Keisuke Kinoshita

Directing·Dec 5, 1912·Shizuoka, Japan

Rate

Keisuke Kinoshita (木下惠介, Kinoshita Keisuke, December 5, 1912 – December 30, 1998) was a Japanese film director. Hugely popular in his home country of Japan, Keisuke Kinoshita worked tirelessly as a director for nearly half a century, making lyrical, sentimental films that often center on the inherent goodness of people, especially in times of distress. He began his directing career during a most challenging time for Japanese cinema: World War II, when the industry’s output was closely monitored by the state and often had to be purely propagandistic. He refused to be bound by genre, technique, or dogma. Kinoshita excelled in almost every genre: comedy, tragedy, social dramas, period films. He shot all films on location or in a one-house set. He pursued severe photographic realism with the long take, long-shot method, and went equally far toward stylization with fast cutting, intricate wipes, tilted cameras, and even classical scroll-painting and Kabuki stage technique. Kinoshita was highly prolific, turning out some 42 films in the first 23 years of his career. For this, Kinoshita explained that he "can’t help it. Ideas for films have always just popped into my head like scraps of paper into a wastebasket." While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu, he was a household figure in his home country, beloved by both critics and audiences from the 1940s to the 1960s. Although few concrete details have emerged about Kinoshita's personal life, his homosexuality was widely known in the film world. Screenwriter and frequent collaborator Yoshio Shirasaka recalls the "brilliant scene" Kinoshita made with the handsome, well-dressed assistant directors he surrounded himself with. His 1959 film Farewell to Spring (Sekishuncho) has been called "Japan's first gay film" for the emotional intensity depicted between its male characters. Kinoshita received the Order of the Rising Sun in 1984 and was awarded the Order of Culture in 1991 by the Japanese government. He died on December 30, 1998, of a stroke. His grave is in Engaku-ji in Kamakura, very near to that of his fellow Shochiku director, Yasujirō Ozu.

Film	Credit
Dora-heita2000 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Father1988 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Children on the Island1987 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Big Joys, Small Sorrows1986 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
I Lived, But...1983 · Self	Self
Children of Nagasaki1983 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Young Rebels1980 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Oh, My Son!1979 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Love and Separation in Sri Lanka1976 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Green Light to Joy1967 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball1967 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
While Yet a Wife1965 · Writer	Writer
The Scent of Incense1964 · Producer, Director, Writer	Producer, Director, Writer
A Legend or Was It?1963 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Sing, Young People!1963 · Director	Director
Children of Izu1962 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Ballad of a Workman1962 · Producer, Screenplay, Director	Producer, Screenplay, Director
Kiriko no unmei1962 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Dolls floating down the river1962 · Screenplay	Screenplay
This Year's Love1962 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Immortal Love1961 · Director, Producer, Screenplay	Director, Producer, Screenplay
Don't Ever Die, Mama!1961 · Screenplay	Screenplay
The River Fuefuki1960 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
Spring Dreams1960 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Thus Another Day1959 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Farewell to Spring1959 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
The Snow Flurry1959 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
The Eternal Rainbow1958 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Ballad of Narayama1958 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Danger Stalks Near1957 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Times of Joy and Sorrow1957 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Rose on His Arm1956 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Farewell to Dream1956 · Director	Director
Ai to chie no wa1956 · Screenplay	Screenplay
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum1955 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
BBride in the Kitchen1955 · Screenplay	Screenplay
The Tattered Wings1955 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Twenty-Four Eyes1954 · (uncredited), Director, Screenplay	(uncredited), Director, Screenplay
The Garden of Women1954 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Love Letter1953 · Screenplay	Screenplay
A Japanese Tragedy1953 · Screenplay, Director	Screenplay, Director
Sincere Heart1953 · Screenplay	Screenplay
Carmen's Innocent Love1952 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Fireworks Over the Sea1951 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Boyhood1951 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Carmen Comes Home1951 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
The Good Fairy1951 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
Wedding Ring1950 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer