Kaneto ShindoFilmography

Sanmon Yakusha

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Naoto Takenaka, Hideko Yoshida, Nobuko Otowa

Synopsis: Celebrated Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, at 88, was the world's second-oldest working director when he made this biopic of character actor Taiji Tonoyama (Portugal's Manoel de Oliveira, age 91, held the distinction of being the oldest). Tonoyama, who acted in 250 films throughout his career Read More

Kanzen Naru Shi-iku

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Naoto Takenaka, Hijiri Kojima, Eriko Watanabe, Kazuki Kitamura, Asami Sawaki

Synopsis: Veteran television director Ben Wada spins this bizarre romance of sorts based on a script written by acclaimed filmmaker Kaneto Shindo. The film opens with lonely recent divorcé, Iwamoto (Naoto Takenaka), drugging and abducting a comely high school student named Kuniko (Hijiri Kojima). After Read More

Ikitai

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, who was 86 at the time of making this film, tackles the graying of Japan's population. The film opens with Yasukichi (Rentaro Mikuni), a retired chemist who lives with his middle-aged daughter, Tokuko (Shinobu Otake), drunkenly decrying the younger generation's Read More

A Last Note

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Veteran Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shindo was 82 when he directed this meditation on life, death, and loss. Following the passing of her husband, elderly former actress Yoko Morimoto (Haruko Sugimura) travels to her summer home in the mountains of Central Japan. Upon her arrival, her servant Tokoyo Read More

Bokuto Kidan

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Masahiko Tsugawa, Yukio Sumida, Yoshiko Miyazaki

Synopsis: Noted filmmaker Kaneto Shindo directs this erotic drama adapted from the autobiographical book by renowned writer Nagai Kafu. Kafu, a noted rake and whoremonger, became one of Japan's more celebrated literary figures by documenting fleeting pleasures and subtle human interactions as he frequented Read More

Tooki Rakujitsu

Crew: Book Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Yoshiko Mita, Hiroshi Mikami, Takahiro Tamura, Hiroyuki Nagato

Synopsis: This extremely uneven biography will be of particular interest to those familiar with notable scientific figures in recent Japanese history. Others may wonder what all the fuss is about. The story, which begins in the late nineteenth century, concerns the life of Hideyo Noguchi (Hiroshi Mikami) an Read More

Hachiko monogatari

Crew: Screenwriter

Eiga Joyu

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Bunta Sugawara, Koji Ishizaka, Kiichi Nakai

Synopsis: The Japanese actress and film director Kinuyo Tanaka had a career as significant to that country's movie industry as Lillian Gish's was in the U.S. -- it spanned the early days of silent movies and continued well into the 1970s. This biographical drama covers her career up to the point when she is Read More

Chiheisen

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Toshiyuki Nagashima, Kumiko Akiyoshi, Miwako Fujitani, Misako Tanaka, Maiko Kawakami

Synopsis: Based on the experiences of director Kaneto Shindo's sister, this docudrama follows the life of a young Japanese woman given in marriage to a compatriot living in California, as repayment on a debt. When the woman arrives, she is desperately homesick, although her farmer-husband is kind and Read More

Tsumikikuzushi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ayumi Ishida, Noriko Watanabe, Ryuzo Hayashi

Synopsis: If Western nations had the juvenile delinquency depicted in this Japanese film about a delinquent teen, they would be grateful. The teen does not do drugs or alcohol, she does not murder school children with her parents' rifles, she is not promiscuous, she does not commit armed robbery or belong Read More

Jishin Retto

Crew: Screenwriter

Kosatsu

Crew: Director

Actors: Nobuko Otowa

Jiken

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Toshiyuki Nagashima, Keiko Matsuzaka, Tsunehiko Watase

Synopsis: In this courtroom drama, a murdered woman's former schoolteacher and various local merchants contribute vital evidence leading to the conviction of her murderer. As important as the mystery of the murder is the jockeying for position between the various lawyers and judges. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Read More

Chikuzan Hitori Tabi

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Nobuko Otowa, Mitsuko Baisho

Synopsis: After over 50 years of wandering up and down Japan, finally in the 1970s the rough-hewn blind shamisien player and folk-song collector named Chikuzan became a musical sensation. This biographical drama chronicles his wanderings and his life, with a particular focus on his humble beginnings as a Read More

My Way

Crew: Director

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: The quest of a war-widow for the truth about her husband's death during World War II serves as the backbone for this film, which portrays the Japanese militarism of that time and the attitudes which gave rise to it. Though the government labelled her husband as a deserter, his widow does not Read More

Chimimorya

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this Japanese melodrama, a young painter struggles in all things to remain true to his art and to his friends, a difficult task in a society where such a quest can lead to a truly disastrous individualism. In his case, in late 19th-century Japan, repression and death surround and follow him as Read More

