Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Shun’ya Itō is a Director and Scriptwriter Japonais born on 17 february 1937

Shun’ya Itō

Shun’ya Itō
If you like this person, let us know!
Nationality Japon
Birth 17 february 1937 (87 years)

Shunya Itō (伊藤 俊也, Itō Shun'ya, born February 17, 1937) is a Japanese film director famed for starting the Sasori (Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, etc.) series of 1970s exploitation films starring Meiko Kaji. Itō worked for Toei Company for most of his career. He won a Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Citation for his first film, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, in 1972.

He won Best Picture at the Japanese Academy Awards in 1985 with his film Gray Sunset, a story of a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This thus became Japan's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film instead of Akira Kurosawa's Ran, which caused a slight uproar in Western media as many critics thought Ran had a real chance of winning whereas Gray Sunset was not even shortlisted. (Galbraith)

In 1995 he directed Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus. In 1998 he directed the World War II drama Pride: The Fateful Moment presenting a humane view of Hideki Tōjō on trial at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

Biography

Il est réputé pour avoir débuté dans les années 70 la série Sasori de films d'exploitation interprétés par l'actrice Meiko Kaji (La Femme scorpion, Elle s'appelait scorpion, La Tanière de la bête), adaptés pour le cinéma à partir d'un manga de Tōru Shinohara. Itō travaille pour la Tōei pendant la plus grande partie de sa carrière.

Il remporte le prix du meilleur film aux Japan Academy Prize de 1985 avec Sombre crépuscule, histoire d'un homme atteint par la maladie d'Alzheimer. Ce film est donc proposé pour représenter le Japon à l'Oscar du meilleur film en langue étrangère plutôt de Ran (1985) d’Akira Kurosawa, à la grande colère des médias occidentaux qui estiment Ran être en meilleure position pour remporter le prix. La candidature de Sombre crépuscule n’est finalement pas retenue (Galbraith).

Ses films les plus récents sont l’anime de 1995 Adieu, Nostradamus ! de la série des Lupin III et Pride: The Fateful Moment (1998). Le drame, qui se déroule au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, présente Hideki Tōjō sous un aspect plus humain lors de son procès au Tribunal militaire international pour l'Extrême-Orient.

Usually with

Meiko Kaji
Meiko Kaji
(3 films)
Shinzo Hotta
Shinzo Hotta
(2 films)
Hideo Murota
Hideo Murota
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Shun’ya Itō (8 films)

