November Evening Seminar at Nichibunken

Patricia Fister Discussion

Upcoming Event at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan


Nichibunken Evening Seminar on Japanese Studies (211th meeting), November 2, 2016 (Wednesday), 4:30 P.M – 6:00 P.M.

Speaker: Mats Karlsson

 

Title: The Rise and Fall of Kinoshita Keisuke’s Films: Critical Perspectives

 

Language: English

Place: Seminar Room 2, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 3-2 Oeyama-cho, Goryo, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 610-1192

URL: <http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/>

Abstract:

 

The films of Kinoshita Keisuke, along with those of Kurosawa Akira, were overwhelmingly popular at the height of prosperity of Japanese cinema in the 1950s. For example, works such as Nijushi no hitomi (Twenty-four Eyes) and Yorokobi mo kanoshimi mo ikutoshi tsuki (Times of Joy and Sorrow) remain in the memories of many Japanese who lived through that era. However, as people rode the ascending currents of the high growth period following Japan's defeat in the war, Kinoshita’s films became distanced from their minds and were quickly forgotten. With this as background, this talk, while pointing out the special features of Kinoshita’s films, will explore the potentials as well as limitations of his work. The speaker will also examine the reasons underlying the popularity of films directed by Kinoshita for a certain period after the war and why he never became recognized internationally.

 

About the speaker: 

 

Mats Karlsson is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney where he teaches and conducts research on modern Japanese and comparative literature as well as Japanese film history. For representative publications, see his The Kumano Saga of Nakagami Kenji (Stockholm University, 2001) and “The Proletarian Literature Movement: Experiment and Experience,” included in the Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature (2016). He is presently a Visiting Research Fellow at Nichibunken.