Kihachi Okamoto

Kihachi Okamoto (岡本 喜八, Okamoto Kihachi, February 17, 1924 – February 19, 2005) was a Japanese film director who worked in several different genres.

Kihachi Okamoto
Born(1924-02-17)February 17, 1924
DiedFebruary 19, 2005(2005-02-19) (aged 81)
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter

Career

Born in Yonago, Okamoto attended Meiji University, but was drafted into the Air Force 1943 and entered World War II, an experience that had a profound effect on his later film work, one third of which dealt with war.[1][2] Finally graduating after the war, he entered the Toho studies in 1947 and worked as an assistant under such directors as Mikio Naruse, Masahiro Makino, Ishirō Honda, and Senkichi Taniguchi.[1] He made his debut as a director in 1958 with All About Marriage.[3]

Okamoto directed almost 40 films and wrote the scripts for at least 24, in a career that spanned almost six decades. He worked in a variety of genres, but most memorably in action genres such as the jidaigeki and war films. He was known for making films with a twist.[4] Inspired to become a filmmaker after watching John Ford's Stagecoach,[3] he would insert elements of the Western in war films like Desperado Outpost (1959) and Westward Desperado (1960), and eventually even filmed his own samurai Western in East Meets West (1995).[1][2] A fan of musicals, he made over-the-top films such as Oh Bomb (1964), a gangster Noh musical, and Dixieland Daimyo (1986), about jazz musicians entering Bakumatsu Japan. Over all, he took on "a very rhythmic approach to filming and editing action sequences. Carefully timed placement of sound effects and music combined with camera movement and movement within the frame to form a very rhythmic, almost musical whole."[1] His basically critical stance towards Japanese society led him to often pursue satire and black comedy, with his The Age of Assassins (1967) becoming so dark and absurd, Toho initially refused to release it.[4]

Okamoto could also be serious. His samurai films, such as Samurai Assassin (1965), starring Toshiro Mifune, about a group of 19th century political agitators planning to kill an important government official, The Sword of Doom (1966), or Kill! (1968), were often critical of bushidō and Tokugawa period Japan.[1] Yet he approached this critique from his own perspective. Toho entrusted him with the epic Japan's Longest Day (1968), a cinematic version of what happened to official Japan at the end of the war, but the next year he also made The Human Bullet for Art Theatre Guild, a more personal and satirical vision of an everyman's experience of World War II.[4] To pursue some of his projects, Okamoto formed Okamoto Productions. His wife, Mineko Okamoto, often worked as producer on his later works.[4]

He won the 1992 Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year for Rainbow Kids.[5] Alongside Akira Kurosawa, Okamoto was also a candidate for directing the Japanese sequences for Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) but instead Kinji Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda were chosen.

On February 19, 2005, just two days after his 81st birthday, Okamoto died at home from esophageal cancer.

A photograph of Okamoto was used to portray the character of Goro Maki in the 2016 film Shin Godzilla, which was directed by Hideaki Anno, a self-professed fan of Okamoto.

Selected filmography

Title Romanization Release date Notes
All About Marriage
結婚のすべて
Kekon no Subete 1958
The Big Boss
暗黒街の顔役
Ankokugai no kaoyaku 1959
Desperado Outpost
独立愚連隊
Dokuritsu Gurentai 1959
Ankokugai no Taiketsu
暗黒街の対決
Ankokugai no Taiketsu 1959
Westward Desperado
独立愚連隊西へ
Dokuritsu Gurentai Nishi e 1960
Blueprint of Murder
暗黒街の弾痕
Ankokugai no Dankon 1961
Warring Clans
戦国野郎
Sengoku Yarō 1963
The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman
江分利満氏の優雅な生活
Eburiman-shi no yūgana seikatsu 1963
Oh Bomb
ああ爆弾
Aa! Bakudan 1964
Samurai Assassin

Samurai 1965
Blood and Sand
血と砂
Chi to Suna 1965
The Sword of Doom
大菩薩峠
Daibosatsu Tōge 1966
The Age of Assassins
殺人狂時代
Satsujinkyō jidai 1967
Japan's Longest Day
日本のいちばん長い日
Nihon no Ichiban Nagaihi 1967
Kill!
斬る
Kiru 1968
The Human Bullet
肉弾
Nikuda 1968
Red Lion
赤毛
Akage 1969
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
座頭市と用心棒
Zatōichi to Yōjinbō 1970
Battle of Okinawa
激動の昭和史 沖縄決戦
Gekidō no Shōwashi: Okinawa Kessen 1971
Aoba Shigereru
青葉繁れる
Aoba Shigereru 1974
Tokkan
吶喊
Tokkan 1975
Sugata Sanshirō
姿三四郎
Sugata Sanshirō 1977
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: The Movie
科学忍者隊ガッチャマン 劇場版
Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman 1978 Executive producer[6]
Blue Christmas
ブルークリスマス
Burū Kurisimasu 1978
At This Late Date,the Charleston
近頃なぜかチャールストン
Chikagoro Nazeka Charleston 1978
Dixieland Daimyo
ジャズ大名
Jazu daimyō 1986
Rainbow Kids
大誘拐
Daiyukai 1991
East Meets West

1995
Vengeance for Sale
助太刀屋助六
Sukedachi ya Sukeroku 2002 Final work[7]

Appearance

References

  1. Mes, Tom (12 April 2005). "A Tribute to Kihachi Okamoto". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  2. Bergen, Ronald (18 March 2005). "Kihachi Okamoto". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  3. "Okamoto Kihachi". Nihon jinmei daijiten+Plus. Kōdansha. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  4. Onchi, Hideo; Okamoto Kihachi (1998). "Waga eiga jinsei: Okamoto Kihachi kantoku" (in Japanese). Directors Guild of Japan. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23.
  5. 第 15 回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品 (in Japanese). Japan Academy Prize. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
  6. "科学忍者隊ガッチャマン". Kinenote. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  7. "岡本喜八監督死去". Eiga.Com. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
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