Keisuke Kinoshita
Keisuke Kinoshita (木下 惠介, Kinoshita Keisuke, December 5, 1912 – December 30, 1998) was a Japanese film director.
Hugely popular in his home country of Japan, Keisuke Kinoshita worked tirelessly as a director for nearly half a century, making lyrical, sentimental films that often center on the inherent goodness of people, especially in times of distress. He began his directing career during a most challenging time for Japanese cinema: World War II, when the industry’s output was closely monitored by the state and often had to be purely propagandistic. He refused to be bound by genre, technique, or dogma. Kinoshita excelled in almost every genre: comedy, tragedy, social dramas, period films. He shot all films on location or in a one-house set. He pursued severe photographic realism with the long take, long-shot method, and went equally far toward stylization with fast cutting, intricate wipes, tilted cameras, and even classical scroll-painting and Kabuki stage technique.
Kinoshita was highly prolific, turning out some 42 films in the first 23 years of his career. For this, Kinoshita explained that he "can’t help it. Ideas for films have always just popped into my head like scraps of paper into a wastebasket." While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu, he was a household figure in his home country, beloved by both critics and audiences from the 1940s to the 1960s.
Although few concrete details have emerged about Kinoshita's personal life, his homosexuality was widely known in the film world. Screenwriter and frequent collaborator Yoshio Shirasaka recalls the "brilliant scene" Kinoshita made with the handsome, well-dressed assistant directors he surrounded himself with. His 1959 film Farewell to Spring (Sekishuncho) has been called "Japan's first gay film" for the emotional intensity depicted between its male characters.
Kinoshita received the Order of the Rising Sun in 1984 and was awarded the Order of Culture in 1991 by the Japanese government. He died on December 30, 1998, of a stroke. His grave is in Engaku-ji in Kamakura, very near to that of his fellow Shochiku director, Yasujirō Ozu.
Photos
Movies (73)
カルメン故郷に帰る
2024 · Original Story
Dora-heita
2000 · Screenplay
Father
1988 · Director, Writer
Children on the Island
1987 · Screenplay
Big Joys, Small Sorrows
1986 · Director, Writer
I Lived, But...
1983 · Self
Children of Nagasaki
1983 · Original Story, Writer, Director
The Young Rebels
1980 · Director, Writer
Oh, My Son!
1979 · Director, Screenplay
Love and Separation in Sri Lanka
1976 · Director, Writer
Dodes'ka-den
1970 · Executive Producer
Green Light to Joy
1967 · Screenplay
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
1967 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
Once a Rainy Day
1966 · Original Story
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
1966 · Adaptation
While Yet a Wife
1965 · Writer
The Scent of Incense
1964 · Producer, Director, Writer
A Legend or Was It?
1963 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
Sing, Young People!
1963 · Director, Executive Producer
Children of Izu
1962 · Screenplay
Ballad of a Workman
1962 · Producer, Screenplay, Director
Kiriko no unmei
1962 · Screenplay
Dolls floating down the river
1962 · Screenplay
This Year's Love
1962 · Writer, Director
Immortal Love
1961 · Producer, Director, Screenplay
Don't Ever Die, Mama!
1961 · Screenplay
The River Fuefuki
1960 · Director, Screenplay, Producer
Spring Dreams
1960 · Director, Screenplay
Thus Another Day
1959 · Director, Screenplay
Farewell to Spring
1959 · Director, Screenplay
The Snow Flurry
1959 · Director, Screenplay
The Eternal Rainbow
1958 · Director, Writer
The Ballad of Narayama
1958 · Director, Screenplay
Danger Stalks Near
1957 · Director, Screenplay
Times of Joy and Sorrow
1957 · Writer, Director
The Rose on His Arm
1956 · Director, Screenplay
Farewell to Dream
1956 · Director
Ai to chie no wa
1956 · Screenplay
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
1955 · Director, Screenplay
Bride in the Kitchen
1955 · Screenplay
The Tattered Wings
1955 · Director, Screenplay
Twenty-Four Eyes
1954 · (uncredited), Director, Screenplay
The Garden of Women
1954 · Director, Screenplay
Love Letter
1953 · Screenplay
A Japanese Tragedy
1953 · Screenplay, Director
Sincere Heart
1953 · Screenplay
Carmen's Innocent Love
1952 · Screenplay, Director
Fireworks Over the Sea
1951 · Screenplay, Director
Boyhood
1951 · Director, Screenplay
Carmen Comes Home
1951 · Director, Screenplay
The Good Fairy
1951 · Director, Screenplay
Wedding Ring
1950 · Screenplay, Director, Producer
Broken Drum
1949 · Director, Story, Screenplay
Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 2
1949 · Director
Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1
1949 · Director
Here's to the Young Lady
1949 · Director
Apostasy
1948 · Director
The Portrait
1948 · Director
Woman
1948 · Director, Screenplay
Phoenix
1947 · Director, Screenplay
Marriage
1947 · Director, Story
The Girl I Loved
1946 · Director, Story, Screenplay
Morning for the Osone Family
1946 · Director
Army
1944 · Director
Jubilation Street
1944 · Director
The Living Magoroku
1943 · Director, Writer
Port of Flowers
1943 · Director
Otoko no iki
1942 · Writer
The Spy Has Not Died Yet
1942 · Screenplay
The Story of Tank Commander Nishizumi
1940 · Assistant Director
Five Siblings
1939 · Writer, Idea
The Lights of Asakusa
1937 · Assistant Director
Okoto and Sasuke
1935 · Assistant Camera
TV shows (14)
日本名作童話シリーズ 赤い鳥のこころ
1979 · Creator
Wagako wa Tanin
1974 · Creator, Director
Omoi Bashi
1973 · Creator
Kōfuku Sōdan
1972 · Creator, Producer
Taiyō no Namida
1971 · Creator, Writer
Mom’s Shoulders
1971 · Director, Producer, Creator
World of Two
1970 · Director, Producer, Creator
Story of Yakuza in Naniwa
1970 · Producer
Ashita Kara no Koi
1970 · Director, Creator
Brother
1969 · Director, Creator
Family of Three
1968 · Creator
Oyaji Daiko
1968 · Creator, Writer
Kotoshi no Koi
1967 · Original Story, Creator
The Keisuke Kinoshita Hour
1964 · Creator