Hundred Years of Japanese Film : a Concise History, With a Selective Guide To DVDS and Videos (Rev 05 Edition)

The authoritative guide to Japanese film, completely revised and updated.

Now available in paperback for the first time, A Hundred Years of Japanese Film by Donald Richie, the foremost Western expert on Japanese film, gives us an incisive, detailed, and fully illustrated history of the country's cinema.

Called "the dean of Japan's arts critics" by Time magazine, Richie takes us from the inception of Japanese cinema at the end of the nineteenth century, through the achievements of Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu, then on to the notable works of contemporary filmmakers. This revised edition includes analyses of the latest trends in Japanese cinema, such as the revival of the horror genre, and introduces today's up-and-coming directors and their works.

As Paul Schrader writes in his perceptive foreword, Richie's accounting of the Japanese film "retains his sensitivity to the actual circumstances of film production (something filmmakers know very well but historians often overlook) . . . and shows the interweave of filmmaking-the contributions of directors, writers, cinematographers, actors, musicians, art directors, as well as financiers."

Of primary interest to those who would like to watch the works introduced in these pages, Richie has provided capsule reviews of the major subtitled Japanese films commercially available in DVD and VHS formats. This guide has been updated to include not only the best new movie releases, but also classic films available in these formats for the first time.

Everywhere we look today--from the pages of major newspapers and magazines, to film festival schedules and suburban multiplexes--we're reminded of the growing fascination with the art and craft of Japanese cinema. Now, in the completely revised and updated edition of his 2001 guide, expert Donald Richie offers movie buffs and serious film students alike a lively, comprehensive overview of Japanese cinema from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. Richie, an acknowledged authority in the field of Japanese film and former curator at New York's Moma, explores the roots and unique nature of Japan's contribution to world cinema. He looks at the careers of celebrated actors and directors, as well as the up-and-comers, and offers insight into the current Japanese cinema scene, including documentaries, anime and the revival of horror movies. An updated DVD and VHS listing features the best of the new releases, classic films available in these formats for the first time, and capsule reviews. All DVDs and videos in this section are available for purchase, and each listing includes the name and country of the distributor.

Richie offers movie buffs and serious film students a lively, comprehensive overview of Japanese cinema from the end of the 19th century to the present. Updated DVD and VHS listings feature new releases, classic films, and reviews.

Former Curator of Film at the New York Museum of Modern Art, DONALD RICHIE has written some forty books on Japan and its people, including definitive works on the Japanese film directors Kurosawa and Ozu. The film version of his travel classic, The Inland Sea, has been shown on PBS and won several prizes at international film festivals, as well as the National Geographic Earth Award. Public People, Private People, his portraits of famous and far-from-famous Japanese, received praise from many quarters. Of Richie's two collections of essays, A Lateral View and Partial Views, Susan Sontag said: "Donald Richie writes about Japan with an unrivaled range, acuity, and wit."

His latest book is The Japan Journals: 1947-2004.

A well-known director (American Gigolo, Affliction) and screenwriter (Taxi Driver, The Last Temptation of Christ), PAUL SCHRADER also has a strong feeling for Japan and its films. Not only did he write and direct Mishima, considered by many to be his masterpiece, he also contributed to the very first appreciation of the Japanese yakuza film genre and wrote the seminal Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer.