Keisuke Kinoshita
Directing
Born: December 5, 1912 · Shizuoka, Japan
Died: December 30, 1998 (aged 86)
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Known for
Photos (3)
Movies (1)
Self / Appearances (1)
Directing (56)
World of Two
Director
Wagako wa Tanin
Director
Mom’s Shoulders
Director
Brother
Director
The Ballad of Narayama
Director
Ballad of a Workman
Director
Army
Director
Twenty-Four Eyes
Director
A Legend or Was It?
Director
The Scent of Incense
Director
A Japanese Tragedy
Director
Apostasy
Director
Spring Dreams
Director
Big Joys, Small Sorrows
Director
Immortal Love
Director
Broken Drum
Director
Sing, Young People!
Director
The Young Rebels
Director
Here's to the Young Lady
Director
The Portrait
Director
Children of Nagasaki
Director
Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1
Director
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
Director
Oh, My Son!
Director
Jubilation Street
Director
The Snow Flurry
Director
The Garden of Women
Director
This Year's Love
Director
Farewell to Spring
Director
Thus Another Day
Director
Morning for the Osone Family
Director
Times of Joy and Sorrow
Director
The Living Magoroku
Director
The Rose on His Arm
Director
Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 2
Director
The River Fuefuki
Director
The Eternal Rainbow
Director
Carmen's Innocent Love
Director
Wedding Ring
Director
The Tattered Wings
Director
Boyhood
Director
Love and Separation in Sri Lanka
Director
Farewell to Dream
Director
Fireworks Over the Sea
Director
The Lights of Asakusa
Assistant Director
Carmen Comes Home
Director
The Girl I Loved
Director
The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi
Assistant Director
Danger Stalks Near
Director
Marriage
Director
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
Director
Phoenix
Director
The Good Fairy
Director
Port of Flowers
Director
Father
Director
Woman
Director
Writing (62)
Oyaji Daiko
Writer
The Ballad of Narayama
Screenplay
Ballad of a Workman
Screenplay
Kotoshi no Koi
Original Story
Five Siblings
Idea
Five Siblings
Writer
Twenty-Four Eyes
Screenplay
Love Letter
Screenplay
A Legend or Was It?
Screenplay
The Scent of Incense
Writer
Sincere Heart
Screenplay
Ai to chie no wa
Screenplay
A Japanese Tragedy
Screenplay
Spring Dreams
Screenplay
Big Joys, Small Sorrows
Writer
Immortal Love
Screenplay
Dora-heita
Screenplay
Broken Drum
Story
Broken Drum
Screenplay
Otoko no iki
Writer
The Young Rebels
Writer
Children of Nagasaki
Writer
Children of Nagasaki
Original Story
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
Screenplay
Oh, My Son!
Screenplay
The Snow Flurry
Screenplay
Taiyō no Namida
Writer
The Garden of Women
Screenplay
This Year's Love
Writer
Farewell to Spring
Screenplay
Thus Another Day
Screenplay
While Yet a Wife
Writer
Times of Joy and Sorrow
Writer
The Living Magoroku
Writer
The Rose on His Arm
Screenplay
Kiriko no unmei
Screenplay
The River Fuefuki
Screenplay
Dolls floating down the river
Screenplay
The Eternal Rainbow
Writer
Carmen's Innocent Love
Screenplay
Wedding Ring
Screenplay
The Tattered Wings
Screenplay
The Spy Has Not Died Yet
Screenplay
Boyhood
Screenplay
Love and Separation in Sri Lanka
Writer
Fireworks Over the Sea
Screenplay
Carmen Comes Home
Screenplay
The Girl I Loved
Screenplay
The Girl I Loved
Story
Children on the Island
Screenplay
Green Light to Joy
Screenplay
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
Adaptation
Danger Stalks Near
Screenplay
Marriage
Story
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
Screenplay
Phoenix
Screenplay
The Good Fairy
Screenplay
Father
Writer
Woman
Screenplay
Don't Ever Die, Mama!
Screenplay
Children of Izu
Screenplay
カルメン故郷に帰る
Original Story
Producing (13)
World of Two
Producer
Dodes'ka-den
Executive Producer
Mom’s Shoulders
Producer
Story of Yakuza in Naniwa
Producer
Ballad of a Workman
Producer
Kōfuku Sōdan
Producer
A Legend or Was It?
Producer
The Scent of Incense
Producer
Immortal Love
Producer
Sing, Young People!
Executive Producer
The River Fuefuki
Producer
Wedding Ring
Producer
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
Producer
