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Visit - group Other Names:
Jiro Sugita, 杉田二郎, 相米慎二, Синдзи Сомай
description About
Shinji Sōmai (相米 慎二, Sōmai Shinji, 13 January 1948 – 9 September 2001) was a Japanese film director. He was born in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, and was brought up in Hokkaido. Somai began his career in 1975 as an assistant director with Nikkatsu Co., one of Japan's leading film production companies, after he dropped out of Chuo University. Somai made made his debut as a director in 1980 with The Terrible Couple - an adaptation of a popular boys' manga of the time. The film deals with the trials and tribulations of adolescence, presaging a long thread of Somai works in which young people are called upon to test their capabilities while discovering the unreliable nature of adult society. In Somai's hands, children and teenagers are always treated and presented sympathetically and seriously. An actor's director from the start, Somai's trademark was a use of long takes, usually involving constantly-moving and spectacularly sweeping shots, which he felt allowed his cast to achieve the proper mood for scenes which would have been ruined by excessively quick editing. Perhaps the most extraordinary use of this technique is to be found in his 1985 film Lost Chapter of Snow: Passion (one of three of his films released that year), in which Somai uses an apparently single fourteen-minute take to reveal a succession of significant events in one character's childhood. The best of Somai's films often straddle genres, taking off in unpredictable directions toward stimulating destinations. Somai directed 13 films between 1980 and 2000. He died of lung cancer at 53.
Info
- wc Gender: Male
- calendar_month Birth Date: 1948-01-13
- event Death Date 2001-09-09
- school Known for: Directing
- star Popularity: 4.4
- info Birth Place Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
- visibility Views: 2 views
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star User Ratings:
image Images
movie_edit Directing
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Sailor Suit and Machine Gun
1981-12-19
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Typhoon Club
1985-08-31
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P. P. Rider
1983-02-11
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Moving
1993-03-20
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The Friends
1994-04-09
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Love Hotel
1985-08-03
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Lost Chapter of Snow: Passion
1985-12-21
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Wait and See
1998-12-19
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Kaza-hana
2000-09-14
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Tokyo Heaven
1990-06-09
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Dreamy Fifteen
1980-07-26
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The Catch
1983-10-29
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愛しい女
1985-04-25
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The Man Who Stole the Sun
1979-10-06
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The Youth Killer
1976-10-23
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Luminous Woman
1987-10-24
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Grass Labyrinth
1979-01-01
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100 High School Girls: Secret Motel Report
1975-08-23
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100 High School Girls: Secret Motel Report
1975-08-23
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Hostess Confidential: Three Juicy Sisters
1975-10-18
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Almost Transparent Blue
1979-03-03
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Late Bloom: Campus Erotica
1976-07-07
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Lesbian World: Fondling
1975-06-04