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is a Japanese
film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
. He won critical acclaim for '' 800 Two Lap Runners''. Film critic and researcher Alexander Jacoby has described Hiroki as "one of the modern Japanese cinema's most intelligent students of character".


Biography


''Pink film''

Hiroki is one of several Japanese film directors who got their start in the Japanese softcore pornographic film genre of ''
pink film refers in Japan to movies produced by independent studios that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. Many pink films would be a ...
''. He said in an interview that in the late 1970s when he wanted to get into directing, he wrote a script for a ''pink film'' and brought it to the Ōkura Eiga studio but they told him he needed to start as an assistant director. At this time he met prolific ''pink film'' director Genji Nakamura and during the next three years, Hiroki worked as an assistant director, editor, and manager for Nakamura's company Yū Pro. Hiroki made his first film as a director with ''Sexual Abuse! Exposed Woman'' for Million Film in 1982. His debut met with poor reviews and was "terrible" according to Hiroki and he went back to being an assistant director for a time.Sharp, p. 242-243, 344 Hiroki's next excursion into directing, beginning in November 1983, was more successful, a trio of homoerotic ''pink films'' for ENK, a new company with links to
Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...
, which specialized in gay ''pink film''. ''Our Season'', ''Our Generation'' and ''Our Moment'' were frank depictions of the tribulations of gay couples in 1980s Japan. All three films starred veteran ''pink film'' actor Tōru Nakane and ''Our Season'', considered the best of the trio by the ''pink film'' historians Thomas and Yuko Weisser, had a screenplay by future director Rokurō Mochizuki. The Weissers dub Hiroki "the prince of youth porn" for his 1984 film produced by Yū Pro and distributed by
Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...
, ''Teacher, Don't Turn Me On!'', once again scripted by Rokurō Mochizuki and featuring Tōru Nakane as the college-age tutor of a high-school girl. His most notorious works for Nakamura's Yū Pro were a series of brutal S&M movies directed under the pseudonym Gō Ijūin (), which was also sometimes used by scriptwriter Hitoshi Ishikawa and Nakamura himself. According to Hiroki, using a pseudonym gave him greater freedom to describe S&M relationships in a new way. The Gō Ijūin films directed by Hiroki were the 1984 ''The SM'', distributed by Million Film, ''The Sexual Abuse'' from February 1985 and ''The Sacrifice'' from February 1986, with the latter two films being released by
Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...
. Also in 1986, Nikkatsu released Hiroki's creative but bizarrely titled Yū Pro production ''SM Class: Accidental Urination'' promoted as "New wave S&M with a sense of humor". In October 1987, Hiroki directed pioneering AV Idol Hitomi Kobayashi in the ''pink film'' ''The True Self of Hitomi Kobayashi'' released by Million Film and the next year supervised another early AV actress Eri Kikuchi in ''Eri Kikuchi: Huge Breasts'' released by Nikkatsu in January 1988. Hiroki also ventured into the adult video (AV) world, directing for Athena Eizou, a company founded by former ''pink film'' director Tadashi Yoyogi, with titles such as the August 1989 starring Mako Hyuga and the May 1990 video .


Into mainstream film

Although Hiroki left the ''pink film'' industry in the late 1980s, he continued to make films dealing with sexuality. Hiroki has said that he never changed his film making, but his later movies were aimed at a different audience. In May 1989 Hiroki with fellow directors Masato Ishioka and Tadafumi Tomioka founded their own production company Heaven (). In November 1990, Hiroki directed a romance about modern young couples in Japan, ''A Love Affair With Sawako'' for the
Shochiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...
company. This was followed by the erotic horror
V-cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strate ...
production ''Sadistic City'' which took the Japanese Film Section Grand Prize for a video at the
Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Fil ...
. Hiroki's breakthrough into mainstream film, however, came with his 1994 feature '' 800 Two Lap Runners'' which looked at teenage heterosexual and homosexual relationships against a track and field background. The film opened at the
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
in February 1994 before being released in Japan in July 1994. It placed number 7 on the
Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...
's list of the ten best Japanese movies of 1994. Hiroki returned to his theme of the emotional and sexual lives of young adults in modern urban Japan in his June 1996 film ''Midori'' about a high-school girl pretending to be ill in order to see her boyfriend. His 2000 work ''Tokyo Trash Baby'' is an understated look at a lonely woman who goes through the garbage of the neighbor she is obsessed with looking for mementos. His other film in 2000 had a very different theme; the erotic comic drama ''I Am an S&M Writer'', with a screenplay by Hiroki's former ''pink film'' colleague Hitoshi Ishikawa, is based on a possibly partly autobiographical novel by celebrated S&M writer Oniroku Dan.


