Takeo Kimura in 2007

The following is the filmography of Takeo Kimura, the Japanese art director, writer, and film director who has art-directed more than 200 films over a span of more than six decades and ranks among Japan's best-known art directors.^[1] His training began with the Nikkatsu Company in 1941, whose production division was merged into Daiei during the wartime industry reorganization, where he was promoted to art director in 1945.^[2][3] His debut film as such was Umi no yobu koe (1945).^[4] Nikkatsu re-opened its production studio in 1954 and Kimura moved there.^[2] He worked with several directors, including top action director Toshio Masuda on films such as Red Quay (1958) with top star Yujiro Ishihara and Gangster VIP (1968) starring Tetsuya Watari.^[1][5] However, his longest and most famous collaboration has been with director Seijun Suzuki, which began with The Bastard (1963). Together they developed a bold, expressive style exemplified in Gate of Flesh (1964) and Tokyo Drifter (1966).^[1] Suzuki often rewrote his scripts with Kimura, who was given his first screenwriting credit on The Flower and the Angry Waves (1964). Kimura was also a part of Guryū Hachirō, the pen name of the writing group that formed around Suzuki in the mid-1960s and wrote Branded to Kill (1967).^[6]

Kimura left Nikkatsu in 1973 to work freelance.^[2] He subsequently art-directed many films for director Kei Kumai over almost 20 years. This included Kumai's best-known film Sandakan No. 8 (1974), Love and Faith (1978) featuring Toshirō Mifune and The Sea Is Watching (2002) based on one of Akira Kurosawa's final scripts.^[4][7] Kimura's collaboration with director Kazuo Kuroki exceeded 20 years, including the Art Theatre Guild film Preparation for the Festival (1975) and The Face of Jizo (2004).^[1][8] He worked with Suzuki on several more films, including Zigeunerweisen (1980) and Pistol Opera (2001), a follow-up to Branded to Kill. Zigeunerweisen was voted best Japanese film of the 1980s by Japanese film critics.^[1][9] He art-directed on Fire Festival and Tampopo (both 1985), career highlights in the respective oeuvres of directors Mitsuo Yanagimachi and Juzo Itami.^[1][10] Kaizō Hayashi's best remembered and debut film To Sleep so as to Dream (1986) marked the beginning of another long collaboration which also encompassed his Maiku Hama trilogy: The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994), Stairway to the Distant Past (1995) and The Trap (1996).^[11][12]

At age 86 Kimura directed the first of four short films with Mugen Sasurai (2004), which earned him the title for oldest directorial debut.^[4][11] The last was Matouqin Nocturne (2007) in which Suzuki appeared in a prominent role.^[13] Kimura then wrote and directed the feature-length film Dreaming Awake (2008) based on his own self-published novel.^[1] He was recognized by Guinness World Records for "the oldest debut as a feature film director" at age 90.^[14] Suzuki again appeared in the film.^[15] Kimura himself acted in a couple small roles for other directors.^[16]

Filmography

References

General

• 木村威夫 (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
• 木村威夫 (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
• 木村威夫 (in Japanese). Allcinema. Retrieved 2009-07-31.

Specific

External links

• Takeo Kimura at IMDb
• Takeo Kimura at AllMovie