Directed by Masahiro Shinoda
19 Episodes
Of all the rebellious talents to emerge from the Japanese New Wave, Masahiro Shinoda (1931–2025) may have been the most versatile and elusive. From his early contributions to the New Wave’s counterculture eruption (YOUTH IN FURY) and his brooding breakout thriller PALE FLOWER to his subsequent period dramas (ASSASSIN, SILENCE), Shinoda pushed a variety of genres to their limits through the sheer boldness of his painterly, exquisite style. Drawing on his training in theater, Shinoda grew more experimental as his career went on, adapting Japanese stage traditions to the screen in masterpieces that incorporated elements of Kabuki (DEMON POND) and Bunraku puppetry (DOUBLE SUICIDE). Balancing a distanced, aestheticized approach to storytelling with deep sympathy for outsiders and the oppressed, Shinoda left behind one of the most beguiling bodies of work in all of Japanese cinema.
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2:04:38Episode 1Demon Pond
Episode 1
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1979 • Japan
Starring Tamasaburo Bando, Go Kato, Tsutomu YamazakiJapanese New Wave renegade Masahiro Shinoda transforms a classic Kabuki tale with his own extravagant visual style in this dimension-shattering folk-horror fantasia. When a lone traveler (Tsutomu Yam...
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Assassin
Episode 2
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1964 • Japan
Masahiro Shinoda's Assassin (aka Ansatsu) was the director's first period film - but it is hardly set in the "safety" of a past era, as its story, of a masterless samurai (Tetsuro Tamba) making his way amid the chaotic aftermath of Commodore Perry's fo...
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1:36:17Episode 3Pale Flower
Episode 3
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1964 • Japan
Starring Ryo Ikebe, Mariko KagaIn this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a yakuza, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful and enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him f...
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1:27:48Episode 4Youth in Fury
Episode 4
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1960 • Japan
An alienated young man flirts with extremism during a major student protest. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:43:45Episode 5Double Suicide
Episode 5
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1969 • Japan
Starring Kichiemon Nakamura, Shima Iwashita, Hosei KomatsuMany films have drawn from classic Japanese theatrical forms, but none with such shocking cinematic effect as director Masahiro Shinoda’s DOUBLE SUICIDE. In this striking adaptation of a Bunrak...
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Silence
Episode 6
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1971 • Japan
Starring David Lampson, Don Kenny, Tetsuro TanbaTwo Portuguese priests go to Japan to help Christian sects, driven underground by a ruthless magistracy, to regain a foothold. Quickly drawn into a mire of persecution, the missionaries learn the fat...
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1:32:14Episode 7A Flame at the Pier
Episode 7
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1962 • Japan
A young dockworker who owes his life to his boss becomes embroiled in union activity. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:58:29Episode 8Ballad of Orin
Episode 8
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1977 • Japan
A blind travelling musician is abused and oppressed wherever she goes, even as the modern world imposes change around her. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:57:48Episode 9The Petrified Forest
Episode 9
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1973 • Japan
The Petrified Forest, based on a best-selling novel by Shintaro Ishihara, follows a young med student's relationships with two women: a dangerous affair with a childhood friend and his mother's struggle to rebuild their estranged relationship. Masahiro...
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1:57:30Episode 11Moonlight Serenade
Episode 11
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1997 • Japan
After the 1995 Kobe earthquake, a writer remembers travelling with his family to bury his brother after World War II. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:40:01Episode 12Samurai Spy
Episode 12
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1965 • Japan
Starring Koji Takahashi, Eiji Okada, Tetsuro TanbaYears of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from t...
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1:35:23Episode 13Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees
Episode 13
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1975 • Japan
A mountain man beheads his many wives to prove his love to an alluring woman he meets in an enchanted forest. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:43:58Episode 14With Beauty and Sorrow
Episode 14
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1965 • Japan
When the man who seduced the famous painter Otoko as a teenager--and then wrote a bestselling novel about it--reappears in her life, her pupil--and lesbian lover--hatches a plot to destroy the man and his family.
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2:06:44Episode 15Gonza the Spearman
Episode 15
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1986 • Japan
A lancer falls into disgrace when his social ambitions lead him to become engaged to two different women. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:06:43Episode 16Our Marriage
Episode 16
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1961 • Japan
When two sisters fall in love with the same man, one must decide to look elsewhere. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:22:21Episode 17Killers on Parade
Episode 17
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1961 • Japan
A team of hired killers target a young journalist--and only another killer can save her! Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:21:36Episode 18Love New and Old
Episode 18
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1961 • Japan
A woman brings her injured daughter to the hospital, only to realize that the doctor is the estranged father of her child. Directed by Masahiro Shinoda.
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1:22:23Episode 19One-Way Ticket to Love
Episode 19
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1960 • Japan
Masahiro Shinoda's debut film portrays the romantic lives of a group of young night club entertainers.
