Japanese film
The Japanese film industry is one of the oldest and largest in the world and currently produces the fourth most feature films. Akira Kurosawa is a Japanese director who has achieved great renown abroad ; he has made a name for himself with visually impressive samurai films as well as works that deal with contemporary Japanese society. The Godzilla series of Ishirō Honda also found in the West spread.
The Tokyo International Film Festival , at which the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix is awarded, is one of the most important film festivals in Asia .
History of Japanese Film
Japanese silent film
The beginnings of Japanese cinema
The projectors by Lumière and Thomas Alva Edison were demonstrated in Japan as early as 1896 . In 1897, two years after the world's first cinema screening in Paris , the spinning mill owner Katsutaro Inahata, a school friend of Auguste Lumière , brought a film projector to Japan , where the first public cinema screening took place on February 15 in Osaka . In Japan cinema from the beginning an expensive pleasure, the best in the elegant ambience of a was Kabuki - Theater took place. In 1903, the first motion picture theater was built in Tokyo , combining films and kabuki performances. For a long time in Japan, films were seen as ephemeral; they were just consumer goods, intended for the moment, but not for storage. This explains why Japan has one of the lowest copy preservation rates in the world.
As in Germany , the beginnings of cinema were closely linked to the theater. The first Japanese films were made in 1899 and were filmed scenes from Kabuki theater performances. Until the 1930s, ( silent ) film and the narrator, known as Benshi , were inseparable in Japanese cinema . The benshi interpreted and commented on the images. Each of the three feature film categories - historical film ( jidaigeki ), contemporary film ( gendaigeki ), and western film ( yoga ) - had its own audience segment and narrative style. The benshi often had star status similar to that of a popular kabuki actor and was held in high regard. The western practice of adding subtitles to silent films hardly caught on in Japan. Only the sound film gradually displaced the Benshi until it disappeared completely in the 1950s.
A cinema screening in the 1920s usually consisted of three main films and thus corresponded to the tripartite division of a kabuki performance. The Benshi sat during the performance diagonally left front of the screen, often in a kind of pulpit, at a desk. He described what was happening on the screen, spoke dialogues and inner thoughts, gave interpretive or explanatory comments, read or translated subtitles (if available) and put the emotional effect of the film images and the film events into words. With its body, gestures and facial expressions, the benshi was also a visual element of the performance. Actually, a Benshi didn't need a film, his lecture also worked as a radio play. Film narratives ( eiga monogatari ) on records and as radio broadcasts were very popular.
Not only traditional Kabuki or Nō theater pieces were captured with the camera, but also modern forms of theater with more realistic acting techniques and more modern themes. The first Japanese film studio was built in 1908 to accommodate modern theater scenes. An interesting hybrid of theater and film was the rensageki (chain theater ), which was very popular around 1917. A normal play was staged and the scenes that could not be shown on the stage were recorded as a pre-produced film, with the actors participating in the dialogue of the silent film directly on the stage.
The 1910s
In the 1910s there were efforts to regard film as an art form in its own right and not as a mere medium for depicting theater scenes. Kaeriyama Norimasa, founder of the film magazine Kinema Records , pleaded in 1913 for a jun eigageki (pure film theater), with a realistic, natural acting style and female actors (previously female roles were also played by men). He also campaigned for the introduction of subtitles and the abolition of benshi.
The 1920s
After the great Kanto earthquake of 1923, which almost completely destroyed old Tokyo (and with it the old culture), the filmmakers' desire to create a new kind of cinema increased. New directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi reacted by orienting themselves towards European models and developing new thematic concepts. More and more Japanese directors learned their craft in Hollywood and shot their first western-style comedies, such as Yasujiro Ozu . Films were made that were visibly influenced by German Expressionism . At the end of the 1920s, the so-called “tendency films” ( keiko eiga ) were made, which dealt with the growing social and political problems of the time and were mostly about people of lower classes or workers. The realistic style was based on both German and, above all, Soviet cinema. The topics revolved around the problems of the individual in society. Trending films were only made for a short period of time, roughly in the period from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. After that, hardly any film was released due to the stricter censorship requirements.
