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Edinburgh Studies in East Asian Film

The Cinema of Kinoshita KeisukeFilms of Joy and Sorrow

Edited by David Desser and Earl Jackson

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£24.99

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Published 26 February 2027

About this book

Situates the work of Kinoshita Keisuke both within Japanese cinema and contemporary world cinema

  • First book to discuss Kinoshita in English
  • Numerous Japanese scholars are represented
  • Wide-ranging look at Kinoshita’s cinema
  • Innovative approaches are employed
  • Availability of Kinoshita’s films on Criterion Channel now

Kinoshita Keisuke was once thought of as the equal in importance and popularity to his colleague, Ozu Yasujiro, and friend, Kurosawa Akira. In many ways, he was even more popular with audiences than they were, as well as being a critical favorite. He had built an overseas following with prestigious festival play and was considered an innovator for his use of colour and widescreen.

In addition, he was known for his cinematic depictions of the plight of women under rigid social restrictions along with his often-rebellious heroines who endured and sometimes triumphed. Yet, he is much less known than his fellow filmmakers. Leading scholars from the US, Australia, the UK and Japan, relying on close analysis and numerous Japanese sources come together to redress this gap and demonstrate why Kinoshita deserves to be returned to the pantheon Japanese and world cinema.

Reviews

A long overdue volume on one of Japan’s most important filmmakers, Desser and Jackson’s anthology mirrors the variety and complexity of Kinoshita Keisuke’s oeuvre that spanned many genres and media. It preserves a diversity of approaches and encourages us to ourselves explore a director who opens up new horizons on Japanese cinema.
The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke is a much-needed book that has arrived at the most opportune time.
Table of contents

Introduction
David Desser and Earl Jackson

1. One Big Happy Family? The Social Relationships and Legacy of the Kinoshita-gumi
Lauri Kitsnik

2. Reading Between the Lines: Contrary Messages in the Wartime Films
Earl Jackson

3. Morals and Camera Movements: Kinoshita Keisuke According to Yoshida Yoshishige
Daisuke Miyao

4. Bold Kinoshita, Tender Kinoshita: Close-ups and Long Shots
Linda C. Ehrlich

5. Living Memory: History and Experience in She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum and The Snow Flurry
Alexander Jacoby

6. Farewell to Joy and Sorrow: Revisiting Kinoshita’s ‘Chaotic’ Period
William Carroll

7. The Lovelorn Plight of Ishizu Keizō: Music and Male Desire in Here’s to the Young Lady and The Tattered Wings
Mina Ku

8. Chronicles of Love and Hate
Mats Karlsson

9. The Celebration of Being Useless through Food: Portrayals of Older Women in Danger Stalks Near and The Ballad of Narayama
Yutaka Kubo

10. The Image Becomes You: Representation and ‘Self”-understanding
Earl Jackson

11. Demystifying Mother: Mother-Daughter Relationships in A Japanese Tragedy and The Scent of
Incense
Mika Ko

12. More Times of Joy and Sorrow – the Self-sequel and Late Style
David Desser

13. Kinoshita’s Children: Memories of Kinoshita’s Films among Audiences of the Postwar Era
Jennifer Coates

About the contributors

David Desser

David Desser is Emeritus Professor, University of Illinois. He is a well-known scholar of Japanese cinema, author or editor of eight books on the subject. His latest publications are The Blackwell Companion to Japanese Cinema (2023) and, with Lindsay Coleman, Killers, Clients and Kindred Spirits: The Taboo Cinema of Shohei Imamura (2019). He has worked on a number of Blu-ray commentaries for Criterion (including Tokyo Story) and Arrow Academy, including a boxset of the films of Yoshida Kiju.

Earl Jackson

Earl Jackson is Associate Professor Emeritus from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Professor Emeritus from the National Chiao Tung University. He is the author of Strategies of Deviance: Studies in Gay Male Representation (1995), and numerous essays on Japanese and Korean cinema, gender and sexuality, New Narrative writers, and the work of Samuel R. Delany. His forthcoming monograph is titled Critical Conditions: Theory and Practice in Japanese Cinema and he is writing a book entitled Templates for Trauma: Crisis and Significance in Japanese Genre Film.

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