There has been a surge in reevaluations of film directors both in Japan and abroad, and we can find an excellent example right here.

Director Yoshimitsu Morita (1950–2011) blazed through the Japanese film industry like a shooting star, not only releasing 27 films in 30 years from 1981, but creating works in a range of genres. The “Yoshimitsu Morita Retrospective” , cosponsored by the Japan Foundation (JF), celebrated the mark he left on cinematic history through a retrospective held December 2–11, 2022 at the Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) in New York, USA.

Kazuko Misawa was both Morita’s life and work partner. In recent years, she put together a series of initiatives in Japan that have encouraged a reassessment of Morita’s works and have garnered a lot of attention. In response to this, Dan Sullivan, Programmer at FLC and Aiko Masubuchi, a film curator working in both Japan and the United States, organized a retrospective in New York.

This conversation with these three people, united by their interest in Yoshimitsu Morita, reveals not only the significance of Morita’s works but also a more universal significance in the work of shining a new light on films and their directors.

Text: Fumihisa Miyata　Translation: Kodensha　Edit:Kimi Idonuma

The appeal of Morita’s rule-breaking and boundary-pushing films

-- The films of Director Morita, who continued creating works in a range of genres, have an appeal that can’t be expressed in just one word. What were you conscious of when reintroducing Director Morita’s films to audiences in New York?

Sullivan : When putting together the program, as a curator I hoped to provide a new and rich context. For instance, creators such as Jean-Luc Godard who were of the same era as Director Morita crossed various boundaries and broke various rules. They were directors who didn’t want to do the same thing twice. I feel it’s very important to re-acknowledge he was making films in the same period as those directors.

I also think it’s possible to understand the films within a global context. For example, personally I think Morita’s films share something with Director Raúl Ruiz of Chile. They both have a unique visual sense and had a highly radical approach to filming. I hope this retrospective prompted audiences to think of Morita’s films in a global framework.

-- It’s interesting to see that new contexts like this comparison with Raúl Ruiz can be created by screening Morita’s films in New York.

Aiko: : In thinking about broadening the image of Japanese films abroad, it’s wonderful to have people get to know films by a director like Morita who worked from the 1980s to the 2010s.

When I used to work at Japan Society, I worked on a film series guest curated by Prof. Alex Zahlten of Harvard University called “POP! GOES CINEMA: KADOKAWA FILM & 1980S JAPAN.” Since then, I’ve always felt that Japanese films from the 1980s were doing something interesting and wanted to make them more widely known.

When thinking of Japanese film, there’s still a tendency to think only of directors like Yasujiro Ozu who made films until the 1960s, but I’m happy if this special feature on Director Morita was able to give people a chance to experience the richness of Japanese film history.

Misawa : Lately in Japan, young directors have come up to me now and again to tell me that Morita’s films influenced them into becoming a director. During the public talks that we put together in relation to the 2021 publication of the book, "All About the Films of Yoshimitsu Morita," I was very happy to hear a younger generation of filmmakers talk about the impact Morita had on them.

Misawa : What struck me most about their words was how shocked they were when they saw "Main Theme" (1984), Morita’s first non-independent film, and "Sorobanzuku" (1986), a large-scale project featuring popular comedians. They wondered why this director made films in such an unconstrained way.

-- They marveled at how it was possible?

Misawa : Directors today apparently will try to fully exercise their creative authorship when they make an independent film but when asked to deliver a project as a “business” or “commercial” endeavor—these particular terms that they used have stayed with me—they try to play it safely and make a film that can be understood by anybody. But, they said that it seems to them that Morita was so adventurous in a way that risks not getting another offer!

Sullivan : Creating a commercial film of the kind that’s in partnership with a large studio comes with various limitations, doesn’t it? A look back at film history reminds you that Nouvelle Vague (Editor’s note: a French film movement started in the 1950s) filmmakers learned a great deal from classic Hollywood films. They discovered their own creative idiosyncrasies from Hollywood films that were surely made under many such limitations.

Watching Morita’s films, no matter how big the film budget, his own signature and character came through. I think he expertly made use of the system’s constraints to perfect his films.

