Killers, Clients and Kindred Spirits: The Taboo Cinema of Shohei Imamura - Paperback

by Lindsay Coleman (Editor), David Desser (Editor)

The only Japanese director to have won the Palme d'Or from Cannes more than once, and second only to Ozu Yasujiro in the number of times he has won the prestigious Kinema Jumpo Best One award, the late Imamura Shohei was one of Japan's leading and most controversial film directors. This book is one of the first to study all of Imamura's major films alongside his television and theatrical documentaries, focusing on his major themes and concerns. By giving shape to Imamura's career, the book positions him as a stylistic innovator as well as an ethnographic investigator into Japanese culture and tradition; the preeminent examiner of the hidden, barely repressed underpinnings of Japanese society.

Front Jacket

A thorough exploration of the work of one of Japan's most controversial directors The only Japanese director to have won the Palme d'Or from Cannes more than once, and second only to Ozu Yasujiro in the number of times he has won the prestigious Kinema Jumpo Best One award, the late Imamura Shohei was one of Japan's leading and most controversial film directors. This book is one of the first to study all of Imamura's major films alongside his television and theatrical documentaries, focusing on his major themes and concerns. By giving shape to Imamura's career, the book positions him as a stylistic innovator as well as an ethnographic investigator into Japanese culture and tradition; the preeminent examiner of the hidden, barely repressed underpinnings of Japanese society. Professor David Desser is Professor Emeritus of Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois and Dean of Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film. Lindsay Coleman is a writer and educator, and is completing his PhD thesis at the University of Melbourne Cover image: Shoichi Ozawa in The Pornographers (1966 Japan), directed by Shohei Imamura (c) East-West Classics/Photofest Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-1181-3 Barcode

Author Biography

Lindsay Coleman is an independent film producer, and is completing his phD thesis at the University of Melbourne

David Desser is Professor Emeritus of Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois and Dean of Anaheim University Akira Kurosawa School of Film. He is the author or editor of several books, including Ozu's Tokyo Story (1997) and Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave 1988), Killers, Clients and Kindred Spirits (2019, EUP) and A Companion to Japanese Cinema (2022). He provided the DVD commentaries for the Criterion Editions of Tokyo Story and Seven Samurai, and is co-editor of The Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema.