Shigehiko Hasumi

He is known as one of the most prolific Japanese reviewers of modern literature and film. Since the 1980s, Hasumi has been active in introducing the French New Wave filmmakers' thought and Hollywood B-films. His method of viewing and writing about film, inspired by the 1950s French film criticism appearing in Cahiers du Cinéma, played a major role in Japanese film culture in the late 20th century. His influential work includes Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1983). Reflecting on Hasumi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa noted, "The international recognition of Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse would never have been achieved without Hasumi. Even the popularity of Clint Eastwood and Wim Wenders in Japan owes much to his influence. They had one son, Shigeomi Hasumi. In 1970, the French Broadcasting and Television Office interviewed him, his wife and his son in French in Tokyo for 20 minutes. Hasumi curated a film series entitled Shiguéhiko Hasumi: Another History of the Movie in America and Japan for Japan Society in 2025, including works by Richard Fleischer, Michael Mann and Makoto Sato. Director Sho Miyake attended, presenting his collaboration with Hasumi—the montage film John Ford and Throwing.

Shigehiko Hasumi studied at University of Tokyo. The recorded working language is Japanese. Employment is recorded with University of Tokyo, Rikkyo University and Cahiers du cinéma. Positions recorded include rector. Distinctions recorded are Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, Yukio Mishima Prize and honorary doctor of Paris 8 University.

• Name — Shigehiko Hasumi • Born — 29 April 1936 • Birthplace — Tokyo, Japan • Occupation — Film critic • Language — Japanese, French, English • Education — University of Tokyo • Period — 1974-present • Spouse — Chantal Van Melkebeke • Children — Shigeomi Hasumi • Website — http: www.mube.jp

Shigehiko Hasumi was born in Tokyo in 1936 as the son of Shigeyasu Hasumi, an art historian known for his study on Japanese traditional art of Sesshu Toyo. He studied at the University of Tokyo and later the University of Paris, where he specialized in Gustave Flaubert and actively translated French post-structuralist texts into Japanese. As a French literature scholar, his main works include *Portrait of a mediocre artist: Maxime du Camp (Bonyō na Geijutsuka no Shōzō)(1988) and *A Study of Madame Bovary (Bovary Fujin-ron) (2014). His introductory works of contemporary French philosophy include: *Criticism, or the Celebration of Temporal Death (Hihyō Aruiwa Kashi no Saiten) (1974) and Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida (1978). What made Hasumi widely popular in Japan is his vast amount of literary and film criticism outside of academia. In his literary criticism, he published his views on Soseki Natsume, Kenzaburo Oe, and other Japanese contemporary novelists. As a film critic, Hasumi used the way of viewing the details of films of Cahiers du Cinéma and re-evaluated Hollywood films, directed by such auteurs as Howard Hawks, John Ford, Don Siegel, Nicholas Ray, Richard Fleischer and other directors. Since traditional Japanese film criticism heavily focused on the viewers' impression and meaning of the narrative, Hasumi's new film writings of the screen detail shocked the Japanese film culture in the 1980s, and created many followers. His Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1986) is known as a landmark of his film criticism, and believed as one of the most influential work in film writings in the late 20th century Japan. Hasumi is known for his wide network among the international filmmakers, including Wim Wenders or Daniel Schmid. He presided over the committee of the Lion of the Year competition in the Venice Film Festival (2001). Hasumi's film lectures in his early days in Tokyo attracted young Japanese filmmakers, such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Masayuki Suo, and Shinji Aoyama. Hasumi is also known as a novelist and published two fictional work: *A Collapsed Land (Kanbotsu Chitai)(1986) and *A Countess (Hakushaku Fujin).(2016). His wife Chantal Van Melkebeke is a teacher from Belgium.

His personal name has been spelt variously as Shigehiko, the standard Hepburn romanization, Shiguehiko and Shiguéhiko on his publications. For example, his biography of Yasujirō Ozu features the name Shiguéhiko on both the original Japanese and the French translation, whereas many translations of his books feature the form Shigehiko.