At the end of 1927 there were around 850 cinemas in Japan. In addition, there were around 2,000 stages on which films were also regularly shown. At the end of the 1920s, around 400 films were produced annually in 14 large studios, which largely covered domestic demand. Japan was also the only cinema nation in the world that was able to withstand the flood of American films from the early 1920s. They succeeded even better than Germany, where at least 50% of the films shown were from national production in keeping American films out of the home market. The main reason for this was the different viewing habits of the Japanese, who, unlike the Americans and Europeans, did not think much of an obligatory happy ending . Only really good foreign productions had a chance in Japan. Therefore, despite everything, Charles Chaplin was the most popular actor and masterpieces of the silent film were by no means unknown in Japan.
Japanese sound film
The 1930s
While with Fujiwara Yoshie no Furusato ( 藤原 義 江 の ふ る さ と ) by Kenji Mizoguchi from 1930 the first partially and with Madamu to Nyōbō ( マ ダ ム と 女 房 ) by Heinosuke Gosho in 1931 Japan's first complete sound film appeared and the sound film in the following years Slowly replaced the silent film, the Japanese studios orientated themselves more and more on the model of the " Hollywood system". The Tōhō production company was founded in 1936 . Toho and the other four major film companies Shochiku , Nikkatsu , Tōei and Teikine controlled almost the entire Japanese market. In addition, realistic depictions of everyday Japanese life gained in importance, such as Yamanaka Sadaos Ninjō Kamifūsen ( 人情 紙 風 船 ; 1937). During this time, the cinema became the most popular entertainment medium. The number of viewers climbed from 158 million in 1930 to 405 million in 1940.
Film adaptations of melodramatic entertainment literature, which moved the audience to tears with tragic love stories and high ethical standards, were particularly popular with the audience. One of the most important directors of these humanistic melodramas was Kenji Mizoguchi (1898–1956). In his films he particularly portrayed the fate of poor women who are exposed to the conflict between personal happiness and the traditional norms of Japanese society.
Two other masters of Kleineleute film in the 1930s were Yasujiro Ozu (1903–1963) and Mikio Naruse (1905–1969), of whom the post-war works are best known in the West. Yasujiro Ozu, who made his first film in 1927, shows the Japanese family as a microcosm of Japanese society. For Ozu, nature plays a very important role, his characters are in the context of nature and the changing seasons and are inextricably linked with them. Time is not perceived linearly, but cyclically, like the recurring seasons. The principle of the always-recurring stands above the individual person and his individual actions. Mikio Naruse began his film career in 1930 initially with various comedies and then, like Mizoguchi, concentrated on problems of women in working-class families or in the petty-bourgeois milieu.
In the early 1930s, in addition to melodramas , films that obviously served right-wing propaganda became increasingly popular. After the production of left-wing films was stopped, films were made that propagated war and nationalist ideologies and advocated the expansionist policy of Japan in Manchuria .
Although the country had one of the most productive and aesthetically interesting film industries before World War II , films are barely preserved these days. On the one hand, this is of course due to the destruction caused by the war, but on the other hand, because film is not considered a medium in Japan. Films were and still are considered pure entertainment and therefore not particularly worthy of preservation. Serious efforts to preserve historical films have only been made in the country since the 1990s.
Examples of surviving Japanese silent films:
- Jujiro ( In the shadow of Yoshiwara ; Direction and book: Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1928)
- Nani ga Kanojo o sō Saseta ka ( Eng . The girl Sumiko - Why did she do that. Shigeyoshi Suzuki, direction and book 1929, restored version 1997; description )
Japanese cinema during World War II
In 1937, under the influence of the radical ultra-nationalist military seeking expansion into the Republic of China and Southeast Asia, bloody fighting broke out , resulting in the Nanking massacre , with the result that Japan withdrew from the League of Nations . The goal of Japan was to "liberate" Asia from European colonialism . The war against China spread more and more to Southeast Asia, while Japan was very successful in its acts of war and “liberated” or conquered one country after another. Convinced of its military might and the divine power of the Tennō (the Japanese emperor), Japan finally dared to attack the USA as well. With the attack on Pearl Harbor (1941), the Pacific acts of war were linked to the "European" war. During the war, care was taken to ensure that media and culture conformed to Japanese politics. Film was particularly suitable as a mass-effective medium for spreading fascist ideologies. In 1942, by order of the state, all film productions were merged into three associations, which were led by the large companies Shochiku , Toho and Nikkatsu (which merged into the newly founded Daiei the following year ). This concentration of the entire Japanese film production created the best possible conditions for the government to use films as a means of propaganda .
The Ministry of the Interior, which had been responsible for the control of film and all of public culture since the 1920s, increasingly tightened the guidelines for film work during the war. The studios could hardly make free decisions. In 1938 the scriptwriters were urged to “place their work in the service of the patriotic ideology; the film is there to promote traditional national pride and to educate the people to be willing to make sacrifices for the goals of the state. Furthermore, the film should promote good morals in family and society and counteract the individualistic or general European tendencies that emanated from Western films. “(Quoted from: Keiko Yamane: The Japanese cinema. History, films, directors. Munich; Lucerne: Bucher, 1985, p. 21). According to the German Film Act, which was modeled on German legislation and came into force on October 1, 1939, only so-called Senkikoyo films ( National Policy Films ) were allowed to be produced that support national politics. A decree from 1940 tightened the requirements: “ Afterwards, private happiness, luxury, exaggerated comedy, female smokers or alcohol consumption in cafés could no longer be shown in the film. “Towards the end of the Second World War, the cinema's repertoire was mainly limited to war films, newsreels and cultural films ( bunka eiga ).
After the Second World War until today
| Japanese feature film production | |
|---|---|
| year | number |
| 1975 | 333 |
| 1985 | 319 |
| 1995 | 289 |
| 2005 | 356 |
The 1950s
After the defeat of Japan and the occupation of the country by the Allies , they destroyed half of the war and propaganda films. Furthermore, the censorship measures of the military government were lifted and the artistic freedom of filmmakers was restored. However, the new rulers wanted certain messages from the films to promote democracy, so that in the years immediately after the end of the war numerous films were made that dealt critically with the military dictatorship. As early as 1946 Akira Kurosawa shot a drama about the effects of the military regime with “ No Regret for My Youth ”, and the following year “ A wonderful Sunday ”, a socially critical study of a simple couple in love in ruined Japan. Keisuke Kinoshita's “ Twenty-Four Eyes ” from 1954 and Kon Ichikawa's “ Friends to the Last ” from 1956 are further highlights of this cinematic reappraisal of the military dictatorship and the war .
At this time, however, Japanese cinema had already rehabilitated itself for a long time, to which the two old masters Ozu and Mizoguchi contributed, but above all the young Akira Kurosawa, who had the international breakthrough after several successful films in Japan with " Rashomon - Das Lustwäldchen " (1950) achieved. At the Venice Film Festival in 1951, it was the first Asian film to win the Golden Lion. This is the first time that an Asian film has received a prestigious international award. The next year the film also won the Oscar for best foreign film. Kurosawa's cinematography achieved worldwide renown and also influenced European and American directors. One of the classics of film history is his masterpiece “ The Seven Samurai ” (1953), the model for “ The Magnificent Seven ” (1960) by John Sturges .
The 1960s and 1970s
Science fiction and monster films such as Godzilla (1954), “ Frankenstein - The Terror with the Monkey Face ” and “ Gamera ”, which established the genre Kaijū , became commercially successful . A new generation of directors like u. a. Kon Ichikawa with " The Harp of Burma " (1956, Biruma no tategoto ) and Masaki Kobayashi with " Barefoot Through Hell " (1959–1961, Ningen no joke ), turned back to more demanding films and created a kind in the early 1960s Counterpart to the French Nouvelle Vague , for almost the same reasons. The Shochiku Society supported a number of low-budget productions by young filmmakers, such as Nagisa Ōshima , Masahiro Shinoda and Yoshishige Yoshida . With “ Death by Hanging ” (1968, Koshikei ) and Diary of a Thief from Shinjuku (1969), Ōshima dared the most radical stylistic experiments, dealing with explosive subjects such as the humiliating treatment of Koreans in Japan . All three directors, however, were united by the theme of youth rebelling against social conventions. Ōshima caused a sensation in 1976 with the shocking erotic film " In the realm of the senses ".
