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 ...
known for
social realist filmmaking informed by a
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
perspective.
His most noted films include ''
An Inlet of Muddy Water'' (1953) and ''
Bushido, Samurai Saga'' (1963).
Life
Although leaning towards left-wing politics already at
Tokyo University, where he joined a
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
student group, Imai's directing career, after serving as
continuity writer at J.O. studios (later
Toho
is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...
), started in 1939 with a series of films promoting the war efforts of the
militarist regime.
Later calling these films "the biggest mistake of my life", he soon turned to socially conscious themes after the
war.
''
Aoi sanmyaku'' (1949), although a light comedy, observed the educational system, and was successful both with moviegoers and critics.
While his 1950 drama ''
Until We Meet Again'' portrayed a young couple's doomed love against the backdrop of the Pacific War, the 1953 anti-war film ''Tower of Lilies'' was a stark account of untrained female students forced into aiding military troops during the final stage of the
Battle of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...
. Other films addressed the present-day struggles of day labourers (''And Yet We Live''), troubled youths (''
Jun'ai monogatari''), poor farmers (''
The Rice People'') and children of interracial relationships (''
Kiku to Isamu''). Yet the films regarded his most important of this era had a historical instead of a contemporary setting: ''
An Inlet of Muddy Water'' (1953), based on stories by
Ichiyō Higuchi, took a look at the fate of a group of women during the
Meiji era
The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...
, ''
Night Drum'' (1958), scripted by
Kaneto Shindo, denounced the
Samurai honour codex in a tale about adultery and revenge during the
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
.
Imai returned to the latter subject in the critically acclaimed ''
Bushido, Samurai Saga'' (1963) and in ''Revenge'' (1964).
Legacy
Japanese critics tended to define Imai's way of storytelling as "''nakanai'' realism", a "realism without tears", a fact questioned by film historian Joan Mellen who saw his work repeatedly "close to the sentimental".
In an interview, Imai himself summed up his films as "centered on human tragedies", which locates them close to the works of
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 and ...
who addressed similar topics (though in a less political manner) and whom Imai admired.
While film historians acknowledge Imai's solid directorial skills, the lack of a consistent style, and tendency to focus more on consequences than analysis of his themes, have been recurring subjects of criticism.
Selected filmography
* 1946: ''
Minshū no Teki''
* 1949: ''
Aoi sanmyaku''
* 1950: ''
Until We Meet Again'' (''Mata au hi made'')
* 1951: ''And Yet We Live'' (''Dokkoi ikiteru'')
* 1953: ''Tower of Lilies'' (''Himeyuri no tō'')
* 1953: ''
An Inlet of Muddy Water'' (''Nigorie'')
* 1956: ''
Mahiru no ankoku''
* 1957: ''
Jun'ai monogatari''
* 1957: ''
The Rice People'' (''Kome'')
* 1958: ''
Night Drum'' (''Yoru no tsuzumi'')
* 1959: ''
Kiku to Isamu''
* 1963: ''
Bushido, Samurai Saga'' (''Bushidō zankoku monogatari'')
* 1964: ''Revenge'' (''Adauchi'')
* 1967: ''Satōgashi ga kowareru toki''
* 1976: ''
Brother and Sister'' (''Ani imōto'')
* 1981: ''Yuki''
Awards
Imai received the
Kinema Junpo Award for Best Director for ''Mahiru no ankoku'', ''The Rice People'' and ''Kiku to Isamu''. All three films plus ''Until We Meet Again'' and ''An Inlet of Muddy Water'' were also awarded Best Film.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Imai, Tadashi
Japanese film directors
Samurai film directors
1912 births
1991 deaths
Film people from Tokyo
Silver Bear for Best Director recipients
Directors of Golden Bear winners