Publisher's Synopsis
Nagisa Oshima is generally regarded as the most important Japanese film director after Kurosawa and is one of Japan's most productive and celebrated postwar artists. His early films represent the Japanese New Wave at its zenith, and the films he has made since (including "In the Realm of the Senses" and "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence") have won international acclaim. The more than 40 writings that make up this intellectual autobiography reveal a conjunction of personal candor and political commitment. They trace in vivid and carefully articulated detail the development of Oshima's theory and practice.;The writings are arranged in chronological order and cover the period from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s. Following a historical overview of contemporary Japanese cinema, a substantial section articulates the theoretical and political rationale of Oshima's own film production, which he sees as being profoundly influenced by the social formation and political process of postwar Japan. Among many other topics considered in his essays, Oshima questions the economics of film production, the ethics of the documentary film, censorship (both political and sexual), and the relation of aesthetics and social taboos. A filmography and notes round out this collection.
