Koreyoshi Kurahara

Koreyoshi Kurahara
Koreyoshi Kurahara
Born	(1927-05-31)31 May 1927 Kuching, Sarawak
Died	28 December 2002(2002-12-28) (aged 75)
Occupation(s)	Film director and screenwriter

Koreyoshi Kurahara (蔵原惟繕, Kurahara Koreyoshi) (31 May 1927 – 28 December 2002) was a Japanese screenwriter and director. He is perhaps best known for directing Antarctica (1983), which won several awards and was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival. He also co-directed Hiroshima (1995) with Roger Spottiswoode, which was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries.

Biography

He was born in the city of Kuching, then part of the kingdom of Sarawak (now a state of Malaysia) on Borneo. He was the nephew of literary critic Korehito Kurahara, and older brother of film director Koretsugu Kurahara. His son Jun Iwasaki, a former producer for Ishihara International Productions Inc., is currently secretary to politician Nobuteru Ishihara.

While a film student at Nihon University College of Art, he became a live-in student of Kajiro Yamamoto at the introduction of Ishirō Honda. Upon graduation in 1952 he joined Shochiku's Kyoto studio and worked as an assistant director. He switched to Nikkatsu in 1954, working mainly as chief assistant director to Eisuke Takizawa.

He made his directorial debut in 1957 with I Am Waiting, starring Yujiro Ishihara, and gained recognition for his bold camera work and angles. He subsequently directed numerous films starring Ishihara and Ruriko Asaoka.

In 1960 he made the first Japanese film noir Intimidation and in 1964 he made the film Black Sun the story of a Black GI on the run who meets a Japanese jazz fan with a soundtrack from Max Roach's band featuring Clifford Jordan and Abbey Lincoln. The soundtrack was issued on CD in Japan only in 2007.

After going freelance in 1967, he helmed a succession of blockbusters and popular works including Eiko e no 5,000 Kiro, Kitakitsune Monogatari, The Gate of Youth and Umi e, See You. His 1983 film Nankyoku Monogatari (aka, Antarctica) was a 5.9 billion yen hit and held the Japanese box office record for a domestic film until it was surpassed by Miyazaki Hayao's Princess Mononoke in 1997.

The film, Eight Below, is dedicated to him.

Filmography

Film

• I Am Waiting (俺は待ってるぜOre wa matteru ze, 1957)
• Fūsoku 40 metres (風速４０米 Fūsoku yonjū mētoru, 1958)
• The Jet That Flew Into the Storm (嵐の中を突っ走れ Arashi no naka o tsuppashire, 1958)
• A Man in the Fog (Kiri no naka no otoko, 1958)
• The Third Dead Angle (Dai san no shikaku, 1959)
• Dynamite Ni Hi o Tsukero (1959)
• The Women From The Sea (Kaitei kara kita onna, 1959)
• A Turning to Hell (Jigoku no magarikado, 1959)
• The Age of Our Own (The Time of Youth, Warera no jidai, 1959)
• Intimidation (1960)
• The Warped Ones (狂熱の季節 Kyōnetsu no kisetsu, 1960)
• Ginza Love Story (1962)
• I Hate But Love (Nikui anchikusho, 1962)
• Black Sun (1964) features a soundtrack by Max Roach
• Thirst for Love (1966)
• Sunset, Sunrise (陽は沈み陽は昇る Hi wa shizumi, hi wa noboru, 1973)
• The Glacier Fox (キタキツネ物語 Kita-kitsune monogatari, 1978)
• The Gate of Youth (青春の門 Seishun no mon, 1981)
• Antarctica (南極物語 Nankyoku Monogatari, 1983)
• The Road (道 Michi, aka Des gens sans importance, 1986)
• Hiroshima (1995)

Television

• Tasukenin Hashiru (1974) episode1,6,13,14,21,22,35,36
• Hissatsu Shiokiya Kagyō (1975) episode1,6,7,12,15,18,28
• Hissatsu Karakurinin Keppūhen (1976) episode1,5,7
• Daitokai (1976-79)

External links

• Koreyoshi Kurahara at IMDb
• Koreyoshi Kurahara at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
• Criterion Collection Essay by Chuck Stephens