Isshin Inudō

Isshin Inudō ( Japanese 犬 童 一心 , Inudō Isshin ; born June 24, 1960 in Tokyo Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter .

biography

Early career with short and commercials

Inudō made films as a schoolboy. After graduating from high school, he studied at Tokyo Zokei Daigaku . When he finished his studies, he made commercials for the film production company Prime Pictures . In 1979 his 30-minute film Kibun wo kaete? , its first release, in the competition of the Pia Film Festival , which many young Japanese filmmakers serve as an entry point into the industry, and won the main prize there.

Akasuika ki suika , the film adaptation of a short story by the Japanese manga artist Yumiko Ōshima , and Midnight Drive-in Theater both appeared in 1982. After that, the director was quiet for a while, until 1993 his 18-minute anime short film Kingyo no isshō about that Life of a Goldfish, who was awarded the Kirin Art Prize, appeared. In the same year, the 90-minute Nanimokamo hyakukaimo iwaretakoto came out, his feature film debut, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival , among other places . In 1995 he directed the documentary-style comedy Futari ga shabetteru. starring the female Manzai duo Tonight . A commercial he directed for VISA International was shown at the 1995 New York Advertisement Festival .

Success in mainstream cinema and at film festivals

In 1999 he wrote the scripts for Jun Ichikawa's Osaka Monogatari and Hiroshi Sugawara's Dreammaker . In the following year he directed another work by Yumiko Ōshima. The Kinpatsu no Sōgen drama starring Yusuke Iseya and Chizuru Ikewaki is about a man in his 80s who wakes up one day and feels 20 again. He then got involved in a relationship with an 18-year-old. The film was shown at the Berlinale and the Tokyo International Film Festival and won the main prize at the Yūbari International Fantastic Film Festival in Japan. Together with Hiroshi Saito and Akihiko Shiota , Inudō wrote the script for the fantasy film Yomigaeri , based on a novel by Shinji Kajio , in which an inspector is sent to Aso to find out why the dead are resurrected there and return to their loved ones. For this work he received a nomination in the Best Screenplay category at the Japanese Academy Awards 2004 , but could not prevail against Tomomi Tsutsui ( Ashura no gotoku ).

In December 2003, Joze to tora to sakana tachi (translated about Josee, the fish and the tiger ) came to Japanese cinemas, in which Inudō was a director. The film is about the student Tsuneo (played by Satoshi Tsumabuki ), who one day meets the paraplegic Josee (played by Chizuru Ikewaki) and finally falls in love with her. The romantic drama based on Seiko Tanabe has won several awards, especially in the actor's categories , at Japanese film awards. It was followed by Shinibana based on a novel by Ranzō Ōta , in which a group of old men want to carry out his plan to rob a bank after the death of their friend.

2005 was the director's most productive year to date; He directed three films, including the family film Inu no eiga about an advertising agent who had a deep friendship with a dog in his childhood. Mezon do Himiko , whose screenplay was written by Aya Watanabe like Joze to tora to sakana tachi , tells of an office worker who is supposed to work as a housemaid in the Maison de Himiko's house of her dying father, a former drag queen . The drama Touch based on the manga series of the same name by Mitsuru Adachi from the 1980s was Inudō's greatest commercial success to date; in Japan the film grossed 1.2 billion yen and was included in the ranking of the 25 most successful domestic films of 2005. In Touch is about youthful twin brothers who have been friends since childhood, with its attractive, peers neighbor.

This was followed in 2007 by Kiiroi namida , which, based on a script by the manga artist Shinji Nagashima , tells of four young men who fail in their dream job , as well as the drama Bizan , which was nominated for several Japanese Academy Awards. Bizan is about a woman who returns to her parents' house because her mother is on her deathbed and finds out that her father, whom she believed to be dead, and whom she never met, is still alive.

Filmography

Director

• 1979: Kibun where kaete? ( 気 分 を 変 え て? ) (Short film)
• 1982: Midnight Drive-in Theater ( ミ ッ ド ナ イ ト ・ ド ラ イ ブ イ ン ン ・ シ ア タ ー )
• 1982: Akasuika ki suika ( 赤 す い か 黄 す い か )
• 1993: Kingyo no isshō ( 金魚 の 一生 ) (short film)
• 1993: Nanimokamo hyakukaimo iwareta koto ( 何 も か も 百 回 も い わ れ れ た こ と )
• 1995: Futari ga shabetteru. ( 二人 が 喋 っ て る )
• 2000: Kinpatsu no Sōgen ( 金 髪 の 草原 )
• 2003: Joze to tora to sakana tachi ( ジ ョ ゼ と 虎 と 魚 た ち )
• 2004: Shinibana ( 死 に 花 )
• 2005: Inu no eiga ( い ぬ の え い が )
• 2005: Touch ( タ ッ チ tatchi )
• 2005: Mezon do Himiko ( メ ゾ ン ・ ド ・ ヒ ミ コ )
• 2007: Kiiroi namida ( 黄色 い 涙 )
• 2007: Bizan ( 眉山 )
• 2008: Gūgū Datte Neko de aru ( グ ー グ ー だ っ て 猫 で あ る )
• 2009: Zero Focus ( ゼ ロ の 焦点 )
• 2012: The Floating Castle ( の ぼ う の 城 , Nobō no Shiro , together with Higuchi Shinji)
• 2014: Miracle Debikuro-kun no Koi to Mahō ( MIRACLE デ ビ ク ロ く ん の 恋 と 魔法 )

script

• 1979: Kibun where kaete? ( 気 分 を 変 え て? )
• 1982: Akasuika ki suika ( 赤 す い か 黄 す い か )
• 1993: Kingyo no isshō ( 金魚 の 一生 )
• 1995: Futari ga shabetteru. ( 二人 が 喋 っ て る )
• 1999: Ōsaka Monogatari ( 大阪 物語 )
• 1999: Dreammaker ( ド リ ー ム メ ー カ ー )
• 2000: Kinpatsu no sōgen ( 金 髪 の 草原 )
• 2002: Yomigaeri ( 黄泉 が え り )

Web links

• Isshin Inudo in the Internet Movie Database (English)