Director Fukasaku Dies of Cancer (1 Viewer)

[Matthew Chmiel]

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030...ot001000c.html

Award-winning film director Kinji Fukasaku lost his battle with cancer Sunday at a Tokyo hospital. He was 72.
Fukasaku was directing a sequence of "Battle Royale," a controversial movie about a class of junior high school students kidnapped and thrown on a deserted island, where they are ordered to kill each other to determine who can survive, when he was hospitalized in December.
His films include the hit "Jingi naki tatakai (Battles Without Honour and Humanity)" yakuza story series, and the classic war movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
The 1982 "Kamata Koshinkyoku (Fall Guy)" swooped major domestic film awards. The shooting of "Battle Royale II" was continued under the direction of his movie producer son, Kenta, and will be released in the summer. (Mainichi Shimbun, Jan. 12, 2003)

This is a sad day as Kinji Fukasaku is one of the greatest Japanese directors of all time (next to Akira Kurosawa). And what makes this really weird is not only did I watch Battle Royale this morning, but the teaser to his last film, Battle Royale 2, was also released today.

 

[Tim RH]

This really sucks. A sad day for Japanese film lovers. He will be missed. :frowning: I just hope he completed the majority of BATTLE ROYALE 2 (and that it's as good or better than the first movie).

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Kenta, his son, took over the sequel when Kenji was put into the hospital a few weeks ago and the film is still a go for the summer 2003 release date.

 

[Justin_S]

This is truly a sad day! :frowning: BATTLE ROYALE is a favorite of mine, and he was obviously an extremely talented director. May he rest in peace, and I'm sure BATTLE ROYALE 2 will be wonderful.

 

[Jason Whyte]

Terrible news. Having only seen a fraction of his films (and count me in as another big "Battle Royale" fan), I could still clearly see the man's talent. A great loss.

Jason

 

[Kevin Leonard]

Another Royale fan here--it didn't occur to me that he directed the magnificent Tora! Tora! Tora! as well until I looked him up in the IMDb.
So far, the above-mentioned films are the only ones that are readily available to R1 audiences. Here's to hoping some company will start distributing his other works and treat them with the proper respect.

 

[Tim RH]

I would hardly call Battle Royale "readily available", though people who know where to look can find a Region 0 copy, fortunately.