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Tai Kato

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Tai Kato
Kato in 1962
Born
Yasumichi Katō

(1916-08-24)August 24, 1916
Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
DiedJune 17, 1985(1985-06-17) (aged 68)
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1941–1981[1]

Tai Kato (Japanese: 加藤 泰, Hepburn: Katō Tai, August 24, 1916 – June 17, 1985) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He was best known for making yakuza films at Toei Company in the 1960s.[2]

Biography

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Tai Kato was born in Kobe, Japan on August 24, 1916.[3] His father was an importer and his mother was the sister of film director Sadao Yamanaka.[3][4] When his father's business went bankrupt, Kato was sent to live with his grandparents in Nagoya at the age of five. In middle school, he became interested in film, particularly period dramas by Daisuke Itō. He dropped out of school in his second year, and worked at a trading house in Kyoto before receiving an invitation from his uncle to move to Tokyo. Kato joined Toho studio and became an assistant director to Mikio Naruse on The Whole Family Works (1939) and other films.[3] He switched studios to Riken Kagaku Eiga in 1941, and then to Manchukuo Film Association in Manchukuo in 1944. Both companies primarily worked in documentaries.[3][5] Kato was drafted into military service; however, this happened one week before World War II ended.[3]

After the war, Kato returned to Japan in 1946 and joined Daiei Film, where he got to work as an assistant director to Itō on 1948's Ōshō and to Akira Kurosawa on his 1950 film Rashomon.[3][4] However, as chief secretary of the company's union, Kato was labelled a communist and fired as part of the Red Purge. Kato made his directorial debut with the two-part Troubles with Swords and Women, a 1951 co-production between Shin Toho and Takara Productions. He joined Toei Company in 1956, and directed Ronin in Love the following year. For 1958's Wind, Women, and Hobo, Kato had the actors appear without makeup and employed live sound. His notable films of the period include; Throne of Flame (1960), a Japanese version of Hamlet; the musical Brave Records of the Sanada Clan (1963); and Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza (1966), a remake of a 1929 Kichiro Tsuji film.[3]

In 1965, Kato followed the Toei shift into ninkyo eiga with Blood of Revenge. The following year saw his first of three post-war gang films with Noboru Ando, By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him (1966). Ando would later cite the films he made with Kato as his favorites. 1969's Red Peony Gambler 3: The Flower Cards Game is the first of three entries that Kato directed for the Red Peony Gambler series starring Junko Fuji. After moving to Shochiku, he directed Theater of Life (1972), Blossom and Sword (1973) and Musashi Miyamoto: Sword of Fury (1973), all of which are remakes. Mark Schilling cited 1981's Flames of Blood as one of the director's late-career triumphs.[3]

Tai Kato died from liver failure on June 17, 1985, at the age of 68. His last film, Ondekoza, a documentary on the Ondekoza drum troupe, was made in 1981, but not released until 1994.[3]

Style and influences

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Schilling wrote that Kato often employed low camera angles due to being an admirer of Yasujirō Ozu. Contrary to standard practice of the time, Kato used tight shots and quick cuts in his action scenes. Although this reduces the attacking actor to a "swirling mass", Schilling said it brings the viewer into the heart of the action.[3] Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times noted that Kato has been compared with Budd Boetticher and Samuel Fuller.[6] Paul Schrader compared Kato's Theater of Life (1972) to Sergio Leone's best work.[3]

Filmography as director

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  • Submarine (1941)[1] - documentary under the pseudonym "Yoshio Nishio"[7]
  • Bubble (1943) - documentary under the pseudonym "Yoshio Nishio"[7]
  • Lice Are Scary (1944) - documentary under a pseudonym
  • Military Academy (1944) - documentary under a pseudonym
  • Troubles with Swords and Women, Part 1: Change of a Woman's Heart (1951)
  • Troubles with Swords and Women, Part 2: The Blade Reflecting the Light of a Fallen Star (1951)
  • Shimizu Port is Scarier Than a Demon (1952)
  • Book of Birds (1952)
  • Ninjutsu Jiraiya, Part 1 (1955)
  • Ninjutsu Jiraiya, Part 2 (1955)
  • Ronin in Love (1957)
  • Tales of Young Genji Kuro, Part 1 (1957)
  • The Tattooed Lord (1958)
  • Tales of Young Genji Kuro, Part 2 (1958)
  • Wind, Women, and Hobo (1958)
  • Eight Views of Samurai (1958)
  • Genghis Khan and His Mongols (1959)
  • Gallant Youth of Edo (1960)
  • Throne of Flame (1960)
  • Asagiri Highway (1961)
  • The Tale of Oiwa's Ghost (1961)
  • In Search of Mother (1962)
  • Sazen Tange: The Masterpiece Blade (1962)
  • Brave Records of the Sanada Clan (1963)
  • Warrior of the Wind (1964)
  • Fighting Tatsu, the Rickshaw Man (1964)
  • Cruel Story of the Shogunate's Downfall (1964)
  • Blood of Revenge (1965)
  • Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza (1966)
  • Drained to the Bone (1966)
  • By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him (1966)
  • Opium Hills: The Hell Squad (1966)
  • Eighteen Years in Prison (1967)
  • I, the Executioner (1968)
  • Red Peony Gambler 3: The Flower Cards Game (1969)
  • Red Peony Gambler 6: Red Peony Gambles Her Life (1970)
  • Red Peony Gambler 7: Death to the Wicked (1971)
  • Modern Lady Gambler (1972)
  • Theater of Life (1972)
  • Flower and Dragon (1973)
  • Musashi Miyamoto: Sword of Fury (1973)
  • Blossom and Sword (1973)
  • The Beast in the Shadows (1977)
  • Flames of Blood (1981)
  • Ondekoza (1994) - documentary

References

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  1. ^ a b Mes, Tom (January 29, 2024). Tai Kato: By a Man's Style Shall You Know Him. Radiance Films. pp. 56–60.
  2. ^ Sharp, Jasper (January 18, 2008). "Midnight Eye review: By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him". Midnight Eye.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Schilling, Mark (2003). The Yakuza Movie Book : A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films. Stone Bridge Press. pp. 70–73. ISBN 1-880656-76-0.
  4. ^ a b Yoshimoto, Mitsuhiro (2000). Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Duke University Press. p. 188.
  5. ^ "Katō Tai". Nihon jinmei daijiten (in Japanese). Kōdansha. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
  6. ^ Thomas, Kevin (May 22, 1998). "Remembering Masterful Director Tai Kato". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ a b Mes, Tom (January 29, 2024). Tai Kato: By a Man's Style Shall You Know Him. Radiance Films. p. 16.
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