Biography

Yasuzō Masumura

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Born in Yamanashi, Japan, Yasuzô Masumura would become known as a maverick director whose main legacy was films portraying and promoting individualism, which was the opposite of the norm in Japanese society. He earned a law degree towards the end of World War II from Tokyo University, yet joined Daiei Studio as an assistant director in 1950. He pursued a second degree at Tokyo University as a literature and philosophy double major. He was the first Japanese to study at Rome, Italy's Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia. He returned to Japan in 1953 and worked as assistant to Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa. Masumura's own lead directorial debut came in 1957 with Kuchizuke, which was a commercial success and also won praise from director Oshima Nagisa. Masumura went on to become a prolific director who also continued writing on Japanese cinema. A 1996 ten-day retrospective on Masumura in Rome was attended by Michaelangelo Antonioni who was an admirer.
- IMDb mini biography by: aghaemi

In 1950 he traveled to Rome to study film-making at the prestigious Centro Sperimentale Cinematografico.
A 1996 retrospective of Masumura's works in Rome, Italy was attended by a bed-ridden admirer Michaelangelo Antonioni who told reporters he was compelled to attend despite illness.
He apprenticed under Ichikawa Kon and consequently remade The Girl Who Touched His Legs in 1960. Ichikawa Kon's own version was also a remake based on a film by Kon's instructor, Abe Yutaka.
Studied philosophy.

My goal is to create an exaggerated depiction featuring only the ideas and passions of living human beings. In Japanese society, which is essentially regimented, freedom and the individual do not exist. The theme of Japanese film is the emotions of the Japanese people, who have no choice but to live according to the norms of that society . . . After experiencing Europe for two years, I wanted to portray the type of beautifully vital, strong people I came to know there.

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