Author Spotlight

Audie Bock

Audie Bock is the author of Japanese Film Directors and Mikio Naruse: A Master of the Japanese Cinema, as well as the translator of Akira Kurosawa’s memoir, Something Like an Autobiography. She has taught Japanese cinema at colleges and universities around the United States and at the film school in Kawasaki, Japan, founded by Shohei Imamura. She currently lives in Alameda County, California.

5 Results
The Makioka Sisters: Of Love and Money
Bringing Junichiro Tanizaki’s sprawling, elegiac histor­ical novel The Makioka Sisters (1948) to the screen would seem an undertaking tailor-made for Kon Ichikawa. The renowned writer’s work was familiar territory for the veteran director, who…

By Audie Bock

Pigs and Battleships: Feeding Frenzy
The title alone screams incongruity. Shohei Imamura’s 1961 black-and-white caper movie Pigs and Battleships bursts with the confusion and exuberance of a cross-cultural encounter. In its lively portrayal of enthusiastic Japanese locals welcoming th…

By Audie Bock

Twenty-Four Eyes: Growing Pains

One of the most awarded films in Japanese history, Keisuke Kinoshita’s nostalgia piece unfolds a celebration of family values and scenic beauty.

By Audie Bock

Woman in the Dunes: Shifting Sands

Set almost entirely in a single house, Hiroshi Teshigahara’s eloquent collaboration with writer Kobo Abe shows both his powerful staging and his love of fine, almost microscopic, detail.

By Audie Bock

The Burmese Harp

In beautifully composed black-and-white and tempered by a gentle and nostalgic choral score, Kon Ichikawa's drama probes deeply into the moral chaos of war.

By Audie Bock