was a prolific Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. His first accredited film, , was released in 1953; his last, , in 1985. He received several awards during his career, including the

Japanese Academy Award The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

for "Best Director" for his 1978 film '' The Demon''.

Biography

Nomura was the son of Hotei Nomura, a contract film director at the

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

film studio. He entered

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

to study art in 1936, graduated in 1941, and then joined the Shochiku studios as well. He was first hired as an

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

but before being assigned any projects he was drafted into the army before being discharged in July 1946. In the fall of the same year, he returned to Shochiku and spent his entire film career working there. During his years as an assistant director, he worked under the helm of film directors as Keisuke Sasaki, Yuzo Kawashima, and

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 ...

, whom he worked with in 1951 on the filming of ''

The Idiot ''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69. The title is an ...

'', based on the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

. In 1952, Nomura was promoted to director and made his directorial debut in 1953 with the film , which was such a success that the studio gave him five more films to direct the following year. He is considered one of the pioneers of Japanese

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

and frequently collaborated with mystery writer

Seichō Matsumoto was a Japanese writer, credited with popularizing detective fiction in Japan. Matsumoto's works broke new ground by incorporating elements of human psychology and ordinary life. His works often reflect a wider social context and postwar nih ...

, adapting eight of his works into films. Nomura directed 89 films in total. He worked in several different genres, including

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

s and ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

'' (period dramas), but was considered most proficient within the thriller genre. Nomura's films frequently contain veiled criticism of Japanese society. His 1974 thriller ''

Castle of Sand is a 1974 Japanese police procedural film directed by Yoshitarō Nomura, based on the novel '' Suna no Utsuwa'' by Seicho Matsumoto. Plot Yoshitaro Nomura's 1974 film of Seicho Matsumoto's immensely popular detective story tells the tale of two ...

'', for which he won a diploma at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975, is considered by many critics as his best work. Nomura retired from directing in 1985, after which he worked as a TV producer and as consultant to other Japanese directors. In 1995, he was decorated by the Japanese Government with the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

, the second highest order of Japan. He died of pneumonia on 8 April 2005 in

Shinjuku, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Retrospective

In 2014, the

National Science and Media Museum The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum G ...

in the UK organised a programme of five Nomura films, all of which were adaptations of Seichō Matsumoto stories.

Filmography as assistant director

* ''

'' (1951) * (1951) * (1952) * (1952) * (1952) * (1953)

Filmography as Director

1950s

* (1952) * (1952) * (1953) * (1953) * (1953) * (1953) * (1953) * ''

Izu no Odoriko is a novel by Japanese writer and Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata first published in 1926. Plot The narrator, a twenty-year-old student from Tokyo, travels the Izu Peninsula during the last days of the summer holidays, a journey which he ...

'' (1954) * (1954) * (1954) * (1954) * (1955) * (1955) * (1955) * (1955) * (1955) * (1955) * (1956) * (1956) * (1956) * (1956) * (1956) * (1956) * (1957) * (1958) * (1958) * (1958) * (1958) * (1959)

1960s

* (1960) * (1960) * (1960) * (1960) * (1961) * (1961) * (1961) * (1962) * (1962) * (1962) * (1962) * (1963) * (1963) * (1963) * (1964) * (1964) * (1964) * (1965) * (1966) * (1966) * (1966) * (1966) * (1966) * (1967) * (1967) * (1967) * (1967) * (1968) * (1968) * (1968) * (1969) * (1969) * (1969) * (1969)

1970s

* (1970) * (1970) * (1970) * (1970) * (1970) * (1971) * (1971) * (1971) * (1972) * (1973) * (1973) * ''

'' (1974) * (1974) * (1975) * (1977) * '' The Incident'' (1978) * '' The Demon'' (1978) * (1979) based on a novel by

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

1980s

* (1980) * (1980) * (1981) * ''

Suspicion Suspicion is a feeling of mistrust. Suspicion(s), The Suspicion, or Suspicious may also refer to: Film and television Film * ''Suspicion'' (1918 film), an American silent film directed by John M. Stahl * ''Suspicion'' (1941 film), an American ...

'' (1982) * (1983) * (1984) * (1985)

References

External links

*
JMDb Yoshitaro Nomura listing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nomura, Yoshitaro 1919 births 2005 deaths Japanese film directors Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year winners People from Tokyo