The Moving Image Source Calendar is a selective international guide to retrospectives, screenings, festivals, and exhibitions.
Descriptions are drawn from the calendars of the presenting venues.
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Minoru Shibuya
February 23–28, 2011 at
Kino Arsenal
, Berlin
He is yet to be discovered outside of Japan: the director Shibuya Minoru (1907-1980), who between 1937 and 1965 made more than 40 films for the production company Shochiku. After the presentation of his films at the Forum of the Berlinale, we will screen eight works from his most important creative phase in the 1950s and '60s. Shibuya joined Shochiku in 1930 and was initially an assistant to Naruse and Gosho and also on one of Ozu's movies. He made his debut as a director in 1937. He was mainly dedicated to social dramas and comedies, which were typical of Shochiku, focusing on ordinary people and their everyday worries. Shibuya's work is characterized by a sober, cool, and satirical-at times also viciously sarcastic-view of Japanese society in the postwar period, coupled with a keen eye for the character weaknesses of his protagonists and the moral abysses of a greedy society. His style is shaped by visual excessiveness and vitality, with which he holds the often digressing narrative strands together.
Featured Works:
Doctor's Day Off (Honjitsu kyushin, 1952); Modern People (Gendaijin, 1952); Righteousness (Seigiha, 1957); The Days of Evil Women (Akujo no kisetsu, 1958); A Good Man, A Good Day (Kojin kojitsu, 1961); The Shrikes (Mozu, 1961); Drunkard's Paradise (Yopparai tengoku, 1962, pictured); The Radish and the Carrot (Daikon to ninjin, 1964)
Program information:
Berlin International Film Festival
February 10-20, 2011
Related Articles:
Finished Business by Chris Fujiwara posted Feb. 09, 2011
