Shohei Imamura. 1926 - 2006.

Age of 80..

Too sad :(

One of my favorite directors..RIP :(

a sad day

This is fucked up! An incredibly huge loss for the movieworld. A truly sad day.

(

Having read several ecstatic reviews of the likes of Ballad of Narayama and Vengeance Is Mine, I've been struggling to track down the DVDs, but they're nowhere to be found in my area (Melbourne). So I'm yet to see a single Imamura film, but I still find this news horribly depressing.

What's further disturbing is that no other major movie news website has reported his passing. I mean, two Palmes d'or - this man was clearly an important figure in international cinema. His passing should certainly warrant more mentions than it has received. Hopefully it might also inspire some retrospectives and DVD releases so that at least his work may live on.

Black Rain is one of those films that will forever remain ingrained in my memory.

A truly big loss for for the world of cinema.

here's to the GIANT who made me a devotee to japanese films in the first place. vengeance is mine, the insect woman (real inspiration to all womanfolk!), intentions of murder, profound desire of the gods, the pornographers. and takashi miike!!

I watched the Eel a good while before I became even remotely interested in movies, not to mention asian movies, and the film just stuck in my subconciousness. I got to see it again about a year ago and had all but forgotten I had even seen it, was a great feeling when I began watching and thought "wait a second, this feels oddly familiar..." - a very nice film, as is Warm water under a red bridge. Unfortunately those two are the only Imamura films I've seen.
Need to pay respects to the man and see some more of his films.

Warm water under a red bridge was such a sprightly and quaint film that I kept on hoping Imamura Shohei would do something else. No such luck ; and it's a pity. Imamura always had an eye for the odd and all his films seem to relish in uneveness — a rare talent in our glossy Harry Potterish era.

Shitty news...

One of my favourite Japanese directors of all time: Vengeance is mine (the best serial killer movie ever), The pornographers, Eijanaika, Ballad of Narayama, Black rain, Kanzo sensei, The eel, Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, and a few earlier movies I haven't seen because no DVDs or no VHSs...).

Huge loss for Japanese cinema? Yes, but most of all, huge loss for the cinema of the entire world!

RIP, Shohei Imamura!

I can't begin to tell how sad I got when I heard these news. Imamamura is my favorite Japanese director. I urge everyone too watch his movies, wether they like japanese movies or not. Few directors have depicted human flaws like him, watch The Eel and Black Rain and see for youself.

R.I.P. Imamura, Shohei

This is heart-rending news. I owe my entire interest in Japanese cinema to Imamura. If I hadnt turned up by chance in the late 80s to a double bill of Koji Wakamatsu's Violated Angels and Imamura's Ballad of Narayama...
Imamura was a fascinating, idiosyncratic and highly influential filmmaker, and I really advise you to check out as much of his work as you can. It is truly wonderful. Vengeance is Mine is a great place to start, and Black Rain is quite devastating. There's just too little of his films available in the West unfortunately.
He will be sorely missed.