In order to curb the dominance of the Americans in the domestic film market, the government set up a promotion fund for quality films in 1972. This measure gave some talented directors better opportunities, but it did not stop the decline of the Japanese film industry, which continued into the 1980s.
The 1973 film " The Fall of Japan " ( Nihon Chinbotsu ) caused a sensation in Japan and caused anxiety attacks in the cinema seats. The film addresses how Japan is completely sinking into the ocean. He paved the way for more end-time films .
A notable Pink Eiga is " Sasori - Scorpion " (1972) by Shun'ya Itō , which made Meiko Kaji famous in Japan. The film based on a manga received five sequels. In 1973 Meiko Kaji also starred in the film " Lady Snowblood " ( Shurayuki-hime ). The poetic portrait of a woman seeking revenge on the murderers of her family became the model for Quentin Tarantino's “ Kill Bill ”.
The 1980s
In 1983 the manga " Barefoot through Hiroshima " was filmed as an anime . A year later, Hayao Miyazaki filmed the manga series Nausicaä from the Valley of the Winds . In 1988, Katsuhiro Otomo followed suit with his anime film Akira . In the same, the anti-war anime The Last Fireflies by Isao Takahata , set towards the end of World War II , appeared.
Shohei Imamura made his breakthrough with the film The Ballad of Narayama and won the Golden Palm at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1983 .
Akira Kurosawa made Kagemusha (1980) and the most expensive Japanese film to date, Ran (1985), with a budget of 12 million US dollars. At the same time, Seijun Suzuki returned to the director's chair in 1980 with the film Gypsy Wise Men .
Jūzō Itami was very successful with his comedy Tampopo (1985).
The 1990s
Modern Japanese cinema since 1990 primarily describes a "society that suffers from a lack of communication and the breakdown of human relationships." ( Nagisa Ōshima )
Takeshi Kitano developed into one of the most important Japanese directors through films such as “ Sonatine ” (1993), “ Kids Return ” (1996) and “ Hana-Bi ”, which was awarded the Golden Lion at the 1997 Venice Film Festival .
Comments to social oppression in the sadomasochistic find cinematography, such as the literary adaptations " Tokyo Decadence " (1992) by Ryu Murakami and " Flower and Snake " (2004; remake of " Hana to hebi ") by Masaru Konuma .
At the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival , Shohei Imamura's comedy “ The Eel ” was awarded the Palme d'Or . The film tells the surreal story of a murderer.
In 1995 Mamoru Oshii filmed the manga " Ghost in the Shell " by Masamune Shirow . This philosophical science fiction film was very successful internationally and achieved worldwide recognition. He is also the model for the Matrix trilogy of the Wachowski siblings . Mamoru Oshii also wrote the screenplay for the 1999 film " Jin-Roh ", which deals with terrorism and moral decisions of an individual in a totalitarian state. In 1997 the anime " Princess Mononoke " by Hayao Miyazaki was released, which was the most successful film in Japan by then and grossed more money than " Titanic ". In 1998, " Pokémon: The First Movie " was released in Japanese cinemas and became the most successful film to date based on a video game.
At the end of the 90s a new wave of J-horror films began in Japan with “ Ringu ” and “ Dark Water ” by Hideo Nakata , as well as “ Ju-on ” by Takashi Shimizu , “ Audition ” and “ The Call ” by Takashi Miike . This wave continues to this day; numerous films received "Hollywood remakes".
Takashi Miike is celebrated as a cult director around the world because he doesn't deliver any stereotypes .
The 2000s
Hayao Miyazaki returned in 2001 with the anime " Spirited Away " and received the Oscar for best animated film . Miyazaki's subsequent works " The moving castle " and " Ponyo the enchanted goldfish girl " appeared in 2004 and 2008. Also in 2001, Rintaro filmed the Manga Metropolis , which is based on the film of the same name by Fritz Lang . In Germany, the film was released on October 31, 2002 under the name "Robotic Angel". In 2004 Mamoru Oshii released the anime film " Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ", which, like its predecessor, received very good reviews worldwide. Satoshi Kon released the successful films " Millennium Actress " (2001), " Tokyo Godfathers " (2003) and " Paprika " (2006). Katsuhiro Otomo released the cyberpunk masterpiece " Steamboy " in 2004, which celebrated international success. In collaboration with Studio 4 ° C , the American director Michael Arias released the anime " Tekkon Kinkreet " in 2008, which received international recognition. Hideaki Anno founded his own production studio with Studio Khara and created a film series based on his hit series Neon Genesis Evangelion . The tetralogy " Rebuild of Evangelion " tells an alternative story of the original series. The first film " Evangelion: 1.0 - You are (not) alone. “Was published in September 2007 with considerable success. The second film “ Evangelion: 2.0 - You can (not) advance. “Was released in June 2009.
