Tatsumi Kumashiro

Infobox actor
name = Tatsumi Kumashiro


caption = Tatsumi Kumashiro (1927–1995), Japanese film director
birthdate = August 24, 1927
birthplace = Saga, Kyūshū, Japan
deathdate = death date and age|1995|2|24|1927|8|24
deathplace =
restingplace =
occupation = Film director
yearsactive = 1972–1995
awards = Kinema Jumpo (Cinema Biweekly) Awards: Best director and best screenplay for "Ichijo's Wet Lust" (1972)cite book |last=Weisser|first=Thomas|coauthors=Yuko Mihara Weisser|title=Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films|year=1998|publisher=Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications|location=Miami|isbn=1-88928-852-7|pages=p.204-205]

nihongo|Tatsumi Kumashiro|神代 辰巳|"Kumashiro Tatsumi"|April 24, 1927–February 24, 1995 was a Japanese film director best known known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning "Roman Porno" films, such as "Ichijo Sayuri: Wet Desire" ("Ichijo Sayuri: Nureta yokujo") (1972) and "The Woman with Red Hair" ("Akai kami no onna") (1979). He has been called, "the most consistently successful director in Japan's cinematic history,"Weisser, p.204.] and Allmovie calls him, "arguably the most important Japanese director to emerge during the 1970s."cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:98267~T1|first=Jonathan|last=Crow|title=Tatsumi Kumashiro (Biography)|accessdate=2007-03-09|work=at Allmovie|language=English]

Life and career

Early life

Kumashiro was born in Saga, on Japan's southernmost island of Kyūshū, the first son of a pharmaceuticals merchant. A judo master and descendant of "samurai" class, Kumashiro's father was a strict disciplinarian and a believer in the warrior philosophy of Yamamoto Tsunetomo as written in "Hagakure" and in Japan's military exploits of the 1930s and 1940s. Early in life Kumashiro rebelled by immersing himself in liberal thought, Western literature and film. During World War II, Kumashiro entered medical school as a means of avoiding the draft, but dropped out as soon as the war ended in Japan's defeat. He studied English literature at Waseda University, but, deciding he could not make a living writing novels, entered Shochiku studio as an assistant director in 1952, and moved to Nikkatsu in 1955.

Kumashiro worked as an assistant director and screenwriter until he was finally given a chance to direct in 1968. His debut film, "Fan Life", told the story of a stripper and her daughter who wished to join her mother's profession. The star of the movie, Hatsue Tonooka, would become Kumashiro's wife later in the year, though the marriage would end in divorce within a few months. The film was a critical success, but because it failed at the box-office Nikkatsu put Kumashiro's directing career on hold again. [Weisser, p.137-138.]

Directorial success

"My films are about people not biology."
-- Tatsumi Kumashiro [Weisser, p.257.]

In 1971, facing bankruptcy due to a loss of their audience to television, Nikkatsu decided to devote its facilities almost exclusively to theatrical soft-core pornography. Several directors, not wishing to work in pornography, left the studio, opening up vacant positions.cite web |url=http://www.filmquarterly.org/pdfs/article5701.pdf|title=A New View of Porn: The Films of Tatsumi Kumashiro|accessdate=2007-03-06 |last=Johnson|first=William|year=2003|format=PDF|work=Film Quarterly, vol. 57, no.1, Fall 2003|publisher=University of California Press|pages=p.12|language=English]

Nikkatsu gave its "Roman porno" directors a great deal of artistic freedom in their films, as long as they met the official minimum quota of four nude or sex scenes per hour. In this environment, at the age of 44, Kumashiro was given his second chance to direct. Though his later films would take full advantage of Nikkatsu's lenient policies by experimenting with cinematic time and space in an almost surreal manner, his first "Roman porno", "Wet Lips" ("Nureta Kuchibiru") (1972), was fairly simplistic. However, this story of a prostitute and her lover on the run after killing her pimp would prove to be a major critical and box-office success, and would establish Kumashiro's directorial career. [Weisser, p.494.]

His next film, "Ichijo's Wet Lust" (1972) was another hit with the critics and the public. Japan's most famous sex performer of the time, Sayuri Ichijo, [Johnson, p.14.] played the title role for which she won the important "Kinema Jumpo" prize for best actress. [cite web |first=J.|last=Hoberman|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0103,hoberman,21446,20.html|title=Waking the Dread... A Tatsumi Kumashiro Retrospective|language=Japanese|accessdate=2007-10-03|date=2001-01-17|work=The Village Voice] Accepting the best director and best script awards at the same ceremony, Kumashiro commented, "If I can shoot what I like without the pressure of how it will turn out, I am motivated."

