Matsuo Kishi

Matsuo Kishi (岸松雄, Kishi Matsuo^?) (18 September 1906 – 17 August 1985) was a Japanese film critic, director, screenwriter, producer, and biographer. His real name was Aji Shūichirō. Born in Tokyo, he became interested in film from his days in high school and, continuing on to Keio University, began submitting reviews to magazines such as Kinema Junpo and editing theater programs. Starting a dōjinshi Eiga kaihō with Tsuneo Hazumi, Kishi became involved in the left-wing film movement of the late 1920s, eventually becoming a member of the Proletarian Film League of Japan (Prokino). He soon left out of dissatisfaction with such a political approach to film.^[1] In 1932, he became the first critic to champion the work of Sadao Yamanaka, and later was a strong supporter of the films of Hiroshi Shimizu.^[2] In 1937, he gave up being a film critic and became an assistant director at Toho, where he directed one film, Kazaguruma, in 1938 before concentrating on screenwriting. After the war, he mainly worked at Shintōhō, serving as producer on a few films, and wrote scripts for such directors as Shimizu and Mikio Naruse.^[2] All along he continued writing on film, especially penning numerous biographical accounts of the many people he knew in the Japanese film world.^[2]

References

1. ^ Nornes, Abé Mark (2003). Japanese Documentary Film: The Meiji Era through Hiroshima. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 26–28. ISBN 0816640459. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Ōsawa, Jō. "Kishi Matsuo to 1930-nendai eiga hihyō no airo". CineMagaziNet!. http://www.cmn.hs.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/CMN5/oosawa.html. Retrieved 25 February 2010. 

External links

• Matsuo Kishi at the Internet Movie Database
• Kishi Matsuo at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)
• Prewar Proletarian Film Movements Collection. Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. Full text of many publications, including some of Kishi's articles.

Persondata
Name	Kishi, Matsuo
Alternative names
Short description	Japanese film critic and screenwriter
Date of birth	18 September 1906
Place of birth	Tokyo
Date of death	17 August 1985
Place of death