Yōjirō Takita

Yōjirō Takita ( Japanese 滝 田 洋 二郎 , Takita Yōjirō ; born December 4, 1955 in Fukuoka (today: Takaoka ), Toyama Prefecture ) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He has worked in various genres since the early 1980s and has directed over 40 films, including the Oscar- winning drama Nokan - Die Kunst des Ausklangs (2008).

biography

His film career began Yōjirō Takita, who was influenced by Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai , among others , in 1974 as an assistant director. Similar to his colleagues Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Masayuki Suo , he made a name for himself at the beginning with films of the Pink Eiga genre. In 1981 he made his directorial debut with Chikan onna kyōshi (1981) and was responsible for a popular series of erotic comedies. 1986 followed with the black comedy Komikku zasshi nanka iranai! (English-language title: Comic Magazine ) his first pure feature film. The low-budget production of a self-despising television reporter was included in the New Directors / New Films series of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and earned the Japanese praise from American critics.

Takita's first major financial success was the 1988 satire Kimurake no hitobito ( The Yen Family ) about a greedy Japanese family , which was very popular in Asia . His breakthrough as a film director in Japan paved the way for him in the mid-1990s with the film Bokura wa minna ikiteiru (1993, Made in Japan ). The tragic comedy is about a Japanese businessman (played by Hiroyuki Sanada ), who travels with three colleagues to a poor, war-ravaged third world country in South Asia. Bokura wa minna ikiteiru brought Takita the directing award at the Japanese Blue Ribbon Awards and his first nomination for the Japanese Academy Award , which was followed a year later by the similar feature film Nettai rakuen kurabu (1994, The Tropical People ).

The director was to be nominated two more times for Japan's most important film award: in 2002 for the Heian-era fantasy film Ommyōji (2001, The Yin-Yang Master ) and in 2004 for the historical film Mibu gishiden (2003, When the Last Sword Is Drawn ) . The latter drama, a film adaptation of Jirō Asada's highly acclaimed novel about one of the best-known and most popular samurai clans in Japan , the "Wolves of Mibu", was voted best film of the year in 2004. Takita's 1999 film Himitsu ( Secret ), about a wife and mother who is reborn in her daughter's body, was remade in 2007 by Vincent Perez, starring David Duchovny and Lili Taylor .

The married family man celebrated his greatest success so far in 2008 with Nokan - The Art of Ending ( Okuribito ), in which he and screenwriter Kundo Koyama take on the Japanese funeral rites in detail. The drama is about an unemployed cello player (played by Masahiro Motoki ) who returns to his small home village with his wife ( Ryōko Hirosue ) and happens to find work as an undertaker. Nokan - The Art of Fading Out was inspired by the lead actor Motoki, who learned about Japanese funeral rites through a book in his late twenties. Due to its theme in times of the financial crisis, the film only found distribution in Japan 13 months after its completion, which, in the opinion of the director and leading actor, was the reason for the success of the film. Nokan - Die Kunst des Ausklangs celebrated its world premiere at the end of August 2008 at the Canadian World Film Festival , where Takita's directorial work was awarded the main prize. In 2009, four Kinema Jumpō Awards , ten Japanese Academy Awards and the Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category followed , after Japanese feature film productions competed eleven times in vain for the award.

Nokan - The Art of Ending became Takita's most successful film and was shown in Japanese cinemas for eight months after its launch, where the production grossed more than 60 million US dollars. Takita then received both the honorary award of the citizens of Takaoka ( 高 岡 市民 栄 誉 賞 , Takaoka-shimin eiyo-shō ), as well as the honorary award of the citizens of Toyama prefecture ( 富山 県 民 栄 誉 賞 , Toyama-kemmin eiyo-shō ).

Filmography (selection)

• 1985: Momoiro shintai kensa ( 桃色 身体 検 査 , English Pink Physical )
• 1986: Komikku zasshi nanka iranai! ( コ ミ ッ ク 雑 誌 な ん か い ら な い！ , English Comic Magazine )
• 1988: Kimurake no hitobito ( 木村 家 の 人 々 , Engl. The Yen Family )
• 1990: Byōin e ikō ( 病院 へ 行 こ う , English Let's Go to the Hospital )
• 1993: Bokura wa minna ikiteiru (僕 ら は み ん な 生 き て い る, English Made in Japan / We Are Not Alone )
• 1993: Nemuranai machi: Shinjuku same ( 眠 ら な い 街 新宿 , The City That Never Sleeps: Shinjuku Shark )
• 1994: Nettai rakuen kurabu ( 熱 帯 楽 園 倶 楽 部 , English The Tropical People )
• 1999: O-juken ( お 受 験 , The Exam )
• 1999: Himitsu ( 秘密 , English Secret )
• 2001: The Yin-Yang Master ( 陰陽師 , Ommyōji , Engl. The Yin-Yang Master )
• 2003: The Last Sword - Die Wolfe von Mibu ( 壬 生 義士 伝 , Mibu gishiden , English When the Last Sword Is Drawn )
• 2005: Ashura ( 阿 修羅 城 の 瞳 , Ashura-jō no hitomi , English Ashura )
• 2006: Batterī ( バ ッ テ リ ー , English The Battery )
• 2008: Nokan - The Art of Ending ( お く り び と , Okuribito , English Departures )
• 2009: Tsurikichi Sampei ( 釣 り キ チ 三 平 , English Sanpei the Fisher Boy )

Awards

year	event	category
1986	Hochi Film Award	Best film for Komikku zasshi nanka iranai!
1994	Japanese Academy Award	nominated in the Best Director category for Bokura wa minna ikiteiru and Nemuranai machi: Shinjuku same
1994	Blue Ribbon Award	Best director for Bokura wa minna ikiteiru
2000	Sitges Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya	nominated for Best Picture for Himitsu
2002	Japanese Academy Award	nominated in the category Best Director for Ommyōji
2003	Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival	Narcisse Prize for Best International Film for Ommyōji
2004	Japanese Academy Award	nominated in the category Best Director for Mibu gishiden
2008	Hawaii International Film Festival	Audience award for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2008	World Film Festival	Grand Prix des Amériques for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2008	Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best director for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2009	Japanese Academy Award	Best director for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2009	Kinema Jumpō Prize	Best film and best director for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2009	Palm Springs International Film Festival	Audience award for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2009	Udine Far East Film Festival	Audience award for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2009	Wisconsin Film Festival	Audience award for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2009	Yokohama Film Festival	Best film and best director for Nokan - The Art of Ending
2010	Robert	nominated in the category Best Non-American Film for Nokan - The Art of Ending

Web links

• Hale, Mike: From 'pink films' to Oscar gold - portrait in the New York Times , May 17, 2009
• Yōjirō Takita in the All Movie Guide (English)
• Yōjirō Takita in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} ア カ デ ミ ー 賞 の 滝 田 監督 に 富山 県 民 ・ 高 岡 市民 栄 誉 賞 贈 呈 . (No longer available online.) Hokkoku Shimbun , March 19, 2009, archived from the original July 9, 2009 ; Retrieved March 21, 2009 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} cf. Profile at hatena.ne.jp (Japanese, accessed February 22, 2009)
3. ↑ cf. Yojiro Takita: Best. Movies. Ever. . In: Newsweek 153 (2009), No. 2, p. 73
4. ↑ cf. Profile ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at fe-mail.co.jp (Japanese, accessed February 22, 2009) 
5. ↑ ^{a b} cf. Schilling, Mark: Foreign film Oscar surprises former porn helmer. In: Variety 414 (2009), No. 4, p. 6
6. ↑ ^{a b c} cf. Hale, Mike: From 'pink films' to Oscar gold . In: The New York Times 158 (2009), No. 54678, May 17, p. 18