Shusuke Kaneko

Life and career

Shūsuke Kaneko was born in Tokyo on June 8, 1955. 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.

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. That work along with two other Roman Porno films he directed for Nikkatsu that year, OL Yurizoku 19-sai and Eve-chan-no hime, won him the Best New Director award at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival. 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. In July 1986, still at Nikkatsu, he directed Mischievous Lolita: Attacking the Virgin From Behind, which despite its strange title, was a fantasy about a sex-doll coming to life as a woman. 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.

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. Nikkatsu ceased their Roman Porno film line that year and filed for bankruptcy a few years later 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.

Filmography

Assistant director

• From Orion's Testimony: Formula for Murder (1978)
• Rape and Death of a Housewife (1978)
• Koko dai panikku (1978)
• Female Teacher Hunting (1982)
• Gigolo: A Docu-Drama (1982)
• Ecstasy Sisters (1982)
• Oh! Takarazuka (1982)
• The Family Game (1983)
• Girl Rape Case: Red Shoes (1983)
• Madam Scandal - Final Scandal: Madam Likes It Hard (1983)
• Main Theme (1984)

References

References

1. "Biography". Shusuke Kaneko Official Website.
2. link. [[Japanese Movie Database. JMDB]]
3. Sharp, Jasper. (2008). "Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema". FAB Press.
4. Weisser, Thomas. (1998). "Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films". Vital Books: Asian Cult Cinema Publications.
5. (2005-10-30). link. Yokohama Film Festival homepage
6. link. [[Yokohama Film Festival]]
7. Weisser, pp. 272-273
8. link. [[Japanese Movie Database. JMDB]]
9. Weisser, p. 227
10. link. AllCinema
11. link. homepage3.nifty.com/yokohama-eigasai
12. Sharp. pp. 129-130
13. "百合の雨音". eiga.com.
14. "ゴールド・ボーイ". eiga.com.
15. "2126年、海の星をさがして".