A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors (Paperback)

A comprehensive volume on major directors in the history of Japanese film.

This important work fills the need for a reasonably priced yet comprehensive volume on major directors in the history of Japanese film. With clear insight and without academic jargon, Jacoby examines the works of over 150 filmmakers to uncover what makes their films worth watching.

Included are artistic profiles of everyone from Yutaka Abe to Isao Yukisada, including masters like Kinji Fukasaku, Juzo Itami, Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Miike, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Yoji Yamada. Each entry includes a critical summary and filmography, making this book an essential reference and guide.

UK-based Alexander Jacoby is a writer and researcher on Japanese film.

Alexander Jacoby is a freelance writer and film critic. He took his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English Literature at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, before moving to Kamakura, Japan, where he lived from 2002 to 2005, teaching English at a private language school based in and around the Tokyo area. During this period he developed his interest in Japanese cinema. After returning to Britain, he worked in the media before beginning doctoral studies in Japanese film at the University of Warwick.

Donald Richie has been writing about Japan for over 50 years from his base in Tokyo and is the author of over 40 books and hundreds of essays and reviews. He is widely admired for his incisive film studies on Ozu and Kurosawa, and for his stylish and incisive observations on Japanese culture.