Isao Yamada

Directing

Biography

Yamada Isao was born in Hokkaido, 1952. He joined an experimental theatrical troupe “Tenjo Sajiki” of Terayama. He took charge of art and costume designs in Terayama’s movies. His first film “Subaru no Yoru” (Night on Pleiades) (1977) won a prize at Off-theater Film Festival (later the name changed to Pia Film Festival). Until now, he has made over 100 movies, mainly 8mm films. With motifs of the borderline between reality and dream, he draws pictorial world of nostalgia. The images with his unique world view have attracted critics worldwide, and some of his works are archived in foreign art museums and universities. He is also a cartoonist and book designer.

Known For

7.5

A director faces creative block while working on his latest film – a reimagination of his adolescence growing up in a mountain village in rural Japan.

Pastoral: To Die in the Country

1974Movie

6.8

In the midst of a match, a successful boxer - Hayato, has had enough of the sport. He lets himself get knocked, quits boxing, leaving his wife and start living alone with his mangy dog. One day a young mediocre boxer knocks at the door and wants to be Hayato's apprentice.

Boxer

1977Movie

7.2

Akira is haunted by a "bouncing ball" song that he remembers his mother singing when he was a small child, and now on the verge of a sexually active adulthood, he wants to find the origins of the song. The young man ostensibly wanders into a time-warp in which aspects from his childhood and adulthood mix together. In this never-never land he comes across a beautiful woman/witch who is lost inside the labyrinth of her mansion, just as the young man is lost in the labyrinth of time — and on some levels, perhaps the labyrinth of his subconscious.

Grass Labyrinth

1979Movie

N/A

In the winter of 1922 (Taisho 11), a poet and social activist Nakahama Tetsu returned from a wandering journey to reunite with Furuta Daijiro and other comrades. They organized an anarchist organization “Guillotine Society” dreaming of revolution. For their ideal, they targeted the Prince of Wales who visited Japan, but failed in all their attempts. Matsuura Emile, a soba selling mysterious woman with all foreseeing eyes, comes and goes before them. In September of 1923 (Taisho 12), under martial law, anarchists Osugi Sakae and Ito Noe whom members of Guillotine Society adored were taken by Captain Amakasu of the military police, and killed. When they learned of the murder, members of Guillotine Society swore vengeance, and rose up… Then, transcending time, at a cafe, music rings loud….

Sturm und Drang

2014Movie

7.3

A young geologist is traveling by train to visit his sister in the countryside after having received a mysterious letter from her.

I've Heard the Ammonite Murmur

1992Movie

4.0

A young man is on an inner journey as he searches for meaning in love, eroticism and marriage. He boards a train, and all the clocks are mirrored from then on, as if looking at them from the inside. He travels to a homey village, meets a potential fiancée, then a more sensuous and mysterious stripper.