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Review
For years now, Japanese movie mavericks have been confessing their secrets to Chris D. The resulting book is packed with information, resonant with insight, and a must for anyone who's ever wanted to explore the fringes of Japanese film and beyond.' - Patrick Macius, author of TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion 'Profiling fourteen genre-defining and downright subversive filmmakers and actors who honed their craft on the wrong side of the cinematic tracks, Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film is long overdue. Chris D.'s boundless enthusiasm for and encyclopaedic knowledge of these films complement his probing interviews and informed commentary. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Japanese cinema.' - Stuart Galbraith IV, au thor of The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune ' Legends have a basis in both a perceived and a "virtual" reality. Chris D.'s book shows both sides, which is essential in understanding how filmmaking legends are born.' - Takashi Miike, director of Ichi, The Killer; Dead or Alive and Audition The Daily Yomiuri, 10th July 2005. Review by Colin Donald: 'With the fervour and diligence of the true film nerd, the tersely named Chris D. a writer, actor and rock band member, has collected the most comprehensive English guide in existence to this all-but-forgotten genre.' 'An excellent book by a knowledgeable and truly obsessed fan.' - The Japan Times
Product Description
"Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film" offers an extraordinary close-up of the hitherto overlooked golden age of Japanese cult, action and exploitation cinema from the early 1950s through to the late 1970s, and up to the present day. Having unique access to the top maverick filmmakers and Japanese genre film icons, Chris D. brings together interviews with, and original writings on, the lives and films of such transgressive directors as Kinji Fukasaku ("Battles Without Honour and Humanity"), Seijun Suzuki ("Branded to Kill") and Koji Wakamatsu ("Ecstasy of the Angels") as well as performers like Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba ("The Streetfighter", "Kill Bill Vol. 1") and glamorous actress Meiko Kaji ("Lady Snowblood"). Bringing the story up-to-date with an overview of such Japanese 'enfants terrible' as Takashi Miike ("Audition") and Kiyoshi Kurasawa ("Cure"), this book also provides a compendium of facts and extras including filmographies, related bibliographies on genre fiction including Manga, and a section on female yakuzas. Illustrated with fantastic stills and posters from some of Japan's finest cult and action films, this is a veritable bible for fans and newcomers alike.
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Kinji Fukasaku was still directing the sequel to Battle Royale, Battle Royale 2, mere days before his death from cancer at the age of 72 in January, 2003. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Kinji Fukasaku was still directing the sequel to Battle Royale, Battle Royale 2, mere days before his death from cancer at the age of 72 in January, 2003. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent japanese cult film companion,
By
This review is from: Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film (Paperback)
I found this book an excellent introduction to a number of directors and films I was unaware of, or knew little about. It was also a great insight into those I was already aquainted with. There are several chapters on cult Japanese directors including Fukasaku, Miike, Tettsuo, and two performers, Sonny Chiba and the amazing Meiko Kaji. These interviews deal with the films, the characters but also the real life situations and politics behind them. It helped me understand the Japanese studio sytem in the 60's and 70's a little more.
Apart from the interviews and background of these selected artists there are filmographies, lists of available DVD's and also a background to the studio system. Author Chris D does well. I think he has made an excellent selection for interviewee's and he has a geekish level of knowledge on his subject which is sometimes humourous. Don't think I'd want to hang about with him, but he certainly knows his stuff. I'll use this book as a gateway to films and directors I knew nothing about. This is an excellent companion and almost a directory alongside its narrative parts. The inclusion of photos and film posters also added to the enjoyment. Hopefully there will be a further volume. As the author notes, he could not fit all his favourites in this one.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Invaluable Introduction to Japanese genre film greats!,
By tyuiopas - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film (Paperback)
When I originally came to this page, it was to order another copy of this book for a friend. But then I saw two pretty unfair reviews here and felt the need to chime in with a much different take on the subject. Both seem to be upset about what they think is an obsessively encyclopedic bent in the book - a perception that seems unwarranted. This methodical rundown of the films of the directors (and two actors) is exactly why I bought the book - to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of these filmmakers' work. I more than got what I wanted. Brown's complaint in his review laments that there are plenty of other outlaw Japanese directors that are more deserving than those included - the book's author addresses this very subject in the introduction, naming scores of directors, actors and actresses he would have liked to have included but was unable to because of matters of space. I also have to rebut the complaints of "feeling at sea" with the book's approach to the films and Japanese film history and film industry. This book is written for people who already have seen a few Japanese genre movies, have picked up on several of the films of the "masters" included in the book