Directed by Masahiro Shinoda

Of all the rebellious talents to emerge from the Japanese New Wave, Masahiro Shinoda may have been the most versatile and elusive. From his early contributions to the New Wave’s counterculture eruption (YOUTH IN FURY) and his brooding breakout thriller PALE FLOWER to his subsequent period dramas (ASSASSIN, SILENCE), Shinoda pushed a variety of genres to their limits through the sheer boldness of his painterly, exquisite style. Drawing on his training in theater, Shinoda grew more experimental as his career went on, adapting Japanese stage traditions to the screen in masterpieces that incorporated elements of Kabuki (DEMON POND) and Bunraku puppetry (DOUBLE SUICIDE). Balancing a distanced, aestheticized approach to storytelling with deep sympathy for outsiders and the oppressed, Shinoda left behind one of the most beguiling bodies of work in all of Japanese cinema.