Misawa : Morita had a child-like innocence to him and would passionately talk about what he wanted to do. So, no matter how much of an important higher-up a person was, or whether they were crew or cast, Morita had the extraordinary ability that made them all want to agree with him. In any case, I think that it’s true even today, that if creatives and the film industry continue to take on challenges, they can build an even richer culture.

"Finally!" The New York screening was much anticipated by the youth and film fans.

-- What was the response to the retrospective screenings in New York?

Misawa : I worried about how many would come and their reaction, but I was surprised and truly delighted by the many people, and lots of young people, who came.

I also went to New York for the screenings, but I did my best and waited outside the theater! I asked people about their impressions and received reactions that made me think the audience understood what Yoshimitsu Morita was trying to do as a filmmaker—sometimes even more so than audiences at screenings in Japan. I’m so grateful to Aiko and Dan, and everyone who helped.

Aiko: : New York is a city with an established cinephile culture, and there was a sense that among such fans, there were already people who were aware of Morita’s films.

That said, you just never know how things will turn out until the day of the screenings, but once it started, there was a feeling that a passion that had been secretly simmering spilled over, as if they were excited to finally see Morita’s films on the big screen!

Sullivan : There was a full house at the opening screening of "The Family Game" (1983) even though the venue seats over 250. From then on, during the retrospective event the excitement kept building and nearly all the seats were taken at the showing of "Haru" (1996) on the last day.

Misawa Thinking back on responses from overseas, I can’t forget the special presentation on Yoshimitsu Morita at the Beijing International Film Festival held in 2016. A huge theater that could seat over 1,000 was filled to capacity. I’ve never been so surprised!

At that time, too, I heard many say that they’d known about Morita since the 1980s, but there was no opportunity at all to see his films. That’s when I began again to consider screening his films overseas, but to do that first required preparing digital screening materials. This time, with the aid of the Japan Foundation, we were able to prepare the materials and that led to the screenings in New York.

-- Ms. Misawa has also been proactively working on presenting films by Director Morita in Japan, but how did you two come to participate in this effort?

Aiko: I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Misawa-san since we screened Something Like It (1981) as part of the series, “SHITAMACHI: Tales of Downtown Tokyo” that was held in New York in 2019. (Reference article: “Pride of Place: Film Series SHITAMACHI Takes Tokyo’s Lowlands to the Summit of Film Culture”). It was Kyoko Hirano—who I respect and who worked as the director of the film program at Japan Society for many years—who brought us back together. I heard from Kyoko that Misawa-san was looking to screen Morita’s films in New York. When considering where to pitch the series proposal. I immediately thought of FLC.

In addition to FLC hosting the New York Film Festival and being a hub for film culture in this city, it also has a historical connection with Morita’s films. In 1984, "The Family Game" was introduced at New Directors/New Films, a long-established film festival held jointly by FLC and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

-- Speaking of that, on FLC’s Twitter feed, I saw a photo of the theater marquee listing Director Morita’s The Family Game, Éric Rohmer’s Full Moon in Paris (1984), and Jean-Luc Godard’s First Name: Carmen (1983)….

Sullivan : That’s probably a photo of the historic movie theater, Lincoln Plaza, which had a similar name and used to be near FLC. After The Family Game was screened at New Directors/New Films, it apparently was shown at the Lincoln Plaza.

Regrettably, the Lincoln Plaza closed in 2018, but it was once a theater where you could watch the most important contemporary films. So, I think the fact that back then The Family Game was shown alongside two films from master filmmakers who were already well known seems to symbolize how Director Morita and that film were received. If I had been there when that photo was snapped, I would’ve definitely gone to see those three films (laughs).

At last, the groundwork has been laid to understand the full picture of Yoshimitsu Morita’s legacy

Misawa : At the start of this conversation, Dan said that “directors such as Godard who were of the same era as Morita crossed boundaries and broke rules.” I feel those words really capture what Morita accomplished.

It was an offhand comment, but Japanese critics have almost never used those kinds of words to describe Morita, and in my mind, I feel that this approach of Morita’s hasn’t been understood.

At the time, Morita created such varied films that many people were confused and couldn’t grasp the whole picture… With the passage of time, the availability of digital film, and the exchange of various opinions worldwide, I feel hopeful that from now on, the complete picture of Morita can truly be understood at last. I’m now seeing the significance of the retrospective held in New York in a new light.