and want to know more. And it delivers. No writer in English, to my knowledge, has ever bothered to investigate or write about the numerous films Seijun Suzuki made before 1963's YOUTH OF THE BEAST. But Chris D. gives descriptions of scores of Suzuki's fifties and early sixties output, and it was greatly illuminating to this reader. Likewise, his chapter (with a nice long interview) on enfant terrible underground filmmaker Koji Wakamatsu is one of the most detailed and in-depth ever to appear in English and covered twice as many of Wakamatsu's films as Jack Hunter's laudable but more scattershot approach in his "Eros In Hell" book. The Wakamatsu chapter - for me - was worth the price of the book alone! Likewise the chapters on such other filmmakers as Kinji Fukasaku (BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY series), actress Meiko Kaji and lesser known filmmakers like Teruo Ishii, Junya Sato and Kazuo Ikehiro. When I purchased this book initially, I bought it at a booksigning at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles where author Chris D. works as a programmer. I met him, and I know from talking to him that night that he was disappointed in the publisher's use of the pictures that he had provided to them, using only a third of the number and reproducing them in a fairly slipshod manner. I've also heard that Chris D. was instrumental in bringing Miike's AUDITION, Shinoda's PALE FLOWER and the first of Meiko Kaji's FEMALE CONVICT films to cult DVD notoriety here in the USA. I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about these filmmakers...and I did! It has its faults, but it is well worth the purchase price - the author's more aesthetics-oriented (although he keeps it from ever getting too intellectual), less-mainstream, more serious approach is preferable (for me anyway) to the goofy fun and chaotic organization of books like Patrick Macias' "Tokyoscope" (which I still like, too). And yes, this Chris D. is the same guy who is singer/songwriter of The Flesh Eaters!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was expecting, but...,
By Dan Snoke - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. I can see why the other reveiwers might not have. Chris D really assumes you are already deeply into these films (which I am). I have been enjoying Chris's articles on Japanese flicks for many years now and was hoping this was going to be his Ency of Yakuza flicks he has been working on for so long. It's not, but I found it to be agreat source of info on Japanese film makers' most of whose work can only be found by people who really have the time to do alot of digging. Essential for the big time fan of the Japanese action films.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding collection of interviews and articles,
By Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film (Paperback)
Around the 1950's, the studio system of Japanese film started to show cracks. Not large cracks, but big enough that a few ambitious rebels could squeeze their fingers in, and start breaking molds and showing their own individual styles. Crazy psychedelic colors, hot warrior chicks with big floppy hats and big guns, rice-sniffing assassins...Japanese film got a whole lot more interesting.
Author Chris Desjardins describes these "outlaw masters" as "the directors coming out of the Japanese production lines of the late fifties, the sixties and the early seventies: genre filmmakers who made genre movies usually labeled as samurai, yakuza, horror, pink, etc, but who pushed the envelope beyond the usual conventions in some way, either in style or content. " These are the men and women who didn't mind working in the "b-films" because of the freedom it gave them to create their own vision and keep pushing boundaries of sex, violence, politics and style. In much the same way as No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema, "Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film" springs from a series of film festivals and director retrospectives, in this case from The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles. Film programmer Dennis Bartok and author Chris Desjardins shared a passion for the edgy, hard-boiled cinema that came from Japan during these times, and the actors and directors who exemplified it. They put together the "Outlaw Masters" series starting in 1997, and have been bringing these fantastic films to a wider audience ever since. This film festival gave them insight and access to these directors, many of whom were not even aware that their work was appreciated outside of Japan. Each section of this book contains a short biography and filmography, followed by an interview. There are fourteen featured in all, twelve directors and two actors. Some of these, like Fukusaku Kinji (Battle Royale, Battles Without Honor & Humanity), Sonny Chiba (Street Fighter Saga, Kill Bill), Suzuki Seijun (Underworld Beauty, Tokyo Drifter) and Okamoto Kihachi (The Sword of Doom). Some, like Kaji Meiko (Lady Snowblood) and Ichii Teruo (Horrors of Malformed Men) are a little more obscure except to hardcore fans. As well as these classic film-folk, two of Japan's "modern outlaws" are included as well, Miike Takashi (Ichi the Killer) and Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Cure). All of them are fascinating, giving intelligent and informed interviews. Many of these interviews, in fact, are featured in video form as bonus features on some of these director's DVDs. I know I have seen a few of them, but it is a real treasure to have them all collected in book form. It is also fantastic to live in the age of the DVD. If I had picked up "Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film" a few years ago, I probably would have been frustrated at the lack of access to all of these cool flicks I was reading about. Nowadays, however, almost all of them are only a search away. If you like Japanese film, you are seriously going to enjoy this book. |
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