Nagisa Oshima Feted at the National Film Archive of Japan!

Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier today (that's Wednesday, July 19), I stopped by the National Film Archive of Japan and had the chance to check out its exhibit on the acclaimed director Nagisa Oshima. The exhibit's name in English is simply Film Director Nagisa Oshima, and it looks back on the director's decades-long career 10 years after his passing. In the West, Oshima is probably best known for directing David Bowie in the World War II drama Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983).

Signage for the Film Director Nagisa Oshima exhibit. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The exhibit itself was well done, but my lack of familiarity (and, if I'm being completely honest, interest) in the works of Oshima left me a bit cold. I just didn't know that much about the works on display to be intrigued all that much. Interestingly, photography was mostly allowed in the exhibit, but the posters for Oshima's various films were, for the most part, off-limits. (Given some of the rare pictures and memorabilia on hand that visitors were allowed to photograph, you'd think it would have been the opposite situation.)

Nagisa Oshima's script for an unmade film called "Friday the 13th." Photo by Brett Homenick.

One thing that did capture my attention was this Oshima script for an unmade movie called "Friday the 13th." The 1959 screenplay was apparently supposed to be a black comedy, but no word on whether it would have featured a machete-wielding maniac. 

Afterward, I watched some trailers for some of Oshima's films that were being shown just outside the exhibit, most notably Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969), starring Rie Yokoyama. I can't argue with his filmmaking abilities, but the risque subject matter of his films simply doesn't appeal to me. Oh, well. Maybe one day.