A film enthusiast during his student years, KAWASHIMA Yuzo joined Shochiku Ofuna in 1938. After achieving the highest grade among his peers on the studio's internal promotion exam, he was handpicked to direct his debut feature film with 1944's The Man Who Has Returned (Kaette kita otoko). A self-proclaimed "member" of the Nihon Keicho-ha (literally, "Japan Frivolous School"), he directed such classical nonsense comedies as Oh, Citizens! (Shimikin no o! Shimin shokun, 1948) in addition to publishing Dema Kurabu, a well-received newsletter that satirized the daily goings-on within the studio. After his transfer to Nikkatsu in 1955, his talent blossomed further, resulting in the creation of a number of important works across a variety of genres and styles, including melodrama Susaki Paradise: Red Light District (Susaki paradaisu: aka shingo, 1956), which portrayed the emotional lives of a couple in a dysfunctional relationship, and The Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate (Bakumatsu taiyoden, 1957), a comedy based on a classical rakugo story. While he moved to Toho subsidiary Tokyo Eiga in 1957, in subsequent years he also directed three films for Daiei starring WAKAO Ayako, including A Geisha's Diary (Onna wa nido umareru, aka Women Are Born Twice, 1961). His body of work – in which he dismantled the boundary between beauty and ugliness and resisted authority and hypocrisy via his philosophy of "positive escapism" – exudes a unique brilliance that remains unfaded to this day.

(Written by KU Mina / Translated by Adam Sutherland)