Display filmography as list

Director

Pride
Pride (1998)
, 2h41
Directed by Shun’ya Itō, Matthew Warchus
Genres Drama, War, Historical
Themes Political films
Actors Masahiko Tsugawa (津川 雅彦), Ayumi Ishida, Scott Wilson, Ronny Cox, Suresh Oberoi, Anupam Kher
Rating58% 2.912792.912792.912792.912792.91279
In 1941, Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo orders an attack on the United States, drawing that country into World War II. Four years later, Japan surrenders, and a victorious United States and its allies begin to try Tojo and other members of the Japanese government for war crimes.
Lupin the Third: Farewell to Nostradamus, 1h40
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Crime, Animation
Themes Feminist films, Political films
Actors Kan'ichi Kurita, Laura Bailey, Brice Armstrong, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Bruno Magne, Makio Inoue
Rating68% 3.4349653.4349653.4349653.4349653.434965
A simple diamond heist leads Lupin into the machinations of a bizarre cult. The cult is based around the prophecies of Nostradamus, and they kidnap Julia, the daughter of Douglas, a wealthy American who is seeking the presidency, along with Lupin's diamond. At stake is the lost book of prophecy Douglas holds in the vault at the top of his skyscraper.
Gray Sunset, 2h2
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama
Actors Minoru Chiaki, Yukiyo Toake, Teruhiko Saigō, Ittoku Kishibe, Haruko Katō, Shigeru Kōyama
Rating62% 3.1421653.1421653.1421653.1421653.142165
L'histoire d'un homme atteint par la maladie d'Alzheimer.
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable, 1h27
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Films about sexuality, Transport films, Erotic films, Sexploitation films, Women in prison films
Actors Meiko Kaji, Mikio Narita, Yayoi Watanabe, Koji Nanbara
Rating69% 3.4935053.4935053.4935053.4935053.493505
Sasori is outside the prison and on the run from the police, wanted for breaking out of prison and murder. On her trail is detective Kondo (Mikio Narita). She takes refuge with a woman who has a brother with a learning disability. The woman and her brother are also involved in an incestuous relationship. Both the police and an ex-prison mate of Sasori's pursue her.
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, 1h30
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Films about sexuality, Transport films, Erotic films, Sexploitation films, Women in prison films
Actors Meiko Kaji, Kayoko Shiraishi, Hideo Murota, Shinzo Hotta, Nenji Kobayashi
Rating70% 3.548283.548283.548283.548283.54828
Nami Matsushima is locked up and bound in underground solitary confinement. She makes a weapon out of a spoon by holding it in her mouth and grinding it against the concrete floor. The chief warden, Goda, is to be promoted to a higher post shortly. When an inspector visits the prison, Matsushima is brought out of confinement for one day. During the inspection, Matsushima makes a surprise attack on Goda and scratches his face. The other prisoners start to riot, but the guards defuse the situation. The prisoners are punished by being sent to an intensive labour camp. Goda believes that Matsushima may inspire the other prisoners to revolt. He assigns four guards to publicly rape her. Returning from the intensive labour camp, Matsushima is in a van with six other convicts, one of whom is Oba (Kayoko Shiraishi). The other convicts beat Matsushima, who falls lifeless and bleeding. The guards are alerted that Matsushima is feared dead. When they stop the van to inspect her, Matsushima strangles and kills one of the guards, and Oba and the other convicts get the other guard and blow up the van. When Goda sees the van's ruins, he sends search parties to look for Matsushima.
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, 1h27
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime, Erotic thriller
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Films about sexuality, Transport films, Rape in fiction, Erotic films, Sexploitation films, Rape and revenge films, Women in prison films, Erotic thriller films, Auto-justice, LGBT-related film, Lesbian-related films
Actors Meiko Kaji, Isao Natsuyagi, Yayoi Watanabe, Yōko Mihara, Hideo Murota, Akemi Negishi
Rating71% 3.5950753.5950753.5950753.5950753.595075
Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji) is set up by her boyfriend, a crooked police detective named Sugimi (Isao Natsuyagi) to win favor with the Yakuza. She is raped by several drug dealers. She makes a failed attempt to stab Sugimi on the steps of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters. She is sentenced to do hard time in a women's prison. Matsushima is given the number 701. The prison is run by sadistic and lecherous male guards. The prisoners are forced to walk up and down a stair-like contraption naked with male guards watching from below. While in prison she meets inmates like Yuki Kida (Yayoi Watanabe) who was committed for fraud and theft, Otsuka (Akemi Negishi), jailed for burglary and extortion, and Katagiri (Rie Yokoyama) who has been impounded for arson and illegally disposing of a body. On the outside, Sugimi and the Japanese mafia orchestrate a plan in which Matsushima will succumb to an "accidental" death in prison. They enlist the help of Katagiri, pulling on her ties to both Sugimi and the mafia, and quickly set their plan in motion.

Scriptwriter

Lupin the Third: Farewell to Nostradamus, 1h40
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Comedy, Action, Adventure, Crime, Animation
Themes Feminist films, Political films
Actors Kan'ichi Kurita, Laura Bailey, Brice Armstrong, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Bruno Magne, Makio Inoue
Rating68% 3.4349653.4349653.4349653.4349653.434965
A simple diamond heist leads Lupin into the machinations of a bizarre cult. The cult is based around the prophecies of Nostradamus, and they kidnap Julia, the daughter of Douglas, a wealthy American who is seeking the presidency, along with Lupin's diamond. At stake is the lost book of prophecy Douglas holds in the vault at the top of his skyscraper.
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, 1h30
Directed by Shun’ya Itō
Origin Japon
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Prison films, Films about sexuality, Transport films, Erotic films, Sexploitation films, Women in prison films
Actors Meiko Kaji, Kayoko Shiraishi, Hideo Murota, Shinzo Hotta, Nenji Kobayashi
Roles Ecrivain
Rating70% 3.548283.548283.548283.548283.54828
Nami Matsushima is locked up and bound in underground solitary confinement. She makes a weapon out of a spoon by holding it in her mouth and grinding it against the concrete floor. The chief warden, Goda, is to be promoted to a higher post shortly. When an inspector visits the prison, Matsushima is brought out of confinement for one day. During the inspection, Matsushima makes a surprise attack on Goda and scratches his face. The other prisoners start to riot, but the guards defuse the situation. The prisoners are punished by being sent to an intensive labour camp. Goda believes that Matsushima may inspire the other prisoners to revolt. He assigns four guards to publicly rape her. Returning from the intensive labour camp, Matsushima is in a van with six other convicts, one of whom is Oba (Kayoko Shiraishi). The other convicts beat Matsushima, who falls lifeless and bleeding. The guards are alerted that Matsushima is feared dead. When they stop the van to inspect her, Matsushima strangles and kills one of the guards, and Oba and the other convicts get the other guard and blow up the van. When Goda sees the van's ruins, he sends search parties to look for Matsushima.