, also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.

Life and career

Graduating from the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

, where he studied

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

, Yoshida entered the Shōchiku studio in 1955 and worked as an assistant to

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi an ...

, before debuting as a director in 1960 with ''Rokudenashi''. He was a central member of what came to be called the "Shōchiku Nouvelle Vague" along with Nagisa Oshima and Masahiro Shinoda, and his works have been studied under the larger rubric of the Japanese New Wave, a linkage which Yoshida himself disliked. Like many of his New Wave cohorts, he felt restricted under the studio system. After Shōchiku's re-editing of his ''Escape from Japan'' (1964), he left the studio to start his own production company, for which he directed such films as ''

Eros + Massacre is a Japanese black-and-white art film released in 1969. It was directed by Yoshishige Yoshida, who wrote it in cooperation with Masahiro Yamada. It is the first film in Yoshida's trilogy of Japanese radicalism, followed by '' Heroic Purgatory ...

''. Between 1960 and 2004, Yoshida directed more than 20 films, some of which starred his wife, actress

Mariko Okada is a Japanese stage and film actress who starred in films of directors Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita and others. She was married to film director Yoshishige Yoshida. Biography Okada was born the daughter of silent film actor T ...

. After a long absence from the screen following the 1973 '' Coup d'État'', he returned with '' A Promise'', which was shown in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section of the

1986 Cannes Film Festival The 39th Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 1986. The Palme d'Or went to '' The Mission'' by Roland Joffé. The festival opened with ''Pirates'', directed by Roman Polanski and closed with '' El Amor brujo'', directed by Carlos Saura ...

. Two years later, his film ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent re ...

'' would compete for the

Golden Palm The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the 1988 Festival. In 2002, ''

Women in the Mirror ''Women in the Mirror'' ( ja, 鏡の女たち, translit. Kagami no onnatachi) is a 2002 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Cast * Mariko Okada - Ai Kawa ...

'' followed after another hiatus of 14 years. In addition to his theatrical films, Yoshida directed a series of documentaries for Japanese TV. Yoshida named European cinema as a great influence on his work, most notably the directors

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoun ...

and

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

, and pre-war French films like the works of

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films '' ...

. He also published a number of books on the topic of cinema, including one on his own cinematic work and an analysis of the films of

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

. Yoshida died from pneumonia at a hospital in

Shibuya Shibuya (渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

, on 8 December 2022, at the age of 89.

Selected filmography

Film

* ''Good-for-Nothing'' (1960) * ''Blood is Dry'' (1960) * ''

Bitter End of a Sweet Night ''Bitter End of a Sweet Night'' ( ja, 甘い夜の果て, Amai yoru no hate) is a 1961 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. Plot Young shop clerk Jirō is eager to climb the social ladder, an aim for which he uses and manipulates ...

'' (1961) * '' Akitsu Springs'' (1962) * ''18 Who Cause a Storm'' (1963) * ''Escape from Japan'' (1964) * ''A Story Written with Water'' (1965) * ''

Woman of the Lake is a 1966 Japanese drama film directed by Yoshishige Yoshida. It is based on Yasunari Kawabata's novel '' The Lake''. Plot Miyako, comfortably married to businessman Yuzo Mizuki, is having an affair with Kitano, who is himself engaged. She allo ...

'' (1966) * '' The Affair'' (1967) * ''Impasse'' ''Flame and Women '' (1967) * '' Affair in the Snow'' (1968) * ''Farewell to the Summer Light'' (1968) * ''

'' (1969) * ''

Heroic Purgatory is a Japanese black-and-white arthouse film released in 1970. It was directed by Yoshishige Yoshida , also known as Kijū Yoshida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Life and career Graduating from the University of Tokyo, where ...

'' (1970) * ''Confessions Among Actresses'' (1971) * '' Coup d'État'' (1973) * '' A Promise'' (1986) * ''

'' (1988) * '' Lumière and Company'' (segment, 1995) * ''

'' (2002) * ''Welcome to São Paulo'' (segment, 2004)

Television

* ''The Cinema of Ozu According to Kiju Yoshida'' (1993)

Selected bibliography

* * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Yoshishige 1933 births 2022 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Japanese film directors Japanese screenwriters People from Fukui Prefecture University of Tokyo alumni Writers from Fukui Prefecture