In 2000, the novel-based film “ Battle Royale ” was released, which also achieved cult status in the West . This dystopian work by Kinji Fukasaku is about a game that school classes have to take part in to kill each other. In 2008, “ 20th Century Boys ” was a science fiction film that quickly achieved cult status. In the film, an end-time scenario created by children becomes a reality.
The 2001 film " Final Fantasy: The Powers Within You " by Square Pictures is the first fully computer-animated feature film with a largely realistic representation of people. With " Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children " and " Resident Evil: Degeneration " two more CGI films were released that tie in with the plot of the video game predecessors.
The genre mix " Shinobi " by Ten Shimoyama combines superhero stories with a romance in ancient Japan. In addition, in 2006 the manga " Death Note " was filmed for real . The first two films were playing in Japan alone more than 60 million US dollars a.
Some films such as the pop art spectacle “ Survive Style 5+ ” (2004), the comedy “ Kamikaze Girls ” (2004), the action film “ The Machine Girl ” (2008) and the tragic comedy “ Love Exposure ” (2008, Ai No Mukidashi ) give an insight into Japanese pop culture . In 2006 the well-known singer Yui made her acting debut in the film "Taiyō no uta", which is based on the drama series of the same name, with Erika Sawajiri in the lead role.
In addition, some notable Franco-Japanese co-productions were released, for example the action comedy “ Wasabi - Ein Bulle in Japan ” (2001) by Gérard Krawczyk and the arthouse thriller “ The Secret of the Geisha ” (2008) by Barbet Schroeder , based on the Novel " Beast in the Shadows " by Edogawa Rampo .
In 2009 , the film " Nokan - The Art of Ausklangs " (お く り び とOkuribito ) by director Yōjirō Takita was awarded the Oscar for best foreign language film .
Major Japanese films
Silent movie era (until 1935)
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1935-1949
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1950s
- 1950 Rashomon - The Pleasure Grove (Rashomon), Akira Kurosawa
- 1952 Really Live Once (Ikiru), Akira Kurosawa
- 1953 The Gate of Hell (Jigokumon), Teinosuke Kinugasa
- 1953 The trip to Tokyo (Tokyo monogatari), Yasujiro Ozu
- 1953 Ugetsu - Tales under the Rain Moon (Ugetsu monogatari), Kenji Mizoguchi
- 1954 The Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai), Akira Kurosawa
- 1954 Godzilla (Gojira), Ishirō Honda
- 1954 Twenty-four eyes (Nijushin no hitomi), Keisuke Kinoshita
- 1956 The Burmese harp (Biruma no tategoto), Kon Ichikawa
1960s
- 1959/61 Barefoot through Hell , Masaki Kobayashi
- 1960 Bonchi , Kon Ichikawa
- 1961 Yojimbo - The Bodyguard , Akira Kurosawa
- 1962 Harakiri (Seppuku), Masaki Kobayashi
- 1962 Hakai , Kon Ichikawa
- 1964 Three Outlaw Samurai (Sanbiki no Samurai), Hideo Gosha
- 1964 The woman in the dunes (Suna no onna), Hiroshi Teshigahara
- 1964 '' Onibaba , (The Murderesses), Kaneto Shindo
- 1967 Branded to Kill (Koroshi no rakuin), Seijun Suzuki
- 1969 Goyokin , Hideo Gosha
1970s
- 1971 The ceremony (Gishiki), Nagisa Ōshima
- 1972 Sayuri, the stripper (Ichijō Sayuri: Nureta yokujō), Tatsumi Kumashiro
- 1973 Battles Without Honor and Humanity (Jingi naki tatakai), Kinji Fukasaku
- 1973 Lady Snowblood (Shurayuki-hime), Toshiya Fujita
- 1974 Sandakan House No. 8 (Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo), Kei Kumai
- 1976 The North Cape (Kita no misaki), Kei Kumai
- 1979 The Man Who Stole the Sun (Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko), Kazuhiko Hasegawa
- 1979 The castle of Cagliostro (Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro), Hayao Miyazaki
1980s
- 1980 Kuruizaki Thunder Road , Sōgo Ishii
- 1982 Burst City (Bakuretsu Toshi), Sōgo Ishii
- 1983 The Family Game (Kazoku Gēmu), Yoshimitsu Morita
- 1984 Nausicaä from the Valley of the Winds (Kaze no Tani no Naushika), Hayao Miyazaki
- 1985 Ran , Akira Kurosawa
- 1985 Tampopo , Jūzō Itami
- 1986 The Castle in Heaven (Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta), Hayao Miyazaki
- 1987 Wicked City (Yōjū Toshi), Yoshiaki Kawajiri
- 1987 Tokyo Bordello , Hideo Gosha
- 1988 My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro), Hayao Miyazaki
- 1988 The last fireflies (Hotaru no haka), Isao Takahata
- 1988 Akira , Katsuhiro Otomo
- 1989 The death of a tea master (Sen no Rikyu), Kei Kumai
1990s
- 1993 Sonatina , Kitano Takeshi
- 1993 Ninja Scroll (Jūbē Nimpūchō), Yoshiaki Kawajiri
- 1995 Ghost in the Shell (Kōkaku Kidōtai), Mamoru Oshii
- 1996 Shall we dance? (Shall we dansu?), Masayuki Suo
- 1997 Hana-Bi , Kitano Takeshi
- 1997 Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime), Hayao Miyazaki
- 1998 Ring - The Original (Ringu), Hideo Nakata
- 1998 Jin-Roh , Hiroyuki Okiura
- 1999 Audition , Takashi Miike
- 1999 Monday , Hiroyuki Tanaka (Sabu)
2000s
- 2000 Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Banpaia Hantâ D), Yoshiaki Kawajiri
- 2000 Battle Royale , Fukasaku Kinji
- 2001 Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), Hayao Miyazaki
- 2002 Dolls , Kitano Takeshi
- 2003 The wonderful world of Sachiko Hanai , Mitsure Meike
- 2004 Casshern , Kazuaki Kiriya
- 2004 Howl's Moving Castle , Hayao Miyazaki
- 2004 Nobody Knows , Hirokazu Koreeda
- 2006 The Girl Who Leaped Through Time , Anime (Toki wo kakeru shojo), Mamoru Hosoda
- 2008 Nokan - The Art of Ending , Yōjirō Takita
- 2008 Love Exposure , Sion Sono
- 2013 Like Father, Like Son , Hirokazu Koreeda
- 2015 Our little sister , Hirokazu Koreeda
literature
- Audie Bock: Japanese film directors . Kodansha, Tokyo / New York / San Francisco 1978.
- Mick Broderick (Ed.): Hibakusha Cinema. Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film . Kegan Paul, London / New York 1996.
- Beverly Bare Buehrer: Japanese Films. A Filmography and Commentary, 1921-1989 . McFarland, Jefferson / London 1990.
- Noell Burch: To the Distant Observer. Form and Meaning in the Japanese Cinema. Scolar Press, London 1979.
- Darrell William Davis: Picturing Japaneseness. Monumental Style, National Identity, Japanese Film. Columbia University Press, New York 1996.
- David Desser: Eros plus massacre. An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indianapolis) 1988.
- Eiga means film . JapanFilmMuseum, Berlin 1992.
- Linda C. Ehrlich, David Desser (Ed.): Cinematic Landscapes. Observations on the Visual Arts and Cinema of China and Japan. University of Texas Press, Austin 1994.
- Stuart Galbraith: The Japanese Filmography. A Complete Reference to 209 Filmmakers and the Over 1250 Films Released in the United States, 1900 through 1994. McFarland, Jefferson 1996.
