Masahiro Shinoda (篠田 正浩, Shinoda Masahiro, born March 9, 1931) is a Japanese retired film director who had a filmmaking career that spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio from 1960 to 1965, before turning to independent cinema from 1966 onward. His film style was characterized by socially marginalized characters, many of whom turn to crime or suicide, and meticulous attention to pictorial beauty. He drew on traditional Japanese fiction and theater and some of his films bear the influence of Kenji Mizoguchi, whom he admired.
He joined the Shōchiku Studio in 1953 as an assistant director,[2] where he worked on films by such directors as Yasujirō Ozu.[3] He debuted as a director in 1960 with One-Way Ticket for Love, which he also scripted.[2]
His focus on youth and the cultural and political turmoil of 1960s Japan made him a central figure in the ShōchikuNew Wave alongside Nagisa Ōshima and Yoshishige Yoshida. He worked in a variety of genres, from the yakuza film (Pale Flower) to the samurai film (Assassination), but he particularly became known for his focus on socially marginal characters and for an interest in traditional Japanese theater, which found its greatest expression in Double Suicide, in which actors are manipulated like Bunraku puppets.[4] He also was interested in sports, directing a documentary on the 1972 Winter Olympics.[4] Also known for his collaborations with such artists as Shūji Terayama and Tōru Takemitsu, Shinoda left Shōchiku in 1965 to form his own production company, Hyōgensha.[4]
Masahiro Shinoda's first marriage was with Kazuko Shiraishi, both had a daughter.[8]
In 1967 he married the actress Shima Iwashita, who appears in several of his films.[2] He retired from directing after the release of Spy Sorge in 2003, a biopic on the life of Richard Sorge.