Okinawa Kessen

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Keiju Kobayashi, Tetsuro Tamba, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yuzo Kayama, Mayumi Ozora

Synopsis: Samurai Assassin and Japan's Longest Day director Kihachi Okamoto offers a vivid dramatization of the bloodiest battle ever fought in the Pacific Theater with this combat film produced to portray the Japanese perspective on this landmark confrontation. The year is 1944, and when Allied forces Read More

Hadaka No Jukyusai

Crew: Director

Thousand Cranes

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This drama is based on Kawabata's Nobel Prize-winning autobiographical novel about the two loves of his father and about the anger he feels toward them. When he was a boy he meets the first lover with whom his father only had a brief affair. Later, the philanderer gets involved with a widow. Read More

Devil's Temple

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This Japanese costume drama is set within a ruined Buddhist temple. A thief is living there with a domineering partner. His wife finds the two and interferes with their relationship. A priest wanders up to the temple. The thief tries to swipe the his golden Buddha. The priest puts a spell upon Read More

Kuroneko

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Kichiemon Nakamura, Nobuko Otowa, Kiwako Taichi, Kei Sato, Hideo Kanze

Synopsis: Set in feudal Japan, this atmospheric and violent ghost story (whose title literally translates as The Black Cat in the Bush) begins with the brutal murder of two women by a band of mercenary samurai, whose leader is subsequently tracked down, seduced, and murdered by a young woman possessed by Read More

Tsuyomushi Onna To Yowamushi Otoko

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Nobuko Otowa, Hideo Kanze, Taiji Tonoyama

Synopsis: A mother leaves her husband and small village and travels to Kyoto with her teenage daughter. Their quaint country ways are soon discarded as they don negligees and bilk bar customers with sad stories of need. Their rural dialect is quickly replaced by the seductive siren calls of big-city painted Read More

Lost Sex

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Hideo Kanze, Nobuko Otowa, Kaori Shima

Synopsis: This Japanese drama, the first to deal with some of the after-effects of the Hiroshima bomb, chronicles the quest of a respected drama teacher to find sexual satisfaction after he learns that the bomb blast has rendered him impotent. Nothing seems to work, so the teacher travels to his mountain Read More

The House of The Sleeping Virgins

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Takahiro Tamura, Sanae Nakahara

Synopsis: An aging writer recalls the sexual escapades of a lifetime. He frequents a club where virgins entertain the elderly, impotent clientele. When two of his friends die there, he is philosophical about their demise and thinks that the club is as good a place as any to die. His nubile young daughter is Read More

Passion

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this Japanese drama, a housewife falls in love with a female model and embarks upon a lesbian relationship. When she must share her new lover with a male lover, the housewife becomes confused. She must also deal with her husband. Eventually all four enter into a suicide pact, but of them, she Read More

Daraku Suru Onna

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mitsuko Mito, Toshiyuki Hosokawa

Synopsis: The daughter (Miyuki Kuwano) of a Prime Minister turns down the proposal of a dedicated young teacher (Takahiro Tamura) when she falls for the wrong man (Toshiyuki Hosokawa) in this romantic melodrama. Despite her being continually degraded by the man she loves, the woman always crawls back to the Read More

Sei No Kigen

Crew: Director

Actors: Taiji Tonoyama, Nobuko Otowa, Kayo Matsuo

Synopsis: During his final hospital stay before the end of his life, an older man is extremely infatuated by the girl in the bed next to him. One day, he attempts to kiss her. His wife is in the room at the time, and she completely understands and accepts the situation, but the man's children are horrified. Read More

The Gambling Samurai

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this martial arts film, a Japanese Samurai warrior returns to his home village after being gone for two years. He is appalled to discover that it has been taken over by an uncaring government. His sister is attacked by one of the officials. She is deeply ashamed and kills herself. The samurai Read More

The Fighting Elegy

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Hideki Takahashi, Junko Asano

Synopsis: In this sharp satire from acclaimed Japanese director Seijun Suzuki, Hideki Takahashi plays Kiroku, a middle-school student who finds himself troubled by an obsessive lust for the virginal Michiko (Junko Asano), the daughter of the family with whom he boards. But Kiroku soon discovers the perfect Read More

Manji

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ayako Wakao, Kyoko Kishida, Eiji Funakoshi, Yasuke Kawazu

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki, this tongue-in-cheek melodrama by Japanese director Yasuzo Masumura tells the story of Sonoko (Kyoko Kishida), a housewife who becomes obsessed with another woman. Told in a series of flashbacks as she relates her tale to a novelist, the plot follows her Read More

Onibaba

Crew: Art Director, Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Sato, Jukichi Uno, Taiji Tonoyama

Synopsis: A landmark in fantasy cinema, this lyrical ghost story is set in medieval Japan amid a bloody conflict between rival fiefdoms. While the warrior Kichi's impoverished wife (Jitsuko Yoshimura) and mother (Nobuko Otowa) wait for his return from battle, they maintain a humble existence by luring lost Read More

