Camera

Shoji Ueda

Born January 1, 1938 · Funabashi, Chiba, Japan

Died January 16, 2025 · aged 87

No biography available.

Known For

RanRan · 1985
Ran
8.01985
MovieActionDrama
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
KagemushaKagemusha · 1980
Kagemusha
7.81980
MovieActionDrama
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
DreamsDreams · 1990
Dreams
7.71990
MovieFantasyDrama
Eight visually rich vignettes drawn from Kurosawa’s own dreams—fox weddings and vanished orchards, a soldier’s ghosts, a walk through Van Gogh’s canvases, nuclear nightmares, and a water-mill utopia—meditate on childhood, art, mortality, and humanity’s uneasy bond with nature.
Rhapsody in AugustRhapsody in August · 1991
Rhapsody in August
7.11991
MovieDrama
An elderly Nagasaki hibakusha spends a summer caring for her four grandchildren, whose curiosity about the 1945 bombing stirs buried memories and moral questions. When an American nephew from Hawaii visits, the family confronts grief, guilt, and the possibility of reconciliation across generations.
The Bushido BladeThe Bushido Blade · 1981
The Bushido Blade
5.31981
MovieHistoryAction
A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.
The Last DinosaurThe Last Dinosaur · 1977
The Last Dinosaur
6.51977
MovieAdventureScience Fiction
Wealthy big game hunter (Boone), along with his group, gets trapped in pre-historic times where they are stalked by a ferocious dinosaur.
MadadayoMadadayo · 1993
Madadayo
7.31993
MovieDramaComedy
In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, who honor him each year with a raucous “Not yet!” birthday toast. Told in warm, gently comic vignettes, Kurosawa’s farewell celebrates aging, friendship, and the sustaining ritual of teacher and pupils refusing to say goodbye.
After the RainAfter the Rain · 2000
After the Rain
7.32000
MovieDrama
A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.

Filmography

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For Those We LoveFor Those We Love · 2007
For Those We Love
6.22007
MovieWarDrama
In 1943, as Japan's WWII effort falters, a vice-admiral proposes training squadrons of "volunteer" flyers to crash their armed planes into Allied warships. Yarn follows the lives of kamikaze pilots, as remembered by an aging Kyushu restaurateur who cherishes their memory. Honoring the dead and multiple military anthems may stir the soul of some Japanese, but elsewhere auds will make a one-way trip for exits. Battle scenes are well-executed and script delivers some memorable scenes, but overall competent helming and thesping are powerless over writer-cum-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishiara's repetitive storytelling. A post-war postscript adds considerable length to an already over-extended narrative. Tech credits are good quality.

Director of Photography

I Want To Live Once More: Shinjuku Bus Fire IncidentI Want To Live Once More: Shinjuku Bus Fire Incident · 1985
I Want To Live Once More: Shinjuku Bus Fire Incident
3.71985
MovieDramaCrime
On the night of August 19, 1980, a bus was set on fire by the vagrant Hirofumi Maruyama at the Shinjuku West Exit Bus Terminal. In the burning flames, Mitsuko, who was exhausted by her affair, suddenly thought of suicide. As a result, she escaped too late from the bus and suffered a serious injury. From there, she was hospitalized for a long time. As she gradually recovered, the wife of her affair partner, Soroku Sugihara, died of cancer. Soroku proposed to Mitsuko again, and they lived together. Due to Soroku's mounting debt, they decided to flee to Tojinbo. With the desperate persuasion of her acquaintances, Mitsuko regained her desire to "live again."

Director of Photography