HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF JAPANESE CINEMA

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF JAPANESE CINEMA

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Japanese cinema is deceptively familiar to most of us. We know some of the
outstanding directors and actors, at least those who have become popular in
the West. Many of us have marveled at the technical prowess of one or more
anime. We, as children or with our children, have gaped at Godzilla and other
monsters, thrilled to yakuza and swordplay films, and shivered through some
of the J-Horror, and without our children, may even have succumbed to pink
films and Roman Porno. If asked, many of us would put the Seven Samurai
and Rashomon on any list of all-time best. But there is so much more that we
are less familiar with, including the early pioneering works, documentaries,
many of the period pieces, comedy and household dramas, films on feminism
or minorities, and certainly the production of war films before and during the
Pacific War. The studio names are familiar, but not their genesis (and sometimes
disappearance).
And
we
do
not

really know the producers and actors
of popular Japanese fare that is rarely seen abroad. So this volume has the
double advantage of telling us more about the things we are familiar with, but
especially filling in the huge gaps regarding less known directors, actors, and
other film personnel; studios; and more typically Japanese genres.

JASPER SHARP