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Japanese film director From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shūsuke Kaneko (金子 修介, Kaneko Shūsuke, born June 8, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker.
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Shūsuke Kaneko | |
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![]() Kaneko in 2023 | |
Born | Tokyo, Japan | June 8, 1955
Occupation(s) | Film director, Screenwriter |
Years active | 1978–present |
Website | www |
Shūsuke Kaneko was born in Tokyo on June 8, 1955.[1] According to the biography on his official website Kaneko was interested in science fiction, particularly Godzilla and Gamera films, from a young age. He became involved in amateur film making in his teen years, but majored in education when he attended Tokyo Gakugei University.[1] After graduation, he found a job at the major Japanese movie studio Nikkatsu.[1] By 1982 he was a screenwriter and assistant director for Nikkatsu's Roman Porno film series.[2][3]
Kaneko made his debut as a director with Nikkatsu in February 1984 with Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging, part of a long-running Nikkatsu series based on the works of erotic novelist Kōichirō Uno.[3][4] That work along with two other Roman Porno films he directed for Nikkatsu that year, OL Yurizoku 19-sai (OL百合族・19才) and Eve-chan-no hime (イヴちゃんの姫), won him the Best New Director award at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival.[4][5] The next year, his manga-based April 1985 movie for Nikkatsu, Minna Agechau, took the award as the 9th Best Film of the year at the 7th Yokohama Film Festival.[6] In July 1986, still at Nikkatsu, he directed Mischievous Lolita: Attacking the Virgin From Behind (いたずらロリータ 後からバージン, Itazura Lolita: Ushirokara virgin), which despite its strange title, was a fantasy about a sex-doll coming to life as a woman.[7][8] Kaneko's final film for Nikkatsu was the appropriately named Last Cabaret, the second to last of the studio's Roman Porno series. The film, released in April 1988, about a cabaret forced to close has been taken as a metaphor for the demise of the studio itself.[9][10]
The year 1988 marked a watershed in Kaneko's career as a director. At the 10th Yokohama Film Festival, he was given the Best Director award for his two films of 1988, the Roman Porno Last Cabaret for Nikkatsu and Summer Vacation 1999, a mainstream film for the Shochiku studio.[11] Nikkatsu ceased their Roman Porno film line that year and filed for bankruptcy a few years later[12] and Kaneko moved full-time into mainstream film.
During the mid-to-late 1990s, Kaneko received widespread acclaim and recognition for directing the kaiju films Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996), and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999). The following decade, he directed Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), which is now regarded as one of the greatest Godzilla films ever made.
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1984 | Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging | Yes | No | |
1985 | Minna Agechau | Yes | No | |
1988 | Last Cabaret | Yes | No | |
Summer Vacation 1999 | Yes | No | ||
1989 | Who Do I Choose? | Yes | Yes | |
1990 | Hong Kong Paradise | Yes | Yes | |
1991 | My Soul Is Slashed | Yes | Yes | |
No Worries on the Recruit Front | Yes | Yes | ||
1993 | Graduation Journey: I Came from Japan | Yes | No | |
Necronomicon | Yes | No | Segment "The Cold" | |
1994 | It's a Summer Vacation Everyday | Yes | No | |
1995 | Gamera: Guardian of the Universe | Yes | No | |
1996 | Gamera 2: Attack of Legion | Yes | No | |
1997 | Haunted School 3 | Yes | No | |
1999 | Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris | Yes | Yes | |
2000 | Pyrokinesis | Yes | No | |
2001 | Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack | Yes | Yes | |
2005 | Azumi 2: Death or Love | Yes | No | |
2006 | Death Note | Yes | No | |
God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand | Yes | No | ||
Death Note 2: The Last Name | Yes | Yes | ||
2009 | Pride | Yes | No | |
2011 | Messiah | Yes | No | |
2012 | The Centenarian Clock | Yes | No | |
2013 | The Sacrifice Dilemma | Yes | No | |
Jellyfish | Yes | No | ||
2014 | Danger Dolls | Yes | No | |
2016 | Scanner | Yes | No | |
2017 | Linking Love | Yes | No | |
Matchmaking Cruise | Yes | No | ||
2018 | Xi Bo Li Ya feng yun | Yes | No | |
2021 | Nobutora | Yes | No | |
Iké Boys | No | No | Actor (Japanese producer) | |
2022 | When the Rain Falls[13] | Yes | No | |
2024 | Gold Boy[14] | Yes | No | |
Assistant director
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