Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan, restarted production in 1954 after WWII. To survive in Japan's brutally competitive film market, it launched a new genre called Nikkatsu Action. Nikkatsu Action defined cool for a generation and drawing inspiration from Hollywood and the French New Wave, it found salvation in Yujiro Ishihara, a hot new star who was Japan's Elvis Presley and James Dean Nikkatsu Action pictures blended East and West fantasies, showing the gritty reality of life in postwar Japan, from the hot jazz clubs and glam cabarets of the Ginza to the foggy loneliness - and danger - of the Yokohama docks at midnight. In the 1960s, Nikkatsu went Pop with a bang in films like Black Tights Killers, Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. • Packed with illustrations, including color posters and stills • History of the studio • Profiles of stars and directors • Film reviews • Career interviews with Joe Shishido, Toshio Masuda and Seijun Suzuki
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Born in Zanesville, Ohio in 1949, Mark Schilling arrived in Tokyo in 1975 and has lived there ever since. He has been reviewing Japanese films for The Japan Times since 1989 and reported on the Japanese film industry for Screen International, a British film trade magazine, from 1990 to 2005. He is currently Japan correspondent for Variety. His articles on Japanese culture and society have appeared in a wide range of publications, including The Asian Wall Street Journal, the Japan edition of Newsweek, USA Today, Interview, Winds, The Japan Quarterly and Kinema Junpo.
In 1997 Schilling published The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture and in 1999 Contemporary Japanese Film, both with Weatherhill. In 2003 he published The Yakuza Movie Book -- A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films with Stone Bridge Press.
He has contributed to several other books, including Japan Pop! (M.E. Sharpe, 2000), Ichikawa Kon (Cinematheque Ontario, 2001) and Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture (Routledge, 2002), as well as translating and writing the introduction for Princess Mononoke -- The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time (Hyperion, 1999).
In 2005 he programmed a 16-film retrospective devoted to the Nikkatsu Action genre for the Udine Far East Film Festival and published an accompanying book, No Borders, No Limits: The Wold of Nikkatsu Action with the festival organization, Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche. In 2006, he contributed to Asia Sings!, a book the Centro published as part of the Udine festival retro on Asian musicals. His latest book, No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema, was published FAB Press in September, 2007.
Schilling lives in Tokyo with his wife Yuko and his daughter Lisa. His son Ray is a graduate student at the University of Manchester.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black Tight Killers and Yakuza Graveyards,
This review is from: No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema (Cinema Classics) (Paperback)
At some time in the late 1950's, Japanese film got cool. Really cool. The Western influences of cowboy flicks, bop jazz and big American cars imported during the Post-occupation era left a powerful mark, and movie makers discovered how to distill all of these foreign ingredients into their base elements, then mix them together with Japanese style to produce a unique genre known as the "borderless action" film. The term comes from the merging of East and West, creating a world with the best of both, filled with hardboiled hoodlums and beautiful but deadly dance hall girls.
Looking to re-jump their business, which had been put on hold during the War years, Nikkatsu studios was the cutting edge of this new style, pumping out hits and rising stars the likes of which had never been seen before. Starting with Sun Tribe flick Crazed Fruit, which introduced superstar Ishihara Yujio, Nikkatsu dug into the amoral world of Japan's youth. Sex, drugs and jazz & roll. It wasn't the lifestyle everyone was leading, but it was the one everyone wanted to be leading. Mark Schilling's "No Borders, No Limits" is a history lesson on the Nikkatsu action films. An often underappreciated genre, these films rarely held the West's appreciation in the same way as the Samurai genre, probably due to their lack of "Japanese-ness" with nary a ninja nor geisha in sight. However, due largely to Tarantino bringing things full circle by producing Nikkatsu-influenced Kill Bill and the Grindhouse series, there has been a renewed and deserved interest in the Nikkatsu golden age. Understanding the relative unfamiliarity, Schilling has put together a guided tour through these borderless territories, introducing you to the major players, the actors and directors whose energy and youth made these dynamic flicks popular. Essentially a series of articles rather than a continuous book, Schilling introduces such powerhouses as the Nikkatsu Diamond Line, the four young men who could bring a nation of women to their knees with a well-placed swagger or snarl of the lip, and Suzuki Seijun, whose sometimes bizarre style would cause him to be fired by his own study, but become legendary overseas. On top of that, there are a few interviews, including the fabulous Shishido Joe (Youth of the Beast, Tokyo Drifter) and director Masuda Toshio (Girl Boss Revenge). It is great to read the personal stories and opinions of these film giants, and to get a glimpse backstage. Full color reproductions of the posters for the various films are and added treat as well, giving you a taste of the style and flair found in the Nikkatsu of this time. If there is any problem with "No Borders, No Limits", it is that DVD companies have not kept up. You are going to want to see pretty much every flick that gets showcased, but not all of them are readily available. Some of the famous ones, like Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, will wet your appetite but leave you hungry for gems like "A Colt is my Passport" and "Slaughter Gun". However with the current revival and recognition of Nikkatsu action flicks, these will be likely to be released soon.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First Rate!!!,
By
This review is from: No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema (Cinema Classics) (Paperback)
Kudos and accolades are in order for Mr. Schilling's herculean efforts in helping to spread the word regarding the wonderful world of Nikkatsu Action Cinema to English-speaking movie buffs!
This book is an absolutely marvelous introduction to a sadly overlooked body of brilliant, vibrant films that are every bit as exciting and entertaining today as they were in Nikkatsu studio's glory days of the 1950's and 1960's. The text is as crisp and clean as one of Ishihara Yujiro's suits and reads as smoothly as ace killer, Shishido Jo, can dispatch a contract. And if that isn't reason enough to snag a copy of this book ASAP-- the many photo illustrations are more than worth the price of admission. Excellent stuff! Arigato gozaimasu, Mark Schilling-san!!
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