color. |
| 1983 | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a 1983 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, produced by Jeremy Thomas and starring Jack Thompson, David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yuya Uchida, and Takeshi Kitano.It was written by Oshima and Paul Mayersberg and based on Laurens van der Post's experiences... |
戦場のメリークリスマス | Senjō no merī Kurisumasu | 123 min, color, UK/Japan. |
| 1986 | Max, Mon Amour Max, Mon Amour Max mon amour aka Max, My Love is a 1986 film directed by Nagisa Oshima and starring Charlotte Rampling, Anthony Higgins, Victoria Abril, Pierre Étaix and Milena Vukotic... |
マックス、モン・アムール | Makkusu, Mon Amūru | 97 min, color. France/USA/Japan. |
| 1999 | Taboo Taboo (1999 film) is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It shows life in a samurai training school during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century, specifically concentrating on the issue of homosexuality in the shudō tradition in the partially-closed environment.-Plot... |
御法度 | Gohatto | 100 min, color. |
TV documentaries
- Kōri no naka no sēshun (Youth on Ice, 1962, documentary, 25 min) (TV)
- Wasurerareta kōgun (The Forgotten Army, 1963, documentary, 25 min) (TV)
- Sēshun no ishibumi (The Tomb of Youth, 1964, documentary, 40 min) (TV)
- Hankotsu no toride (A Rebel's Fortress, 1964, documentary, 25 min) (TV)
- Gimē shōjo (1964) (TV)
- Chita Niseigo taihēyō ōdan (Crossing the Pacific on the Chita Niseigo, 1964) (TV)
- Aru kokutetsu-jōmuin (A National Railway Worker, 1964) (TV)
- Aogeba tōtoshi (Ode to an Old Teacher, 1964) (TV)
- Aisurebakoso (Why I Love You, 1964) (TV)
- Ajia no akebono (1964) (TV)
- Gyosen sonansu (The Trawler Incident, 1965) (TV)
- Daitōa sensō (The Pacific War, 1968) (TV)
- Mō-takutō to bunka daikakumē (Mao Tse-Tung and the Cultural Revolution, 1969) (TV)
- Kyojin-gun (The Giants, 1972) (TV)
- Joi! Bangla (1972) (TV)
- Goze: Mōmoku no onna-tabigēnin (The Journey of the Blind Musicians, 1972) (TV)
- Bengal no chichi laman (1973) (TV)
- Ikiteiru nihonkai-kaisen (1975) (TV)
- The Battle of Tsushima (1975, documentary, 50 min)
- Ōgon no daichi Bengal (The Golden Land of Bengal, 1976) (TV)
- Ikiteiru umi no bohyō (The Sunken Tomb, 1976) (TV)
- Ikiteiru gyokusai no shima (The Isle of the Final Battle, 1976, documentary, 25 min) (TV)
- Denki mō-takutō (The Life of Mao, 1976) (TV)
- Yokoi shōichi: guamu-to 28 nen no nazo o ou (Yokoi and His Twenty-Eight Years of Secret Life on Guam, 1977) (TV)
- Shisha wa itsumademo wakai (1977) (TV)
- Kyōto, My Mother's Place (1991)
- 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (1994) (TV)