The Man Who Put His Will on Film (1970)

A metaphysical mystery involving a university student's camera getting stolen, and the thief then committing suicide. Looking back upon the event, the situation comes to be questioned if it happened at all.

Director:

Nagisa Ôshima

Writers:

Nagisa Ôshima (story), Tsutomu Tamura (story)

Stars:

Kazuo Goto, Sukio Fukuoka, Kenichi Fukuda

Cast

Cast overview:
Kazuo Goto	...	Shoichi Motoki
Sukio Fukuoka	...	Tanizawa
Kenichi Fukuda	...	Matsumura
Hiroshi Isogai	...	Sakamoto
Kazuo Hashimoto	...	Takagi
Kazuya Horikoshi	...	Endo
Emiko Iwasaki	...	Yasuko
Tomoyo Oshima	...	Akiko
Naomi Shiraishi
Kenji Yoshino
Kenji Shiiya
Tetsuro Tsuno
Kiyoko Tsuji

Storyline

A metaphysical mystery involving a university student's camera getting stolen, and the thief then committing suicide. Looking back upon the event, the situation comes to be questioned if it happened at all.

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Plot Keywords:

university | student | suicide | camera | japanese new wave | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

27 June 1970 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Man Who Put His Will on Film

Company Credits

Production Co:

Art Theatre Guild, Sozosha

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in La última película (2013)

User Reviews

B movie that aged well with time

This is a movie that was made in the late '60s, early '70s period of Japan when Japan influenced by the Hippie culture was experimenting with their own brand of Avant Garde. These were experimental non-mainstream production that explored much about free sex, and anti establishment view of the world. Director Nagisa Ooshima always had Avant Garde taste to his movies. He was one of the directors that were part of movement called Nuberu bagu ( from the French nouvelle vague) or Japanese New Wave.

The movie were made employing all non-experienced actors. This was the first Ooshima film that didn't use any known actors, and his last black and white movie. Due to the lack of experience of the actors, acting is wooden, and dialogs are totally "read" from the script. The movie was completed from start to the theaters in exactly 60 days (April 28 1970 to June 27 1970). Even for the fast shooting Ooshima, this was exceptionally fast production.

The movie was targeted for the college students of that time, but poor acting, and somewhat documentary style didn't get support from its intended audiences. But maybe Ooshima and the producers knew that the intended audience weren't worth making lavishly produced movie, because they are (were) youth just like the people who were in this movie, who were rather shallow but opinionated about their world view.

Looking back with 20/20 hind sight, this movie is rated high for it's accurate portrayal of the society of the time, and Ooshima might have had exceptional foresight to focus his attention on the subject the way he did in this movie. Not for nothing is he a medal of honor winner from both the Japanese and French government where he's directed many excellent movies.

Ooshima is probably the most talented of the director from the Japanese New Wave period, and certainly one of the most talented director to come out of Japan. He's like a mixture of Federico Fellini, and Roger Corman with crisp visual style all his own.

For most of the actors, this was their first and last film they appeared in. The actor who played the main character Kazuo Gotoh became a journalist, and his girlfriend Emiko Iwasaki appeared in few minor roles before she retired completely from the film business.