Masaki Kobayashi

Masaki Kobayashi (February 14, 1916–October 4, 1996) was a Japanese director. Among his films is Kwaidan (1965), a collection of four ghost stories drawn from the book by Lafcadio Hearn, each of which has a surprise ending. Kobayashi also directed The Human Condition, a trilogy on the effects of World War II on a Japanese pacifist and socialist. The total length of the films is over 9 hours. Other notable films include Harakiri (1962) and Samurai Rebellion (1967). Harakiri won him an award at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, solidifying his place in the history of cinema. In 1969, he was a member of the jury at the 19th Berlin International Film Festival. He was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences for Tora! Tora! Tora!, once Akira Kurosawa left the film. But instead Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda were chosen. Kobayashi, himself a pacifist, was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, but refused to fight and refused promotion to a rank higher than private. Description above from the Wikipedia article Masaki Kobayashi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

Masaki Kobayashi on 'The Human Condition'

In this 1993 video interview, filmed for the Directors Guild of Japan at Tokyo’s Haiyuza Theatre, director Masaki Kobayashi talks to fellow filmmaker and longtime Kobayashi admirer Masahiro Shinoda (DOUBLE SUICIDE) about THE HUMAN CONDITION.

Release Date1993-01-01

Charactersd Self

8.4

Harakiri

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Release Date1962-09-15

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1204

7.7

Kwaidan

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Release Date1965-01-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count450

8.1

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.

Release Date1959-01-15

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count280

8.4

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.

Release Date1961-01-28

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count208

8.2

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

Release Date1959-11-20

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count217

8.2

Samurai Rebellion

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.

Release Date1967-05-27

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count263

7.1

Dodes'ka-den

On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.

Release Date1970-10-31

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count153

Final Approach
5.5

Final Approach

Ryou Mizuhara is a normal high school student, living alone with his younger sister Akane. They were very happy together, at least until a mysterious girl crashes into their lives who introduces herself as Ryou's new fiancée.

Release Date2004-10-03

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count13

Vote Count10

6.8

Tokyo Trial

A look at the trial of Japanese militarists accused of war crimes; from the proceedings of the International Military Tribunal (May 1946–November 1948). It took two days to read the charges against the 100 alleged war criminals in the docket (only 28 top officials are actually in the small courtroom), and the final judgment took one week to read.

Release Date1983-06-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count9

5.4

Dora-heita

A new magistrate in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his opponents' own misperceptions and prejudices to defeat his enemies and uproot corruption.

Release Date2000-05-13

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count11

7.2

The Inheritance

A dying businessman intends to will ¥200 million to his three illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.

Release Date1962-02-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count28

7.7

Tokyo Olympiad

This impressionistic portrait of the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics pays as much attention to the crowds and workers as it does to the actual competitive events. Highlights include an epic pole-vaulting match between West Germany and America, and the final marathon race through Tokyo's streets. Two athletes are highlighted: Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who receives his second gold medal, and runner Ahamed Isa from Chad, representing a country younger than he is.

Release Date1965-03-20

DepartmentCrew

JobThanks

Vote Count51

6.2

Inn of Evil

In feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world is strictly prohibited, an idealist appears at an isolated inn, headquarters of smugglers with stolen money intended to ransom his loved one forced to work in a brothel.

Release Date1971-09-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count22

7.2

The Thick-Walled Room

A group of rank-and-file soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a whole.

Release Date1956-10-31

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count21

6.0

Apostasy

In the Meiji period, a schoolteacher tries to hide his lower-class upbringing as he supports a visiting liberal intellectual.

Release Date1948-11-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobAssistant Director

Vote Count6

6.7

Broken Drum

When the future of his construction company falls into danger, a controlling father pushes his children into unsatisfying marriages and careers in order to regain financial stability.

Release Date1949-12-01

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count7

7.0

The Fossil

An industrialist is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is abroad in Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes him to imagine her as the personification of his impending fate. As his dialogue with his imagined mortality continues, he meets the living woman, the template for his fantasy, and together, they tour rural churches. Gradually, he comes to some kind of peace about the diagnosis. When he returns to Japan, he is met with a series of challenges that profoundly test the lessons he has learned.

Release Date1975-10-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count12

6.6

Yotsuya Ghost Story Part 1

Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.

Release Date1949-07-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobAssistant Director

Vote Count15

6.3

Carmen Comes Home

A rural village elder plans an event on the return of a farmer's daughter from the city, unaware that she has become a Westernized burlesque artist.

Release Date1951-03-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobAssistant Director

Vote Count26

6.9

Black River

A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.

Release Date1957-10-23

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count32

Fossil

Fossil

An industrialist is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He is abroad in Europe at the time, and a glimpse of a Japanese woman in that setting causes him to imagine her as the personification of his impending fate. As his dialogue with his imagined mortality continues, he meets the living woman, the template for his fantasy, and together, they tour rural churches. Gradually, he comes to some kind of peace about the diagnosis. When he returns to Japan, he is met with a series of challenges that profoundly test the lessons he has learned.

Release Date1972-01-31

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count8

8.0

Hymn to a Tired Man

During WWII, Zensaku, middle-aged and deaf in one ear, learns that his son has fallen for the daughter of a war officer responsible for the maiming.

Release Date1968-06-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count5

6.0

Fountainhead

A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.

Release Date1956-02-26

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count9

7.1

I Will Buy You

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising baseball player to The Toyko Flowers.

Release Date1956-11-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count16

6.7

The Portrait

The mistress of a crook real estate broker comes to terms with her soulless existence after an artist paints her portrait.

Release Date1948-08-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobAssistant Director

Vote Count6

6.7

Youth of the Son

A rivalry sparks between two teenage brothers when they discover the attraction of girls.

Release Date1952-06-25

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count9

6.4

Sincere Heart

A young student falls for an invalid girl whom he can only see from afar.

Release Date1953-01-29

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count11

6.8

Beautiful Days

A romantic drama depicting the lives of two generations of a family who run a Tokyo florist shop.

Release Date1955-05-25

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count8

6.5

The Empty Table

One year after the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths, all the other perpetrators' parents have either resigned from their professional positions or taken their own lives, Nobuyuki Kidoji remains adamant that he is not responsible for his son's actions.

Release Date1985-11-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count4

6.6

Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky

A Tokyo family running a liquor store overcome impotence and dysfunction as they induce an understanding through each other of how to deal with their individual problems.

Release Date1954-11-23

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count7

8.0

Glowing Autumn

A very beautiful Japanese woman is in love with Persian carpets. She is being chased by lecherous Saburi Shin and a handsome young photographer. Lecherous Saburi Shin knows what she wants, and is able to produce it for her.

Release Date1978-12-23

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

7.5

Three Loves

In a mountain village, Heita, a translator's son, is a gifted boy but is shunned by the villagers. He can imitate birds' cry and befriends another boy who works in a brewery. Heita also finds solace in the village pastor Yasugi and his teacher Michiko, but they too have problems of their own.

Release Date1954-12-29

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count2

7.0

The Revenge Champion

Lost film, directed by Tomu Uchida. This film is a very funny comedy that makes fun of the moral code of the samurai Bushido, which has become obsolete and turned into an empty form during the period of feudalism.

Release Date1931-12-18

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count1

The Human Condition
10.0

The Human Condition

LOVE IS THE CONDITION FOR BEING HUMAN The Human Condition is a Japanese epic film trilogy made between 1959 and 1961 The trilogy follows the life of Kaji, a Japanese pacifist and socialist, as he tries to survive in the totalitarian and oppressive world of World War II-era Japan. Taken altogether as a single film, it is 9 hours and 47 minutes long, which includes intermissions, making it one of the longest narrative films ever made.

Release Date1959-01-15

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Vote Count1

Unification of Japan 62

Nao (Ayano Nishikawa), wife of Ota (Ryota Matsushima) from the Kamome Victims Association, is abducted by the World Kamome Church. Tamura (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi) storms the cult’s facility alone to rescue her, and Himuro (Yasukaze Motomiya) soon follows. Ordered by cult leader Takahara (Mizuki Nishikawa), armed followers attack, and despite fighting back, Himuro and Tamura are captured. When Himuro questions Takahara about the cult’s true goal, he receives a chilling, cryptic answer. Meanwhile, suspecting Deputy Police Commissioner Mikami (Yasuhiro Arai) is linked to the cult, investigator Sahara (Takayuki Kinba) takes a risky step by consulting Matsumiya (Gen Hongo).

Release Date2024-05-25