
Directing
Born August 25, 1924 · Kōfu, Yamanashi, Japan
Yasuzo Masumura (増村 保造 Masumura Yasuzō, August 25, 1924 - November 23, 1986) was a Japanese film director. Masumura was born in Kōfu on Honshū. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei studio, later returning to university to study philosophy; he graduated in 1949. He then won a scholarship allowing him to study film in Italy at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia under Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. Masumura returned to Japan in 1953 and from 1955 worked as a second-unit director on films directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa, before directing his own first film, Kisses, in 1957. Over the next three decades he directed around 60 films in a variety of genres. His work is noted for his dark satire and fluid style. Notable films include Red Angel, Black Test Car, Giants and Toys, Blind Beast and Hoodlum Soldier.

Lullaby of Death
1982

The Garden of Eden
1980
The primary colored butterfly was watching - the smell of death
1978

Double Suicide of Sonezaki
1978

Lullaby of the Earth
1976

Main Line to Terror
1975

Akumyo: Notorious Dragon
1974

Hanzo the Razor: The Snare
1973

Music
1972

New Hoodlum Soldier Story: Firing Line
1972

Games
1971

The Hot Little Girl
1970

An Ode to Yakuza
1970

Play It Cool
1970

Vixen
1969

Thousand Cranes
1969

Blind Beast
1969

One Day at Summer's End
1968

The House of Wooden Blocks
1968

The Sex Check
1968

The Great Villains
1968

The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
1967

Love for an Idiot
1967

Two Wives
1967

Red Angel
1966

The School of Spies
1966

Irezumi
1966

Seisaku's Wife
1965

Hoodlum Soldier
1965

Superexpress
1964

Manji
1964

Love and Greed
1964

Fools at Work
1964

Sentimental Mobsters
1963

When Women Lie
1963

Black Report
1963

A Woman's Life
1962

Black Test Car
1962

Stolen Pleasure
1962

The Burdened Sisters
1961

A Wife Confesses
1961

A Lustful Man
1961

Love and Life
1961

The False Student
1960

The Woman Who Touched Legs
1960

Afraid to Die
1960

A Woman's Testament
1960

Across the Darkness
1959

Beauty the Enemy
1959

The Cast-Off
1959

The Most Valuable Wife
1959

Disobedience
1958

The Lowest Man
1958

Giants and Toys
1958

The Precipice
1958

Warm Current
1957

The Blue Sky Maiden
1957

Kisses
1957