Recognition

Hiroki's 2003 film '' Vibrator'', based on the novel by Mari Akasaka and starring Nao Omori and Shinobu Terajima, returned to his theme of alienated women. It was described by Tom Mes as "one of the bravest and most important films of recent years." ''Vibrator'' won the Best Film award at the 25th Yokohama Film Festival in 2004 and Hiroki was named Best Director. The film was also widely seen overseas. where it won a number of awards giving Hiroki a measure of international renown. He once again worked with actress Shinobu Terajima on the 2005 film '' It's Only Talk'', returning to his concentration on the problems of modern city life in Japan. The film won Best Film Third Place at the 16th Japanese Professional Movie Awards (2006) and Hiroki was given a Special Award. Also during this period, Hiroki directed two character dramas with sexual themes, ''L'Amant'' about a teenaged girl selling herself as a sex slave and ''M'', detailing the experiences of a housewife whose sexual experimentation leads to prostitution. Later films include ''The Egoists'', a romance film starring Kengo Kora and Anne Suzuki and ''
River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
'', a film which was originally inspired by the Akihabara massacre. His ensemble drama film, '' Kabukicho Love Hotel'', screened at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin (director), David Dobkin's film ''The Judge (2014 film), The Judg ...
.


Style and influences

Hiroki was described by Niels Matthijs of
Twitch Film ScreenAnarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...
as "one of the few male directors who can portray a woman with lifelike depth."


Filmography


Feature films

* (1982) * (1983) * (1983) * (1984) * ''The SM'' (1984) as Gō Ijūin * (1985) * (1985) as Gō Ijūin * (1986) as Gō Ijūin * (1986) * (1987) * (1988) * (1989) * (1990) * (1993) (
V-cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strate ...
) * (1994) * '' 800 Two Lap Runners'' (1994) * (1995) * (1995) * (1996) * (1999) * (2000) * (2000) * (2001) * (2002) * '' Vibrator'' (2003) * '' The Silent Big Man'' (2004) * (2004) * (2004) * ''
Female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...
'' (2005) * '' It's Only Talk'' (2005) * (2006) * (2006) * ''M'' (2006) * (2007) * (2008) * (2008) * '' April Bride'' (2009) * (2010) * '' The Egoists'' (2011) * ''
River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
'' (2011) * (2013) * '' Yellow Elephant'' (2013) * '' Crying 100 Times: Every Raindrop Falls'' (2013) * '' Kabukicho Love Hotel'' (2014) * '' Her Granddaughter'' (2014) * '' Strobe Edge'' (2015) * '' Policeman and Me'' (2017) * (2017) * '' Miracles of the Namiya General Store'' (2017) * ''
Marmalade Boy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Wataru Yoshizumi. It was published in Shueisha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Ribon'' from May 1992 to October 1995 and collected in eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series was adapt ...
'' (2018) * (2018) * '' Ride or Die'' (2021) * ''
Noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...
'' (2022) * ''Motherhood'' (2022) * ''You've Got a Friend'' (2022) * ''Phases of the Moon'' (2022) * ''2 Women'' (2022) * ''No Matter What, I Love You'' (2025)


Short films

* ''Cops vs Cops'' (2003)


Television

* '' Modern Love Tokyo'' (2022, episode 2) * ''All Lives'' (2024, television film)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiroki, Ryuichi 1954 births Living people People from Fukushima Prefecture Japanese film directors Japanese film editors Pink film directors Japanese pornographic film directors