A Companion to Japanese Cinema

<p><b>Go beyond Kurosawa and discover an up-to-date and rigorous examination of historical and modern Japanese cinema&nbsp;</b></p> <p>In&nbsp;<i>A Companion to Japanese Cinema</i>, distinguished cinematic researcher David Desser delivers&nbsp;insightful&nbsp;new material on&nbsp;a fascinating subject, ranging from the introduction and exploration of under-appreciated directors, like Uchida Tomu and Yoshimura Kozaburo, to an appreciation of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema from the point of view of little-known stars and genres of the 1950s.&nbsp;</p> <p>This&nbsp;<i>Companion</i>&nbsp;includes new resources that deal in-depth&nbsp;with the issue of gender in Japanese cinema, including a sustained analysis of Kawase Naomi, arguably the most important female director in Japanese film history.&nbsp;</p> <p>Readers will appreciate the astute material on the connections and relationships that tie together Japanese television and cinema, with implications for understanding the modern state of Japanese film.&nbsp;The&nbsp;<i>Companion</i>&nbsp;concludes with a discussion of the Japanese media&rsquo;s response to the 3/11&nbsp;earthquake and tsunami that devastated the nation.&nbsp;The book also includes:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>A thorough introduction to the History, Ideology, and Aesthetics of Japanese cinema, including discussions of Kyoto as the&nbsp;cinematic center of Japan and the Pure Film Movement and modern Japanese film style&nbsp;</li> <li>An exploration of&nbsp;the background to the famous story of&nbsp;Taki no&nbsp;Shiraito&nbsp;and the&nbsp;significant and underappreciated contributions of directors&nbsp;Uchida&nbsp;Tomu, as well as Yoshimura&nbsp;Kozaburo&nbsp;</li> <li>A rigorous comparison of old and new Japanese cinema, including treatments of Ainu in documentary films&nbsp;and modernity in film exhibition&nbsp;</li> <li>Practical discussions of intermediality, including&nbsp;treatments of scriptwriting in the 1930s&nbsp;and the influence of film on Japanese television&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Perfect for&nbsp;upper-level undergraduate&nbsp;and graduate students studying Japanese and Asian cinema,&nbsp;<i>A Companion to Japanese Cinema</i>&nbsp;is a must-read reference for&nbsp;anyone seeking an insightful and contemporary discussion of modern scholarship&nbsp;in Japanese cinema&nbsp;in the 20th and 21st centuries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>