For the next 20 years, Kumashiro would direct a string of financial and critical hits unprecedented in Japanese cinematic history, [Weisser, p.495.] completing ten films in 1972 and 1973 alone. His prolific and successful career during these years earned him the title, "King of Nikkatsu "Roman porno" Contrasting him with more mainstream filmmakers like Nagisa Oshima, who sometimes make use of pornographic elements in their films, "Film Quarterly"’s New York editor, William Johnson calls Kumashiro, "an indisputable maker of screen porn whose films also deserve 'serious' interest." [Johnson, pp.11-12.]

François Truffaut called Kumashiro's "The World of Geisha" (1973) a "great movie," adding, "The acting is perfect, and the film is humorous. In its praise for female beauty and derision for male stupidity lies the generous spirit of Jean Renoir." [cite web |url=http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=757|title="The World of Geisha (Yojohan Fusuma no urabari)"|accessdate=2007-06-21|language=English|work=Kino International]

Kumashiro's 1974 film, "Man and Woman Behind the Fusuma Screen: Enduring Skin" ("Yojo-han Fusuma No Urabari: Shinobi Hada") starred Nikkatsu's reigning "Roman porno" Queen, Junko Miyashita. Movie critic Tadao Sato called the film "a masterful porno film rich in emotion, anarchy, and nihilism." [cite book |last=Sato|first=Tadao|authorlink=Tadao Sato|editor=Gregory Barrett (translator)|title=Currents in Japanese Cinema|origyear=1982|edition=paperback|year=1987|publisher=Kodansha|location=Tokyo|language=English|pages=p.262|isbn=0-87011-815-3] Junko Miyashita would would win Hochi News award for best actress of 1979 after starring in Kumashiro's "Woman with Red Hair" ("Akai Kami No Onna") (1979), which has been called "one of the very best Nikkatsu pink films." [Weisser, p.514-515]

Death

In the 1980s, as the rising AV (Adult Video) industry took away most of the audience for the theatrical "Roman pornos", Kumashiro's health began failing. Though he suffered from a collapsed lung in 1983, he continued making films until his death. He directed his last two films, "Like a Rolling Stone" ("Bo no Kanashimi") (1994) and "Immoral: Indecent Relations" (1995) [Weisser, p.206.] while hooked up to an oxygen tank. He died of heart and lung failure on February 24, 1995.

Filmography

* (1968-04-13)
* (1972-01-29)
* (1972-10-07)
* (1973-03-24)
* (1973-05-23)
* (1973-07-14)
* (1973-11-03)
* (1974-01-03)
* (1974-02-16)
* (1974-05-04)
* (1974-06-29)
* (1974-09-21)
* 宵待草 (1974-12-28)
* 櫛の火 (1975-04-05)
* (1975-06-21)
* (1975-08-09)
* (1975-12-24)
* (1977-02-01)
* (1977-04-23)
* (1979-02-17)
* (1979-06-03)
* (1979-11-03)
* (1980-03-29)
* (1980-11-21)
* (1980-12-20)
* (1981-10-23)
* (1982-10-16)
* (1983-06-18)
* (1984-04-20)
* (1985-10-05)
* (1986-10-25)
* (1987-04-25)
* (1988-07-01)
* (1994-10-01)
* (1995-04-25) [Filmography from "FILMOGRAPHY: Director Tatsumi Kumashiro (1927-1995)" in "A Woman with Red Hair": A film by Tatsumi Kumashiro. (2003) Kimstim Collection DVD; Nikkatsu, Kino Video, Kimstim, Inc. KS2012; imdb name|id=0436770|name=Tatsumi Kumashiro; cite web |url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0203300.htm|title=神代辰巳 (Kumashiro Tatsumi)|language=Japanese|accessdate=2007-03-06|work= [http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/ JMDB] ; and cite book |last=Weisser|first=Thomas|coauthors=Yuko Mihara Weisser|title=Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films|year=1998|publisher=Vital Books : Asian Cult Cinema Publications|location=Miami|isbn=1-88928-852-7]

Notes

ources

* "FILMOGRAPHY: Director Tatsumi Kumashiro (1927-1995)" in "A Woman with Red Hair": A film by Tatsumi Kumashiro. (2003) Kimstim Collection DVD; Nikkatsu, Kino Video, Kimstim, Inc. KS2012.
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Persondata
NAME=Kumashiro, Tatsumi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Japanese Film director
DATE OF BIRTH=August 24 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH=Saga, Kyūshū, Japan
DATE OF DEATH=February 24 1995
PLACE OF DEATH=