Japanese film director and screenwriter (1930–2003)
Kinji Fukasaku 深作 欣二
Born
(1930-07-03)3 July 1930
Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
Died
12 January 2003(2003-01-12) (aged 72)
Tokyo, Japan
Occupations
Film director
Screenwriter
Years active
1961–2003
Title
President of the Directors Guild of Japan
Term
1996–2003
Predecessor
Nagisa Ōshima
Successor
Yoji Yamada
Spouse
Sanae Nakahara
Children
Kenta Fukasaku
Awards
Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year 1982 Dotonbori River & Fall Guy 1987 House on Fire 1995 Crest of Betrayal
Kinji Fukasaku (深作 欣二, Fukasaku Kinji, 3 July 1930 – 12 January 2003) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative filmmaking",[1] Fukasaku worked in many different genres and styles, but was best known for his gritty yakuza films, typified by the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series (1973–1976). According to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, "his turbulent energy and at times extreme violence express a cynical critique of social conditions and genuine sympathy for those left out of Japan's postwar prosperity."[2] He used a cinema verite-inspired shaky camera technique in many of his films from the early 1970s.[3][4]
Fukasaku wrote and directed over 60 films between 1961 and 2003. Some Western sources have associated him with the Japanese New Wave movement of the '60s and '70s, but this belies his commercial success.[5][6] His works include the Japanese portion of the Hollywood war film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), jidaigeki such as Shogun's Samurai (1978), the space opera Message from Space (1978), the post-apocalyptic science fiction film Virus (1980), the fantasy film Samurai Reincarnation (1981), and the influential dystopian thriller Battle Royale (2000).
Fukasaku won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Director of the Year three times, out of nine total nominations. He served as President of the Directors Guild of Japan from 1996, until his death from prostate cancer in 2003. In 1997, he received the Purple Medal of Honor from the Japanese government for his work in film.[7] His films have inspired directors such as Quentin Tarantino,[8] William Friedkin,[9] and John Woo.[10]
^Magnier, Mark (17 January 2001). "Looking Back at Work of Kinji Fukasaku, Beyond 'Green Slime'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
^"Kinji Fukasaku: Sympathy For The Underdog". BAMPFA. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
^Berra, John (2010). Directory of World Cinema: Japan (1st ed.). Bristol, UK: Intellect Books. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-84150-335-6.
^Jane, Ian (30 January 2004). "Battle Royale II (Region 3)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
^RetroRobin (25 June 2017). "The Japanese New Wave Film Rebellion". Into The Retroscope. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
^"Kinji Fukasaku • Retrospective". Time Out Paris. Retrieved 30 April 2018. His loose affiliation with the '60s New Wave of Japanese arthouse cinema belies Kinji Fukasaku's raw commercial appeal.
^"Renowned director Fukasaku, of 'Battle Royale' fame, dies". The Japan Times. 13 January 2003. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
^"Kinji Fukasaku • Retrospective". Time Out. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
^"William Friedkin on Kinji Fukasaku". YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
^"Kinji Fukasaku -- director of graphic, provocative films". SFGATE. 28 January 2003. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
KinjiFukasaku (深作 欣二, FukasakuKinji, 3 July 1930 – 12 January 2003) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Known for his "broad range and innovative...
1989, he made his directorial debut with the film Violent Cop after KinjiFukasaku stepped down. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for...
Kenta Fukasaku (深作 健太, Fukasaku Kenta, born September 15, 1972 in Tokyo) is a Japanese filmmaker and screenwriter. He is the son of film director Kinji Fukasaku...
Shogun's Samurai (柳生一族の陰謀) Hayate KinjiFukasaku (深作欣二) Message from Space (宇宙からのメッセージ) Shirō Hongō KinjiFukasaku (深作欣二) 1979 Sanada Yukimura no Bōryaku...
detail yakuza conflicts in Hiroshima Prefecture. Five films directed by KinjiFukasaku and starring Bunta Sugawara as Shozo Hirono (a character based on Minō)...
She is best known in the West for her roles as Takako Chigusa in KinjiFukasaku's 2000 film Battle Royale and Gogo Yubari in Quentin Tarantino's 2003...
Wakayama Ken Watanabe Masakazu Tamura Tsumasaburo Bando Utaemon Ichikawa KinjiFukasaku Hideo Gosha Daisuke Ito Kon Ichikawa Hiroshi Inagaki Masaki Kobayashi...
The Geisha House (おもちゃ, Omocha) is a 1998 film directed by KinjiFukasaku. In 1958, the Anti-Prostitution Law is about to be implemented. A young maiko...
and the first and only video game directed by Japanese film director KinjiFukasaku. The plot and characters have very little relation to the previous Clock...
Blackmail Is My Business, is a 1968 Japanese crime film directed by KinjiFukasaku. Shun Muraki is a low-level blackmailer who specializes in extorting...
Underdog (KinjiFukasaku, 1971) Street Mobster (KinjiFukasaku, 1972) Battles Without Honor and Humanity (KinjiFukasaku, 1973) Graveyard of Honor (Kinji Fukasaku...
1961 science fiction movie Invasion of the Neptune Men and the first KinjiFukasaku film, Drifting Detective: Tragedy in the Red Valley, which marked the...
sculptor KinjiFukasaku (深作 欣二) (1930–2003), Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director Kinji Imanishi (今西 錦司) (1902–1992), Japanese scientist Kinji Shibuya...
two live-action films (the first starring Sonny Chiba and directed by KinjiFukasaku) and a live-action television series. A sequel titled Shin Doberman...
two Japanese productions, Junya Satō's Proof of the Man in 1977 and KinjiFukasaku's Virus in 1980. Both films were produced by Haruki Kadokawa and featured...
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