The Cruel Stories of Nagisa Oshima

PAST EVENTS

	Repertory The Sun’s Burial (Taiyo No Hakaba) Wed, April 1 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm BAM Rose Cinemas
	Repertory Night and Fog in Japan (Nihon No Yoru To Kiri) Thu, April 2 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm BAM Rose Cinemas
	Repertory Death by Hanging (Koshikei) Fri, April 3 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm BAM Rose Cinemas
	Repertory Pleasures of the Flesh (Etsuraku) Sat, April 4 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm BAM Rose Cinemas
	Repertory Boy (Shonen) Sun, April 5 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm BAM Rose Cinemas

SERIES DESCRIPTION

Nagisa Oshima is a stylistic chameleon. Though moving easily between a wide range of genres and movements—from the stylized histrionics of Nicholas Ray, to Godardian new wave, to animé—his films are united by their unflinchingly radical politics and a delight in exploding prevailing taboos regarding sex and violence. Railing against the humanistic cinema of an earlier generation of Japanese titans like Ozu and Kurosawa, Oshima created films that were intensely critical of post-war Japanese society in their daring examinations of the country’s disaffected youth culture, capitalistic excess, and seedy criminal underbelly. One of the great provocateurs of world cinema whose films have been compared with those of contemporaries Godard and Buñuel, Oshima stands as perhaps Japan’s most important post-war filmmaker. Special thanks to James Quandt / Cinematheque Ontario for organizing this touring series. All films in Japanese with English subtitles.

RELATED LINKS

J. Hoberman on The Cruel Stories of Nagisa Oshima
"Anyone with any interest in radical film praxis, sexpol mishigas, or hardcore Japant-garde—and that should cover just about everybody—may want to visit BAM once a day for the next two weeks. Take this column as a doctor's note for your boss, teacher, or parents." More

Senses of Cinema on Nagisa Oshima
"Though the social and political upheavals that inspired much of his work have now passed from the headlines to the history books...his best films remain a potent testament to radical cinema's capacity to 'revolutionise consciousness' – one viewer at a time." More