Masao Nakabori

Birth : 1943-02-12, Tokyo, Japan

History

Masao Nakabori is a Japanese cinematographer, known as DP of Koreeda's Maborosi.

Movies

The Master of Funerals
Cinematography
Alumni of Ibaraki High School learn that one of their classmates is killed in an accident on the tenth anniversary of their graduation, necessitating an unexpected reunion and “on-campus funeral”. They spend a strange night together, during which the secrets of his life are revealed and they rededicate themselves to his memory, with a new outlook on life.
Twice: The Extraordinary Life of Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Cinematography
Tsutomu Yamaguchi is a hibakusha. A survivor of both atomic bomb blasts in 1945. First at Hiroshima, then again at Nagasaki. Now nearing 90, Yamaguchi finally speaks out. Breaking taboos of shame and sorrow, he responds to a call to fight for a world without nuclear weapons by telling his story, so that no one else will ever have to tell one like it again. Twice reconstructs Yamaguchi’s experiences in 1945 Japan, interviews him on the after-effects of exposure and documents the last five years of the late-blooming activist’s life.
The Harimaya Bridge
Director of Photography
The Harimaya Bridge is a drama about an American man who must travel to rural Japan to claim some important items belonging to his late son, from whom he was estranged. While there, he learns several secrets his son left behind.
Ten Nights of Dreams
Director of Photography
Based on renowned Japanese writer Natsume Soseki's same-titled short story collection, Ten Nights of Dreams brings ten fantastical dream sequences to film with great visual and psychological panache. Representing the combined efforts of eleven directors, this outstanding anthology delves into the surreal subconscious with ten madly imaginative, reality-subverting visions that range from wonderfully wacky to nightmarishly unsettling.
Die Silbermaske
Director of Photography
Sabine is able to transform into a silver superhero through the power of the Ring of Nibelungen. She travels to Japan where she searches for her father and battles the forces of Dr. Caligari.
Dead Run
Director of Photography
Classmates Shuji and Eri becomes friends, both young people have family problems. When Eri is taken away to Tokyo by her relatives, Shuji becomes increasingly isolated at school and drifts into criminal activity.
Summer of Ubume
Director of Photography
Kyogokudo is a used book seller who doubles as an onmyouji, or Heian style occultist. His friend Sekiguchi brings him the story of a woman who has been pregnant for twenty months. Sekiguchi investigates further with the help of his friend Enokizu, a detective with the unusual ability to see people's memories. They are hired by the impossibly pregnant woman's sister to find the woman's missing husband and lay this whole matter to rest. In the end, they need the help of Kyogokudo to exorcise the family curse.
Rampo Noir
Director of Photography
Mars Canal - Within absolute silence, a naked man wanders through a dark and depressing landscape recalling the excruciating details of his last encounter with his former lover. Mirror Hell - When a series of women are discovered with their faces burnt and skulls charred, a young detective investigates, discovering that a unique hand mirror is always found at the scene. Caterpillar - A war hero returns home with no limbs and only his eyesight remaining. His beautiful wife, tired of taking care of him, turns to torturing her crippled husband for amusement. Crawling Bugs - A sexy actress is returning home from a successful night on stage, until her limo driver decides that she should be coming home with him.
Blessing Bell
Cinematography
Existential study on a misplaced workers and ex-prisoner who moves through the city and his influence on other characters' lives.
Women in the Mirror
Director of Photography
Three women who share memories of the Hiroshima disaster try to uncover the hidden family ties that may or may not bind them together.
Hard Luck Hero
Cinematography
The story of three pairs of characters involved one way or the other with the yakuza and a rigged boxing match and fleeing the thugs one way or the other. Filmed as a showcase of the Japanese boy band V6, Hard Luck Hero has food, drink, cars, kickboxing, debt, shooting, theft, blackmail and music.
Falling into the Evening
Director of Photography
Rica and Kengo have been living together for the past four years. It’s been a very happy time for Rica; the only dark spot being an accident she caused during a shoot for a commercial in which Kengo’s good friend, Shibata, nearly lost his life. The memory of this event weighs heavily on Rica’s conscience. One night Kengo tells Rica that he has fallen in love with a charming but „inscrutable“ woman named Hanako.
