Righteousness

A MASTER OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IN POST-WAR JAPAN

Minoru Shibuya was born in Asakusa, Tokyo, on January 2nd, 1907. Relatively unknown outside Japan, his passion for cinema began during his English Literature studies at the University of Keio, in the Japanese capital. He began his cinematic career in 1929 as an unpaid assistant camera operator at the Japanese studio Shochiku, home to directors such as Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yoji Yamada.

While at Shochiku, Shibuya went on to become assistant director to Mikio Naruse and Gosho Heinosuke, and eventually directed the majority of his 40 plus films between the ’30s and the ’60s. He directed box-office hits and carved out an important role for himself within a Japanese film industry that was not used to comedies. In 1943, he was called up for military service and was sent to the Chinese frontlines, only to return to Japan in April 1946, after the end of the Pacific War.

His more important films deal specifically with the post-World War II period, social dramas and comedies that find a balance between irony and disillusion. According to American film critic Chris Fujiwara, “his countless films about families always doubt the stability of family roles and relationships”. Shibuya’s films depict a Japan pervaded by essentially urban issues, strewn with themes such as the post-war inheritance, the ever-growing generational gap between tradition and modernity, the human relationships dictated by money and social climbing, alcoholism, and the Japanese acceptance of foreign customs.

From this period, highlights include Doctor’s Day Off (Honjitsu kyushin, 1952), an adaptation from the novel by Ibuse Masuji; Modern People (Gendaijin, 1952), which melds together social drama and political corruption; and Righteousness (Seigiha, 1957), based on the novel by Shiga Naoya.

From A Good Man, A Good Day (Kojin kojitsu, 1961) onwards, his careful visual style becomes evident in his visual compositions using GrandScope (the Japanese equivalent of CinemaScope), with films such as The Shrikes (Mozu, 1961) and Drunkard`s Paradise (Yopparai tengoku, 1962). His last film with the Shochiku studio was The Radish and the Carrot (Daikon to ninjin, 1964), a tribute to Ozu, to whom Shibuya used to be an assistant, based on notes from a script by the filmmaker that was left unfinished due to his death the year before. Shibuya, himself influenced by Ozu, became a great influence for future generations: his assistant directors became filmmakers in their own right, such as Shohei Imamura (The Ballad of Narayama, 1983; retrospective during the 21st São Paulo Film Festival, in 1997); and Yoji Yamada (Kyoto Story, 2010, 34th São Paulo Film Festival). Minoru Shibuya died of pneumonia in 1980, at the age of 73.

The 36th São Paulo Film Festival would like to thank the Tokyo FilmEX Festival for their assistance in obtaining copies of the films from the most important creative period of this great filmmaker.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA