Tomu Uchida
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, born Tsunejirō Uchida, was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Uchida chose the stage name Tomu, a transliteration of the English Tom, written in
Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
characters meaning "to spit out dreams".


Biography


Early career

After leaving junior high school in
Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...
prematurely, Uchida started acting in films of the short-lived Taishō Katsuei studio in 1920, later moving to
Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...
in 1926. In 1927, he gave his directorial debut with ''Kyōsō mikkakan'' (lit. "Three days of competition"). In the following years, Uchida worked in a variety of genres: the tendency film ''Ikeru ningyo'' (lit. "Living dolls"), which is regarded as one of the first of its kind, the satirical comedy and
period film A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...
''Adauchi senshu'' (lit. "Vengeful player", 1931) and the
gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform certain illegal acts. The ...
''Policeman'' (''Keisatsukan'', 1933), Uchida's only surviving complete silent film, which film historians described as "a perfect pastiche, well ahead of its time" ( Noël Burch) and "incredibly stylish" (Alexander Jacoby). His political stance has been described by critics as moving back and forth between the
left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...
and the
right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
: while ''Ikeru ningyo'' and ''Adauchi senshu'' were considered " progressive", his 1933 propaganda film on
Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, ''Sakebu Ajia'' (lit. "Asia cries out"), was supported by the Japanese military, and ''Policeman'' depicted
Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...
members as gangsters. Uchida's films met with growing critical acclaim: ''
Kagirinaki Zenshin is a 1937 Japanese drama film by Tomu Uchida based on an original idea by Yasujirō Ozu. Plot The protagonist, Tokumaru, is laid off from his corporate job. Unable to accept this, he convinces himself that he has actually been promoted instead. ...
'' (1937), based on an idea by
Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese filmmaker. 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 the 1930s. The most pr ...
, and ''
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
'' (1939) were elected by ''
Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...
'' magazine as the best films of the respective year. The latter was praised for its realistic depiction of the lives of poor Meiji-period tenant farmers. At the same time, it served official propaganda causes as part of the government's policy to focus on domestic agriculture after the beginning of the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
. Regarded as Uchida's most famous pre-war film, it is extant only in incomplete prints. In 1941, Uchida quit the Nikkatsu studio and travelled to China for 80 days, stating that he "wanted to go and just went there". He later joined Masahiko Amakasu's
Manchukuo Film Association or () was a Empire of Japan, Japanese film studio in Manchukuo during the 1930s and 1940s. After the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the Soviet Red Army facilitated the transfer of Man-ei's assets and equipment to the Chinese communists. This b ...
and visited Manchuria in 1943, planning a propaganda film to glorify Manchuria's invasion by the Japanese Kantōgun Tank Division, which was never realised. Uchida travelled to Manchuria again in May 1945, the official reason being that he wanted to apologise to Amakasu that the planned film had not been produced. Japan surrendered in August 1945, and Uchida, after a temporary internment, became active in lecturing young Chinese filmmakers, sometimes hindered by fights between
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
and
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 ...
forces, but also forced to physical labour and
Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
indoctrination. In 1953, he returned to Japan, now 55 years old.


