Fukasaku Kinji, Sawa Ranko

[thomas]

In the space of few days, Japan lost two great names of cinematography.

Renowned film director Kinji Fukasaku dies of cancer at 72

Renowned Japanese film director Kinji Fukasaku, known for works such as the "War Without a Code" yakuza movie series, died of prostate cancer Sunday at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 72.

Fukasaku, a native of Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, announced he had cancer last September but went on to begin the filming of "Battle Royale II," a sequel to "Battle Royale" of 2000, which sparked controversy by depicting killings between junior high school students. [...]

In "Tora! Tora! Tora!" of 1970, a Japan-U.S. collaboration on Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Fukasaku and Toshio Masuda worked on the filming of the scenes on the Japanese side after director Akira Kurosawa abandoned the project.

=> http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content...at=1&id=245551

Feature by Midnight Eye

=> http://www.midnighteye.com/features/...fukasaku.shtml


Last Saturday, Sawa Ranko, a famous star from the silent era and probably Japan's oldest living film actress, died at 99. She stopped acting after WWII, but continued her career as singer.

Below Ranko Sawa (right) in "Minato no nihon musume" (Young Girls at the Port, 1933)