![Takeo Kimura 2003-07-22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Takeo_Kimura_2003-07-22.jpg)
The following is the filmography of
Takeo Kimura
was a Japanese art director, writer and film director. Beginning his career in 1945 he art-directed well over 200 films. He was one of Japan's best known art directors, most famously for his collaborations with cult director Seijun Suzuki thr ...
, the Japanese
art director, writer, and film director who has art-directed more than 200 films over a span of more than six decades and ranks among Japan's best-known art directors.
His training began with the
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...
Company in 1941, whose production division was merged into
Daiei
, based in Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe, is one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan. In 1957, Isao Nakauchi founded the chain in Osaka near Sembayashi Station on the Keihan train line. Daiei is now under a restructuring process supported by Maruben ...
during the wartime industry reorganization, where he was promoted to art director in 1945.
[
] His debut film as such was ''
Umi no yobu koe'' (1945).
[ ] Nikkatsu re-opened its production studio in 1954 and Kimura moved there.
[ He worked with several directors, including top action director Toshio Masuda on films such as '' Red Quay'' (1958) with top star Yujiro Ishihara and '' Gangster VIP'' (1968) starring ]Tetsuya Watari
born (December 28, 1941 – August 10, 2020) was a Japanese film, stage, and television actor.
Life
He graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. Watari belonged to the karate club at university. He made his screen debut in 1964, in Isamu Kosu ...
.[ However, his longest and most famous collaboration has been with director ]Seijun Suzuki
, born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predo ...
, which began with '' The Bastard'' (1963). Together they developed a bold, expressive style exemplified in ''Gate of Flesh
is a 1964 Japanese film based on a novel by Taijiro Tamura and directed by Seijun Suzuki.
Plot
In an impoverished and burnt out Tokyo ghetto of post-World War II Japan, a band of prostitutes defend their territory, squatting in a bombed-out b ...
'' (1964) and ''Tokyo Drifter
is a 1966 ''yakuza'' film directed by Seijun Suzuki. The story follows Tetsuya Watari as the reformed yakuza hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu who is forced to roam Japan avoiding execution by rival gangs.
Plot
An old ''yakuza'' boss named Kurata decides ...
'' (1966).[ Suzuki often rewrote his scripts with Kimura, who was given his first ]screenwriting
Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession.
Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, de ...
credit on ''The Flower and the Angry Waves
is a 1964 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki.
Synopsis
A young yakuza in love with the girl who's to marry his clan ''oyabun'', kidnaps the girl before fleeing with her. In Tokyo, he hides under the identity of a worker while the young woman ...
'' (1964). Kimura was also a part of Guryū Hachirō, the pen name of the writing group that formed around Suzuki in the mid-1960s and wrote ''Branded to Kill
is a 1967 Japanese yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, Annu Mari and Mariko Ogawa. The story follows contract killer Goro Hanada as he is recruited by a mysterious woman named Misako for a seemingly im ...
'' (1967).
Kimura left Nikkatsu in 1973 to work freelance.[ He subsequently art-directed many films for director ]Kei Kumai
was a Japanese film director from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he began work as a director's assistant.
He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his first film, '' Nihon ...
over almost 20 years. This included Kumai's best-known film '' Sandakan No. 8'' (1974), '' Love and Faith'' (1978) featuring Toshirō Mifune
was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ' ...
and ''The Sea Is Watching
is a 2002 Japanese romance film directed by Kei Kumai, based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa.
Cast
* Misa Shimizu – Kikuno
* Nagiko Tōno – Oshin
* Masatoshi Nagase – Ryosuke
* Hidetaka Yoshioka
is a Japanese actor known for his per ...
'' (2002) based on one of Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
's final scripts.[ Kimura's collaboration with director ]Kazuo Kuroki
was a Japanese film director who was particularly known for his films on World War II and the question of personal guilt.
Career
While Kuroki was often listed as being born in Miyazaki Prefecture, he was actually born in Matsusaka, Mie. He atten ...
exceeded 20 years, including the Art Theatre Guild Art Theatre Guild (ATG) was a film production company in Japan that started in 1961 and ran through to the mid-1980s, releasing mostly Japanese New Wave and arthouse films.
History
ATG began as an independent agency which distributed foreign fil ...
film ''Preparation for the Festival
is a 1975 Japanese film directed by Kuroki Kazuo.
Plot
Tateo (Jun Etô), a mother-dominated young man who realizes that he must leave the place he loves, finding it too closed and constricting. With great affection and insight, Kuroki character ...
'' (1975) and '' The Face of Jizo'' (2004).[ He worked with Suzuki on several more films, including '']Zigeunerweisen
''Zigeunerweisen'' (''Gypsy Airs'', es, Aires gitanos, link=no), Op. 20, is a musical composition for violin and orchestra written in 1878 by the Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate. It was premiered the same year in Leipzig, Germany. Like his ...
'' (1980) and ''Pistol Opera
is a 2001 Japanese film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Makiko Esumi.
Storyline
The film's main character, Miyuki Minazuki, ranked number three in The Assassins Guild, is known as the "Stray Cat". A stoic and deadly woman, she is forced ...
'' (2001), a follow-up to ''Branded to Kill''. Zigeunerweisen was voted best Japanese film of the 1980s by Japanese film critics.[ He art-directed on '']Fire Festival
is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by Pro Wrestling Zero1 to determine the top wrestler in the promotion, typically contested in late July/early August. Within the English-speaking professional wrestling world, th ...
'' and ''Tampopo
is a 1985 Japanese comedy film written and directed by Juzo Itami, and starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Kōji Yakusho, and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first "ramen western", a play on the term Spaghetti We ...
'' (both 1985), career highlights in the respective oeuvres of directors Mitsuo Yanagimachi
is a Japanese screenwriter and film director.
Career
Born in Namegata District, Ibaraki, Yanagimachi attended the Faculty of Law at Waseda University but began studying filmmaking. Working as a freelance assistant director after graduating, he ...
and Juzo Itami
, born , was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. He directed eleven films (one short and ten features), all of which he wrote himself.
Early life
Itami was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto. The name Itami was passed on from his fath ...
.[ Kaizō Hayashi's best remembered and debut film '' To Sleep so as to Dream'' (1986) marked the beginning of another long collaboration which also encompassed his '' Maiku Hama'' trilogy: '']The Most Terrible Time in My Life
is a 1994 film directed by Kaizo Hayashi. The film is the first in the series featuring the detective Mike Hama (a play on the Mickey Spillane detective Mike Hammer), which included two more films by Hayashi (''Stairway to the Distant Past'' and ...
'' (1994), '' Stairway to the Distant Past'' (1995) and '' The Trap'' (1996).
At age 86 Kimura directed the first of four short films with ''Mugen Sasurai
Mugen, a word of Japanese origin meaning "infinite", may refer to:
* "Mugen" (Nana Mizuki song), 2009
* "Mugen" (Porno Graffitti song), 2002
*'' M.U.G.E.N'', a freeware 2D fighting game engine
*Mugen Motorsports, a Japanese automotive company
*Mug ...
'' (2004), which earned him the title for oldest directorial debut.[ The last was '' Matouqin Nocturne'' (2007) in which Suzuki appeared in a prominent role. Kimura then wrote and directed the feature-length film '' Dreaming Awake'' (2008) based on his own self-published novel.][ He was recognized by ]Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
for "the oldest debut as a feature film director" at age 90. Suzuki again appeared in the film. Kimura himself acted in a couple small roles for other directors.
Filmography
Art director
Director
Writer
Actor
References
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;Specific
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimura Takeo filmography
Director filmographies