Postwar career

Upon his return, Uchida worked primarily for the Toei studio. His post-war reputation relies mostly on his
jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...
films, starting with ''
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a 1955 Japanese jidaigeki and drama film directed by Tomu Uchida. Plot The samurai Sakawa Kojūrō is on the road to Edo with his two servants Genta and Genpachi. Kojūrō is a kindly master, but his character totally changes when he consum ...
'' (1955), a "well-judged blend of comedy and violence and criticism of feudal values" (Jacoby), " th progressive and nostalgic, humanistic and nationalistic, peaceful and violent" (Craig Watts). He followed with two contemporary dramas, shot for
Shintoho was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big six film studios (which also included Daiei, Nikkatsu, Shochiku, Toei Company, and Toho) during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Toho company ...
and Nikkatsu, respectively. ''Twilight Saloon'' (''Tasogare Sakaba'', 1955), its setting restricted to a tavern over the course of one evening, presented a microcosm of post-war Japanese society and how some of its members dealt with the past war, while in the same year's '' A Hole of My Own Making'', the story of a disintegrating family was mixed with criticism of a Japan which, as one character states, has become an unofficial colony of the US. Between the period films '' Swords in the Moonlight'' (1957) and ''Chikamatu's Love in Osaka'' (1959), Uchida made yet another contemporary drama, ''The Outsiders'' (''Mori to mizuumi no matsuri''), about the indigenous minority of Ainu on
Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
island. ''The Master Spearman'' (''Sake To Onna To Yari''), ''Hero of the Red-Light District'' (''Yoto Monogatari: Hana No Yoshiwara Hyakunin Giri'', both 1960), and '' The Mad Fox'' (1962) again were period dramas, the latter distinguished by its expressionist sets and colours. '' A Fugitive from the Past'' (1965) has repeatedly been cited as Uchida's masterpiece. A "monumental crime thriller" (Jasper Sharp) set in post-war Japan between 1947 and 1957, it follows a man who grew up in poverty and wants to start a new life with money derived from a murder. The film, shot on
16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...
and blown up to 35 mm to achieve a grainy effect, received numerous national film awards and was included in ''Kinema Junpos "critics top 200" list. Uchida left Toei protesting the distribution of a shortened version of the film without his approval, but later returned to the company to direct ''Jinsei gekijō: Hishakaku to Kiratsune'' (1968). Uchida died in 1970 of cancer.


Legacy

A retrospective on Uchida's work was presented at the Tokyo FILMeX in 2004. Retrospectives on Uchida in the US have been held at the
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...
in 2007 and in the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in 2016.


Selected filmography

* ''Ikeru ningyo'' (lit. "Living dolls") (1929, lost film) * ''Adauchi senshu'' (lit. "Vengeful player") (1931, lost film) * ''Policeman'' (''Keisatsukan'') (1933) * ''Jinsei gekijō'' (lit. "Theatre of life") (1936, partially extant) * ''
Kagirinaki Zenshin is a 1937 Japanese drama film by Tomu Uchida based on an original idea by Yasujirō Ozu. Plot The protagonist, Tokumaru, is laid off from his corporate job. Unable to accept this, he convinces himself that he has actually been promoted instead. ...
'' (lit. "Limitless advance") (1937) * ''Hadaka no machi'' (lit. "Naked town") (1937, lost film) * ''
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
'' (1939, partially extant) * ''
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a 1955 Japanese jidaigeki and drama film directed by Tomu Uchida. Plot The samurai Sakawa Kojūrō is on the road to Edo with his two servants Genta and Genpachi. Kojūrō is a kindly master, but his character totally changes when he consum ...
'' (''Chiyari Fuji'') (1955) * '' A Hole of My Own Making'' (''Jibun no ana no nakade'') (1955) * ''Twilight Saloon'' (''Tasogare sakaba'') (1955) * ''The Kuroda Affair'' (''Kuroda sōdō'') (1956) * ''The Horse Boy'' (''Abarenbo kaido'') (1957) * '' Swords in the Moonlight'' ''The Great Bodhisattva Pass'' (1957) * ''The Outsiders'' (''Mori to mizuumi no matsuri'') (1958) * ''Chikamatsu’s Love in Osaka'' (''Naniwa no koi no monogatari'') (1959) * '' Hero of the Red-Light District'', a.k.a. ''Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarter'' or ''Killing in Yoshiwara'' (1960) * ''The Master Spearman'' (''Sake to onna to yari'') (1960) * ''Miyamoto Musashi'' (1961–1965, series of 5 films) * '' The Mad Fox'' ''Love, Thy Name Be Sorrow'' (''Koiya koi nasuna koi'') (1962) * '' A Fugitive from the Past'' (''Kiga kaikyō'') (1965)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uchida, Tomu Japanese film directors Samurai film directors 1898 births 1970 deaths