was 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 ...
,
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
, composer, film critic, and novelist. He graduated from
Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the
2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film ''
Eureka''.
Biography
Shinji Aoyama was born in
Kitakyushu
is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...
,
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
, Japan. He began to be interested in cinema when he watched ''
Apocalypse Now
''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...
'' and he thought seriously about making films after watching
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
's films such as ''
Pierrot le Fou'' and ''
Two or Three Things I Know About Her''.
He graduated from
Rikkyo University, where he was deeply influenced by the film critic
Shigehiko Hasumi, from whom he took classes.
After graduating, Aoyama worked as an assistant director to Swiss film director
Daniel Schmid, Japanese director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023).
Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...
and Icelandic director
Fridrik Thor Fridriksson.
He made his directorial debut with the
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 ''It's Not in the Textbook!'' in 1995.
In 1996, Aoyama made ''Helpless'', which is his first feature film. His 2000 film ''
Eureka'', also set in Fukuoka, opened at the
2000 Cannes Film Festival where it received both the
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...
prize and the
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Together with the 2007 film ''
Sad Vacation'', ''Eureka'' and ''Helpless'' comprise Aoyama's "Kitakyushu Saga." In 2011, he returned with the romance film ''
Tokyo Park'', which won the special
Golden Leopard
The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to b ...
award at the 64th
Locarno International Film Festival
The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...
to honor his whole career. His next film, ''
The Backwater'', was released in 2013.
Aoyama's literary output includes his 2001
novelization
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...
of ''Eureka'', which won the
Yukio Mishima Prize, as well as the novel ''Hotel Chronicles'', which was nominated for the
Noma Literary Prize in 2005.
He has also contributed as a critic to ''Cahiers du Cinéma Japon'' and ''Esquire Japan''.
As of 2012, he became a professor in the Department of Moving Images and Performing Arts at
Tama Art University
or is a private Art school, art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan.
History
The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) fou ...
.
He was married to Japanese actress
Maho Toyota, who played a leading role in ''
Desert Moon''.
Aoyama died on March 21, 2022, of
esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...
.
Style and influences
Mark Schilling of ''
The Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
'' described Aoyama as "A smart, dedicated cinephile who works his influences into his films while experimenting with various genres".
Aoyama stated that the origin of the desire to continue the story in "Kitakyushu Saga" is
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. He came under the tutelage of film critic Andre Bazin as a ...
, a French film director who used the same character (
Antoine Doinel) in some of his films.
Aoyama listed
F. W. Murnau's ''
Faust
Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' and
Nicholas Ray's ''
Johnny Guitar'' as two of the Greatest Films of All Time in 2012. Regarding ''Faust'' he said, "I always want to remember that movies are made out of the joy of the replica. The fascination of movies is not their realism, but how to enjoy the 'real'. In that sense, I always have ''Faust'' in my mind as I face a movie, make a movie, and talk about a movie." Regarding ''Johnny Guitar'' he said, "''Johnny Guitar'' is the only movie that I‘d like to remake someday, although I know that it’s impossible. It’s probably closest to the worst nightmare I can have. I know for sure that my desire to remake this movie comes from my warped thought that I want to remake my own nightmare."
Filmography
Fiction feature films
*''Helpless'' (1996)
*''Two Punks'' (1996)
*''Wild Life'' (1997)
*''An Obsession'' (1997)
*''Shady Grove'' (1999)
*''
EM Embalming'' (1999)
*''
Eureka'' (2000)
*''
Desert Moon'' (2001)
*''
Mike Yokohama: A Forest with No Name'' (2002)
*''
Lakeside Murder Case'' (2004)
*''
My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?'' (2005)
*''
Crickets
Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets and more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 886 ...
'' (2006)
*''
Sad Vacation'' (2007)
*''
Tokyo Park'' (2011)
*''
The Backwater'' (2013)
*''
Living in the Sky'' (2020)
Fiction short films
*''Trunk'' (2003)
*''The Detective Who Can Say No'' (2003)
*''Like a Desperado Under the Eaves'' (2003)
*''Days in the Shade'' (2003)
*''Le Petit Chaperon Rouge'' (2008)
*''
60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero'' (segment) (2011)
Documentary feature films
*''To the Backstreet: The Films Kenji Nakagami Left Out'' (2001)
*''Song of Ajima'' (2003)
*''AA'' (2005)
Documentary short films
*''1/5'' (1996) (8 min, from omnibus film ''Celebrate Cinema 101'')
*''To the Alley'' (2000)
*''Down'' (2010)
Videos
*''It's Not in the Textbook!'' (1995)
*''A Weapon in My Heart'' (1996)
*''12 June 1998'' (1999) – also known as ''At the Edge of Chaos''
*''So as Not to Say Everything About Her Already Aged Self'' (2001)
Television
*''The Jesus of the Ruins'' (2001)
*''
The Private Detective Mike'' (2002)
*''D x Town'' (episode "Spiders Now") (2012)
*''4 for Flowers'' (2013)
*''Shokuzai no Sonata'' (mini-series, 4 episodes) (2015)
*''Kingyo Hime'' (2020)
Bibliography
Novels
*''Eureka'' (2000)
*''Tsuki no Sabaku'' (2002)
*''Helpless'' (2002)
*''Hotel Chronicles'' (2005)
*''Shi no Tani '95'' (2005)
*''Ugetsu Monogatari'' (2006)
*''Sad Vacation'' (2006)
*''Entertainment!'' (2007)
*''Chikyu no Ue de Visa mo Naku'' (2009)
*''Kaerimichi ga Kieta'' (2010)
*''Strange Face'' (2010)
Criticism
*''Lost in America'' (2000)
*''Wim Wenders'' (2000)
*''Ware Eiga o Hakken Seri'' (2001)
** (English translation of chapter from ''Ware Eiga o Hakken Seri'')
*''Aoyama Shinji to Abe Kazushige to Nakahara Masaya no Cine-con!'' (2004)
*''Cinema 21'' (2010)
*''Eiga Nagabanashi'' (2011)
References
External links
*
*
*
Shinji Aoyamaat J'Lit Books from Japan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aoyama, Shinji
1964 births
2022 deaths
Japanese film directors
Japanese documentary film directors
20th-century Japanese novelists
21st-century Japanese novelists
Japanese film critics
People from Kitakyushu
Yukio Mishima Prize winners
Rikkyo University alumni
Deaths from esophageal cancer in Japan