This Madding Crowd

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this interesting Japanese drama, a journalist travels to a tiny fishing village outside Tokyo to learn more about traditional customs and culture. There he carefully watches the locals going about their daily business. Among those observed are a recovered alcoholic caring for his crippled wife; Read More

Ningen

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Kei Yamamoto

The Wayside Pebble

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Setsuko Hara, Tatsuya Mihashi, Kyu Sazanka

Synopsis: The Wayside Pebble is an effective drama about the hardships of a childhood spent with a brusque, cold-hearted father and a submissive mother. The year is 1910 and the place is a small Japanese village. Goichi (Hiroyuki Ohta) is suffering because he wants to go to school, but his family is too Read More

Shitoyakana Keda Mono

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ayako Wakao, Yunosuke Ito, Yuko Hamada

Synopsis: The intrigue inside the usual overcrowded apartment of an atypical Japanese family recalls the court intrigues of the glorious 11th-12th century Heian period when courtesans who were not allowed outside the court listened behind screens to keep up with current love affairs and manipulations for Read More

Challenge to Live

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tatsuya Mihashi, Yoko Tsukasa, Yumi Shirakawa, Masayuki Mori

Synopsis: In this uneven but still challenging drama, director Eizo Sugawa tackles the problem of the effects of killing on the human psyche, even when the killing is condoned as a form of euthanasia. Izaki (Tatsuya Mihashi) is a successful executive who leads an oil company to break the embargo against Read More

Hadaka no Shima

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Nobuko Otowa, Taiji Tonoyama, Shinji Tanaka, Masanori Horimoto

Synopsis: The titular island in this Japanese domestic drama is an agrarian flyspeck, almost completely cut off from contact with the mainland. Here the island's residents mechanically go through their everyday farming tasks. The film concentrates on a family of five, content with their existence despite Read More

Hadaka No Taisho

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Aiko Mimasu, Daisuke Kato

Synopsis: A slight though effective slice-of-life story, this drama by Miyoji Ieki focuses on a young, struggling couple. They are making every sacrifice so they will one day in the not-too-distant-future, have enough money to get married. As they have agreed on this procedure, it comes as a shock to the Read More

The Precipice

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Keizo Kawasaki, Fujiko Yamamoto

Synopsis: In keeping with his other films, Yasuzo Masumura's Precipice explores the problems facing young people in an increasingly insensitive and confusing society. When two mountain climbers attempt to negotiate a snowy peak, only one of the men returns alive. Since the dead man had been carrying on an Read More

Yoru No Tsuzumi

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ineko Arima, Masayuki Mori

Synopsis: Tadashi Imai's Yoru no Tsuzani was released in English-speaking countries as The Adulteress Set in 18th century Japan, the story zeroes in on a faithful wife who is driven to distraction by her husband's lengthy absences. She is also driven into the arms of another man. Given the sexual mores Read More

Joyu

Crew: Director

Children of Hiroshima

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Synopsis: In this Japanese semi-documentary, a teacher and her ex-students offer their view of the horrible aftermath of the A-bomb in their city. The film was designed to generate sympathy from the American people responsible for the devastation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Genji Monogatari

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Kazuo Hasegawa, Michiyo Kogure, Machiko Kyo, Mitsuko Mito, Nobuko Otowa

Synopsis: Genji Monogatori (A Tale of Genji) was another copacetic collaboration between Japanese director Kosaburo Yoshimura and screenwriter Kaneto Shindo. Based on a long-popular novel by Murasaki Shikibu, the film stars Kazuo Hasegawa as Genji, the illegitimate offspring of a Japanese potentate. Read More

Nishijin no shimai

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Mitsuko Miura, Chieko Higashiyama, Kinuyo Tanaka

Synopsis: Avarice and courage provide the underlying themes of this exceptional Japanese drama that centers upon a family of silkweavers from Kyoto who are unable to adapt to the mechanization of their centuries old craft. The distraught father kills himself, leaving his wife and daughters to try and keep Read More

Akatsuki no Tsuiseki

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: This documentary-style police drama depicts life in the back alleys of Tokyo's Shimbashi district. The film's camera work shows the beginnings of Ichikawa's innovative style ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide Read More

Ojosan Kampai

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Setsuko Hara, Shuji Sano

Waga Koi Wa Moenu

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Eitaro Ozawa, Kuniko Miyake

Synopsis: This groundbreaking study in social criticism was made by one of the earliest revolutionaries in Japanese filmmaking, Kenji Misoguchi (1898-1956), who pioneered the use of realistic characters and situations in films made in his homeland. Misoguchi was a great advocate of women's rights during his Read More

Kekkon

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Ken Uehara, Kinuyo Tanaka

Josei No Shori

Crew: Screenwriter