Kōji Wakamatsu

His 2010 film, Caterpillar, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.

• Name — Kōji Wakamatsu • Birth Name — Takashi Ito • Born — 1 April 1936 • Birthplace — Wakuya, Miyagi, Empire of Japan • Died — 17 October 2012 • Place of death — Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan • Occupation — Film director, producer and screenwriter • Years Active — 1963–2012 • Movement — Pinku eiga

Kōji Wakamatsu was born in Wakuya, Miyagi, Japan on 1 April 1936, into a poor family of rice farmers. Wakamatsu worked in several menial jobs, namely as a construction worker, before becoming a yakuza, as "a member of the Yasuda-gumi clan in the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo". After his criminal experience, he began working in television until he was promptly fired after getting into an argument with a TV director. Subsequently, he debuted as a director with the Tokyo Kikaku produced pink film, Sweet Trap (Amai wana, 1963), towards which he contributed 150 million yen of his own money to the budget.

From 1963 to 1965, he directed 20 exploitation films for the studio, based on sensational topics of the day. He became interested in forming his own Pink Film company after the success of Tetsuji Takechi's 1964 Daydream. Nikkatsu submitted his Skeleton in the Closet (also known as Secrets Behind the Wall) (1965) to the 15th Berlin International Film Festival while the film was still under review by Eirin, the Japanese film-rating board. This submission before passing Eirin's review was doubly embarrassing for the government since pink films, though already emerging as the dominant domestic cinematic genre, were not regarded as worthy of critical attention or international export. The film received an enthusiastic reception at the festival, but Nikkatsu, fearful of governmental retaliatory action, gave it a low-profile domestic release. Disappointed, Wakamatsu quit the studio to form his own company. Wakamatsu's independent films of the late 1960s were very low-budget, but often artistically done works, usually concerned with sex and extreme violence mixed with political messages. Some critics have suggested that these films were an intentional provocation to the government, in order to generate free publicity resulting from censorship controversies. His films were usually produced for less than 1,000,000 yen (about $5,000), necessitating extreme cost-cutting measures including location shooting, single-takes, and natural lighting. His early films were usually in black and white with occasional bursts of color for theatrical effect. His first self-produced film was The Embryo Hunts In Secret, a story of a man who kidnaps, tortures and sexually abuses a woman until she finally escapes and stabs him to death. Freeze-frames, flash-backs, hand-held camera and locations limited to two rooms and a hallway add to the film's disturbing, claustrophobic atmosphere. Vagabond of Sex was a parody of Imamura's A Man Vanishes (1967). In Wakamatsu's film, a man leaves his family in Tokyo to travel and engage in various sexual escapades. When he returns home he finds out that his wife is starring in Imamura's documentary about her search for her missing husband. Violated Angels was based on the murder of eight nursing students in the U.S. by Richard Speck. Dark Story of a Japanese Rapist was based on a serial rapist case in Japan after World War II. Go, Go Second Time Virgin is loosely based on the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family in the same year. With Sex Jack, he tried "to show how the revolutionary movements are always infiltrated by the moles working for the government". One of his most critically esteemed films is Sacred Mother Kannon, which has been called a "'text book example' for the use of metaphor and symbolism in contemporary cinema." United Red Army was based on the "Asama-Sansō incident". Long and harsh, this movie includes a long documentary part about the political background that led to this tragedy and the self-destruction of the Japanese radical left. While directing many successful and critically praised Pink Films, Wakamatsu also became known for giving young filmmakers their first experience in working in the industry. Among those whose early careers were helped by Wakamatsu are Banmei Takahashi, Genji Nakamura and Kan Mukai. His 2010 film, Caterpillar, competed for the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2011, a new film on the last days of acclaimed novelist and political activist Yukio Mishima, focusing on the stream of events leading to the so-called Ichigaya incident of November 25, 1970, was announced as being on its stage of full completion. The film entitled 11.25 Jiketsu No Hi, Mishima Yukio To Wakamonotachi [11.25自決の日、三島由紀夫と若者たち] features Japanese actor Arata as Mishima. The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

Wakamatsu died on 17 October 2012. He walked across a street, and was knocked over by a taxi in Tokyo on 12 October on his way home, after a budget meeting to discuss his next project, a movie about the Japanese nuclear lobby and Tepco.

• English title — Japanese — Year • Sweet Trap — 1963 • Naked Shadow — 1964 • Lead Tombstone — 1964 • Frenzy — 1964 • Secrets Behind the Wall — 1965 • The Embryo Hunts in Secret — 1966 • Vagabond of Sex — 1967 • Violated Angels — 1967 • New Underground History of Japanese Violence: Vengeance Demon — 1968 • Go, Go, Second Time Virgin — 1969 • Dark Story of a Japanese Rapist — 1969 • Running In Madness, Dying In Love — 1969 • Naked Bullet — or — 1969 • Violence Without A Cause — 1969 • Violent Virgin — 1969 • Season of Terror — 1969 • Shinjuku Mad — 1970 • Sex Jack — 1970 • Sekigun PFLP: Declaration of World War — 赤軍-PLFP 世界戦争宣言 — 1971 • Secret Flower — 1971 • Ecstasy of the Angels — 1972 • 100 Years of Torture: The History — 1975 • Torture Chronicles Continue: 100 Years — 1977 • Sacred Mother Kannon — 1977 • Serial Rapist — 1978 • A Pool Without Water — 1982 • Ready to Shoot — 1990 • Erotic Liaisons — 1992 • Singapore Sling — 1993 • Endless Waltz — 1995 • Perfect Education 6 — 2004 • United Red Army — 2008 • Caterpillar — 2010 • 11.25 The Day He Chose His Own Fate — 2012 • Petrel Hotel Blue — 2012 • The Millennial Rapture — 2012