Kenichi Okamoto

Movies

Private Lessons II
An insecure young Asian man meets an interesting sensual European woman who teaches him the secrets of love and life.
Waiting for the Flood
Hikaru Azuma
A young asthmatic man learns he has magical powers.
The Most Suitable Profession for Women
Before Spring
Lighting Technician
Out of the blue, a bourgeois family on the Sea of Japan finds an unconscious woman on the beach and decides to let her board.
Nurse's Husband
Lighting Technician
“Quit working as a nurse!” “All right, I will!” thus began the married life of Yasuo and Keiko. But the reality is harsh. Keiko even had to work on the first night after her marriage. Ten years later, the married couple is still at it. Yauso tends to the house and their children, while Keiko sacrifices family life for life as an overworked nurse. One day, after Keiko comes home utterly exhausted and dejected from her work, Yasuo makes up his mind and writes a letter of resignation in her place. Upon learning of this, Keiko angrily declares that nursing is what she lives for and she will keep on working. Realising that that is one battle he will never win, Yasuo sends a letter to a newspaper -- “Nurses’ husbands, aren’t you having a hard time? Get together nurses’ husbands. Contact me.” There is a tremendous response. This leads to the formation of many unions of nurses’ husbands throughout the country.
The Inugamis
Lighting Technician
When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood.
In the Realm of the Senses
Lighting Director
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
The Corporation
Gaffer
Drama and intrigue about defense contracts and corruption.
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (Aru eiga-kantoku no shogai) is a 1975 Japanese documentary film on the life and works of director Kenji Mizoguchi, directed by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba). It runs 150 minutes and can be found on the second disc of the Region 1 Criterion Collection release of Ugetsu (1953).
My Way
Lighting Technician
Based on a true story, an elderly woman resiliently spends nine months attempting to retrieve her husband's dead body, fighting government bureaucracy and indifference all along the way.
Hymn
Lighting Technician
The story tells of the adoration of Sasuke for his mistress, the blind samisen-teacher Shunkin, who treats him imperiously and subjects him to cruel beatings.
The Long Darkness
Gaffer
A delicate study of the relationship between two disillusioned young people, shot in atmospheric monochrome among Tokyo's decaying lumberyards and the inhospitable snowscapes of the north.
Live Today, Die Tomorrow!
Gaffer
Michio Yamada, a recent school graduate, is sent to Tokyo to work as a fruit-packer in a department store as part of a government programme. He takes a gun from a house on an American base and uses it to kill several people. The scene changes to Yamada's childhood. Yamada is born the child of a reprobate and a weak-willed woman. As a boy Yamada, experiences poverty and the rape of his sister at first hand.
Heat Wave Island
Lighting Technician
Otowa is a former Seto Inland Sea island farmer who has moved to the mainland in order to find work, but instead ends up dead. The film begins with the discovery of her corpse, which leads to an investigation that uncovers the narcotics, prostitution, and murder in which many poor farmers had found themselves trapped after World War II.
風来忍法帖 八方破れ
Lighting Technician
The second of two films based on the novel by Futaro Yamada.
Conquest
Lighting Technician
Provincial 14th century governor Moronao, attracted to the wife of a court magistrate, tries to seduce her and when she rejects his advances plots to send her husband into battle.
風来忍法帖
Lighting Technician
The first of two films based on the novel by Futaro Yamada.
Bamboo Doll of Echizen
Gaffer
Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife.
The Third Shadow Warrior
Lighting Technician
In the mountain regions of Hida, the dreams of a peasant named Kyonosuke, who longed to be a samurai, come true when he becomes one of three doubles, of shadows, of Lord Yasutaka. After months of intense and cruel training, he faces his destiny when the Lord and the other two shadows are killed in battle and he must take on the role of Lord Yasutaka....
An Actor's Revenge
Gaffer
While performing in a touring kabuki troupe, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier, and plans his revenge, firstly by seducing the daughter of one of them, secondly by ruining them...
The Broken Commandment
Lighting Technician
Ushimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now contemplates confiding in an activist fighting against such discrimination.
The Temple of Wild Geese
Lighting Technician
Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profligacy of his cruel master and Satoko's utter dependence on the man. Jinen is both fascinated and disturbed by Satoko's interest in him; he is similarly caught between loathing of Kikuchi and of the dark circumstances of his birth and his own moral weakness. The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner—a flashback inspired by a now-infamous image on a silkscreen in the souvenir shop at the so-called Temple of the Wild Geese.
Buddha
Lighting Technician
An Indian prince leaves his world of comfort and riches behind to wander and meditate for six years in search of spiritual enlightenment. Siddartha (Cojoin Hong) turns his back on the old religion when people are starving needlessly and holy rituals include human sacrifices. During his meditations, he is tempted by erotic dancing women, demons, and the evil machinations of his criminal cousin. Devastate to attain the spiritual perfection and become the Buddha. He travels to convert followers by his kindness and wisdom, gaining a multitude of believers when he stops an elephant from crushing a local priest. Buddha of course goes on to become one of the great religious leaders of the world.
Satan's Sword: The Dragon God
Lighting Technician
The sequel to Daibosatsu tôge (1960) and the second of the trilogy follows the adventures of Ryunosuke Tsukue after he is blinded.
Satan's Sword
Lighting Technician
The Dai-bosatsu toge trilogy is based on Kaizan Nakazatos unfinished long series of novels (41 books, written from 1913 to 1941). Set in the last period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Daibosatsu Toge tells the story of Tsuke Ryunosuke, a nihilistic swordmaster who doesn't hesitate to kill anyone, bad or good.
Bonchi
Lighting Technician
Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give them an heiress for the family business, he stands by helplessly as his wife is thrown out of the house for producing a son. Driven to a life of dissipation - his mistresses also fail to produce daughters - in the end he is just too tired to care.
Enchanted Princess
Lighting Technician
Once upon a time, Okuro (Ayako Wakao), a young female racoon, lived poorly with her drunken father. One day after they disguised themselves as parasols, they were wrongly brought to the Racoon Palace, where the young racoon princess (also Ayako Wakao) made a mess of her arranged marriage with the beautiful racoon prince (Raizô Ichikawa). Pretty princess ran away. In order not to spoil the promising marriage, people tried to make use of resemblances between Okuro and the princess. Before long, Okuro and the Prince fell in love with each other...
Jirocho Fuji
Lighting Technician
Legendary yakuza Shimizu Jirocho and his 28 henchmen travel the unruly path from a 'Fire Festival' in Akiba to a decisive battle by the Fujigawa.
Conflagration
Lighting Technician
Learning of his family's collapse, acolyte Goichi, sent to study silently at the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, must endure acute psychological distress.
Akado Suzunosuke vs. the Birdman with 3 Eyes
Lighting Technician
Suzunosuke faces perhaps his wildest foes. This evil gang is lead by a one-eyed birdman and other demonic creatures.
Freelance Samurai
Lighting Technician
One of Japanese folklore's most popular characters is brought to life on the silver screen in this terrific version of legendary Demon slaying Peach Boy.
Secret of Naruto
Lighting Technician
From the pen of Yoshikawa Eiji comes this exciting story. The Naruto Strait separates Tokushima from the islands of Awaji and Honshu. On Tokushima the mad lord dreams of conquest and forges a bloody revolt against the Tokugawa shogunate. A mysterious swordsman named Noriyuki Gennojo has crossed Naruto’s waters to uncover the Awa clan’s secrets. He puts his life on the line after finding a testament of Awa’s secrets, written in blood by a dying man. Joining Noriyuki are a female ninja who loves him, and the beautiful daughter of an enemy who’s sworn to kill him. Awa’s defenders willl stop at nothing to prevent the blood-soaked letter from reaching the shogun.
An Osaka Story
Lighting Technician
A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it and directing duties turned over to Yoshimura Kozaburo.
Tsukigata Hanpeita
Lighting Camera
During the bloody era of the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse, a man appeared capable of overthrowing a corrupt government and ending the feud between the Choshu and Satsuma clans. This is the story of Tsukigat Khanpayit, the sword maker of the Choshu clan, who, along with Katsuro Kogoro and Sakamoto Ryoma, sought to fulfill the dream of a new peaceful era in Japan. Can he realize his ideals or will he die in the chaos of internecine fights...
Night River
Lighting Technician
In Kyoto a young kimono maker with traditional ideas gets involved with a married professor.
Sisters of Gion
Lighting Technician
Taira Clan Saga
Lighting Technician
Special Forces commander Captain Tadamori returns to Kyoto after successfully defeating the uprising of pirates in the western sea of Japan. But because the high courtiers dislike career soldiers gaining power and influence, they ignore the will of ex-Emperor Toba and refuse to reward the captain. Reward recommender Lord Tokinobu is punished, and the captain sends his son Kiyomori to the Lord's residence, where he falls in love with Tokiko, the Lord's daughter. Meanwhile, Kiyomori finds out that he is possibly the ex-Emperor's son... Written by L.H. Wong
The Crucified Lovers
Gaffer
In 17th century Kyoto, Osan is married to Ishun, a wealthy miserly scroll-maker. When Osan is falsely accused of having an affair with the best worker, Mohei, the pair flee the city and declare their love for each other. Ishun orders his men to find them, and separate them to avoid public humiliation.
Sansho the Bailiff
Gaffer
In medieval Japan, a woman and his children journey to find the family's patriarch, who was exiled years before.
A Geisha
Lighting Technician
In the post-war Gion district of Kyoto, the geisha Miyoharu agrees to apprentice the 16 year-old Eiko, whose mother was a former geisha who had just died. After a year of training they have to find a large sum of money before Eiko can debut. Miyoharu borrows the money from the tea-house owner, Okimi, who in turn obtains the money from the businessman Kusuda. Kusuda fancies Eiko himself and wants to give Miyoharu to Kanzaki in order to close a large business deal. However both geishas have minds of their own and, going against tradition, want to be able to say no to clients.
Ugetsu
Lighting Technician
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.
Story of a Beloved Wife
Lighting Technician
Story of a Beloved Wife is an autobiographical work based on Shindo's first marriage. Jūkichi Uno stars as a struggling screenwriter, and Nobuko Otowa stars as the wife who supports him through his early struggles.
Miss Oyu
Lighting Technician
Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu to marry so that she can remain close to Shinnosuke.
Rashomon
Lighting Technician
Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, "Rashomon" is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
The Invisible Man Appears
Gaffer
Jewel thieves become interested in an invisibility formula invented by Professor Nakazato and want to use his invention to acquire a diamond necklace called the "Tears of Amour."
That Night's Adventure
Lighting Technician
Palace of the Singing Raccoon-Dogs
Lighting Technician
In this Japanese retelling of Cinderella, Okuro (Takayama) is the unfortunate stepdaughter of a family of tanuki: shape-shifting raccoon dogs. She hopes to see the tanuki prince (former Takarazuka star Miyagi) against her stepmother's wishes; the magical spirit of the willow tree, and a hapless kappa (water goblin) intercede in unexpected ways.