Murder on D Street
Director of Photography
Detective Kogoro Akechi is faced with a peculiar murder case involving forgeries of classic pornographic artworks.
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 2
Director of Photography
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 1
Director of Photography
Maborosi
Director of Photography
A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
A Watcher in the Attic
Director of Photography
In 1923, in a cheap Tokyo rooming house, a languid young man named Goda was feeling bored with his life. One day while playing dress up with a woman’s wig and lipstick, he accidentally loosens a ceiling board in his closet. Climbing up, he discovers a dimly lit passageway under the roof leading to the resident’s other rooms. Soon he is scampering about like a ninja, making knotholes and moving ceiling boards for a better view. What he sees are the intimate acts - sadistic, criminal or vaguely mad - that reveal infinitely more about his fellow roomers than the various fronts they present to the world.
Akio Jissoji's Wonder Museum 2
Director of Photography
Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars
Cinematography
A series of serial murders occurred in a historic ruins where a TV crew is shooting a documentary.
Red Crow and the Ghost Ship
Director of Photography
A fantastic adventure of a brother and sister flying a ghost ship, guided by a red crow, in search for an old captain. The ghost ship was designed by Hayao Miyazaki and the red crow was done by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
The Men Who Made Ultraman
Director of Photography
A biographical dramatization about the production of the original Ultraman, the beloved classic special effects fantasy series from Eiji Tsuburaya.
Marquis de Sade’s Prosperities of Vice
Director of Photography
A decadent count in 1920′s Japan becomes obsessed with the life and works of the Marquis de Sade. He creates a theatre to show plays adapted from the notorious writer’s novels and recruits thieves, prostitutes and low lives to act out his fantasies on stage for the delectation of his rich, jaded friends. In search of new sensations the nobleman orders one of the actors, on pain of death, to make love to the nobleman’s wife while he watches. Unfortunately, this incursion of real life into his fantasy world will have dire consequences for the count and his divinely decadent coterie.
Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
Director of Photography
The reincarnation of a 10th century Japanese general haunts 1920's Tokyo.
Blue Lake Girl
Director of Photography
Nagare, a painter who wanted to commit a lover’s suicide with Mizue, the wife of his friend and patron Takigawa. Growing afraid at the last moment, he doesn’t go through with it – but Mizue sinks to the bottom of Blue Lake. Some time later, Nagare follows an invitation by Takigawa, who claims to have forgiven everything. To Nagare’s shock, Takigawa’s new wife, Ameko, looks exactly like Mizue. While staying as Takigawa’s guest, Nagare becomes haunted by Mizue’s ghost, who wants to be reunited with him at the bottom of Blue Lake.
Honeymoon
Director of Photography
Tetsuaki's struggling to write a novel while his mother fades; Mitsuko's engagement has been forced upon her unwillingly; the two individuals run away to share their grief.
Lanterns on Blue Waters
Director of Photography
The story of a Japanese man who as a 16-year-old went to Maui to work in the sugar cane fields in order to support his family back in Japan. Now 89 and still living in Hawaii he is visited by his granddaughter who brings him a letter from his disinherited and recently dead son. This brings back memories of his life with his wife and family following the attack on Pearl Harbor, in particular of his son who had gone off to join the war for the Americans.
Utamaro's World
Director of Photography
Utamaro was an artist who lived in Edo (which was later to become modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th century. This film, which has a complex and wide-ranging storyline, recreates the world of that time, as it appeared in Utamaro's paintings.
Poem
Director of Photography
The young houseboy in Uta wakes up every night to patrol the house of a teacher with a flashlight. He leads an austere life of meditation and he focuses his devotional attention on writing inscriptions for tombstones.
This Transient Life
Director of Photography
Near a remote Buddhist monastery, a young man falls in love with his sister and gets her pregnant. After a monk finds out, the young man becomes an assistant to a master sculptor, only to proceed to complicate matters with his affairs.