Shohei Imamura, 1926-2006

"I am interested in the relationship between the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure." — Shohei Imamura After a quiet and relaxing three-day weekend, I awoke this morning to read the sad news that filmmaker Shohei Imamura had died at the age of 79. In films like Pigs and Battleships, The Insect Woman, The Pornographers, and Intentions of Murder, Imamura explored the underbelly of Japanese society with an almost anthropological and documentary-like approach. Later films concentrated on tradition and myth, and their demise at the hands of both Western- and modernization. Out of this period came his most famous film, the Palme d'Or winning Ballad of Narayama. As great as Ballad of Narayama is, I've always felt that his true masterpiece is The Profound Desire of the Gods (aka Kuragejima - Legends from a Southern Island). This epic portrait of the near-primitive and incestuous lives of the inhabitants of one of Japan's Southern Islands is Imamura's most powerful and disturbing work, and easily one of the ten greatest (and most unforgettable) films of all time. For over forty years, Imamura offered glimpses into a Japan rarely seen in cinema, and he did so with an unparalleled humanism that can be felt in every frame. His death is a great loss to global cinema. One of my favorite Imamura quotes comes from an interview in Positif: "I show true things using fictional techniques but maintaining truthfulness — that's where my approach differs from Ozu. He wanted to make film more aesthetic. I want to make it more real. He aspired toward a cinematic nirvana. When I was his assistant, I was very opposed to him, but now, whilst still not liking his films, I'm much more tolerant. As for me, I'd like to destroy this premise that cinema is fiction." (Issue 291)