- Hiroko Govaers: Japan. History Through Cinema. Film Library Council, Tokyo 1975.
- Hiroshi Komatsu, Frances Loden: Masters of the Silent Image: The Position of Benshi in Japanese Cinema. In: KINtop - Yearbook for Research into Early Film. Volume 5, Basel / Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 99-114.
- Mariann Lewinsky: A crazy site. Silent film and cinematic avant-garde in Japan. Chronos, Zurich 1997.
- Keiko I. McDonald: Cinema East. A Critical Study of Major Japanese Films. Associated University Presses, East Brunswick / London / Ontario 1983.
- Keiko I. McDonald: Japanese Classical Theater in Films. Associated University Press, London / Toronto 1994.
- Joan Mellen: Voices from the Japanese Cinema. Liveright, New York 1975.
- Joan Mellen: The Waves at Genji's Door. Japan through its Cinema. Pantheon, New York 1976.
- Jan-Christoph Müller: The Japanese film based on "Fukushima". In: Lisette Gebhardt, Steffi Richter (Ed.): Reader "Fukushima". Translations, commentaries, essays. EB-Verlag Dr. Brandt, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86893-103-7 , pp. 220-232.
- Arthur Nolletti Jr., David Desser (Eds.): Reframing Japanese Cinema. Authorship, genre, history. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indianapolis) 1992.
- Donald Richie : Japanese Cinema. An Introduction. Oxford University Press (China), Hong Kong 1990.
- Donald Richie: The Japanese Movie. Kodansha, Tokyo / New York / San Francisco 1982.
- Donald Richie, Joseph L. Anderson: The Japanese Film: Art and Industry (expanded edition). Princeton University Press, Princeton (New Jersey) 1982.
- Tadao Sato: Currents in Japanese Cinema. 2nd Edition. Kodansha, Tokyo / New York / San Francisco 1987.
- Helma Schleif (Ed.): Films from Japan. Japanese film retrospective. Graficpress, Berlin 1993.
- Thomas Weisser, Yuko Mihara Weisser: Japanese Cinema. The Essential Handbook. Featuring Japanese Cult Cinema since 1955. 4th edition. Vital Books, Miami 1998.
- Keiko Yamane: The Japanese cinema. History, films, directors . Bucher, Munich / Lucerne 1985, ISBN 3-7658-0484-3 .
- Inuhiko Yomota: In the realm of the senses - 100 years of Japanese film . Frankfurt am Main / Basel 2007, ISBN 978-3-86109-179-0 .
Web links
- Overview of Japanese films on German television
- Japanese film database (Japanese)
- Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival
- Japankino.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Number of feature films produced and key cinema data, 2008–2016. In: Screen Australia. Retrieved January 29, 2018 .
- ↑ Birte Meyer-Wülfing: Seminar: The film canon - films that you have to know? ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University of Bremen, summer semester 2006, accessed on November 7, 2009.
- ↑ Keiko I. McDonald Reading a Japanese film: cinema in context , 2006, University of Hawai'i Press, accessed November 7, 2009.
- ↑ L'Estrange Fawcett: The World of Film. Amalthea-Verlag, Zurich / Leipzig / Vienna 1928, pp. 34, 79 and 151 (translated by C. Zell, supplemented by S. Walter Fischer)
- ↑ World Film Production Report (excerpt) ( Memento from August 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Screen Digest, June 2006, pp. 205–207, accessed on October 3, 2015.
- ↑ a b Nagisa Ōshima: 100 years of Japanese cinema (documentary film), BFI a . a., 1994.
- ↑ Alex Attimonelli: Japan's Anarchist. In: Cinema . No. 321, Issue 02/05, p 87. Star Portrait
- ↑ Cinema: Scandal Film Special. Edition 09/09, p. 75.
- ↑ Wolf-Dieter Roth Lust and Death. A genre with tradition: Sex and Crime in Asian Culture , November 4, 2005, heise.de
- ↑ Mark Schilling: Japanese remakes of Hollywood hits hardly the way forward. In: The Japan Times . November 6, 2009, accessed November 8, 2009 .
- ↑ Alex Attimonelli: Japan in shock. In: Cinema. No. 327, edition 08/05, p. 90.
