Shusuke Kaneko was born in
Tokyo, June 8, 1955. Drawn to film as a young boy,
he filled his early years with science fiction and
kaiju movies--giant Japanese monster such as
Godzilla and Gamera. Much of TV in Japan in the
early and mid-60s was made up of imported shows from
America, and Kaneko's imagination was captured by
their seemingly endless supply of fantastic themes
and far-reaching stories. Among Kaneko's favorites
at this time were Star Trek, Lost in Space and
The
Outer Limits.
When not propped in front of the family TV or seated
in local cinema houses, Kaneko drew pictures of his
favorite monsters, going so far as to collect many
of them in his own personal book detailing the
history and abilities of the kaiju of the era.
Kaneko also created his own manga series for his
friends and himself.
 During his late teens, a screening of the US film
The Strawberry Statement perked his interest with
its modern sensibility and attempt to express the
turmoil the students of that day were experiencing.
Armed with an 8-mm camera, Kaneko and some of his
friends created their own version of the film.
Discovering he enjoyed the filmmaking process,
Kaneko felt he had found his calling. However, the
Japanese cinema industry was in the midst of a
severe crash and though wanting a career in film,
Kaneko didn't believe it feasible. Instead, he
majored in education at Tokyo Gakugei University
with the goal of becoming an elementary school
teacher.
Yet his desire to be a director never left. Upon
graduating he applied for and took the entrance exam
at Nikatsu Studios. To his surprise, out of the
three-hundred applicants, only he and one other man
passed. Kaneko was immediately hired as an assistant
director.
At this time, Nikatsu, one of Japan's oldest
studios, had fallen upon diffcult times. The once
great studio, producers of some of the finest films
in Japan, had seen ticket sales dwindle rapidly.
Japanese sensibility had begun to experiance a shift
towards the more realistic and personal driven
stories found in American cinema and the film
industry in Japan was slow to keep up with this
change. To stay afloat, Nikatsu and several other
studios took to producing exploitation roman-porno
films (short for romance pornography). These movies
were quickly made love tales spiced up with partial
nudity and sexually provocative situations. Kaneko labored through thirty-five of these productions as
an A.D. while at Nikatsu. In addition, Kaneko also
moonlighted as a writer of anime scripts, and penned
several episodes of the then hugely popular Urusei
Yatsura and Creamy Mami
 Kaneko directed his first film in 1984. The movie,
Uno Koichiro No Nurete Utsu, was based on the works
of erotic novelist Koichiro Uno. That year Kaneko
also directed OL Yuri Zoku 19 Sai and Eve Chan No Hime, the latter netting him the "New Director
Award" at the Yokohama Film Festival.
In 1985, Kaneko directed the film Minna Agechau (I'm
All Yours). Though a sexual comedy about a young
girl's quest to find true love and "lose it", it was
the first mainstream attempt by Nikatsu in five
years. The story was derived from a popular manga of
the time. While still considered a newcomer within
the industry, Kaneko had become widely recognized
for a visual style that reflected Japanese manga
sensibility.
Kaneko left Nikatsu and went freelance in 1985. His
first film after leaving was the TV movie, The
Samurai. This was a screwball comedy produced by
Tsuburaya Productions that featured several special
effect sequences.
Two of Kaneko's most endearing films were shot in
1988: Summer Vacation: 1999 and Last Cabaret. Both
films helped to cement Kaneko's reputation as a
force in Japanese cinema. The two films also earned
him the notoriety as a director with the ability to
photograph women in rich and alluring ways. Kaneko's
ability to bring out their personal beauty and
character made him much in demand and to this day
remains a staple of his work. Summer Vacation: 1999
was shown in New York City and became his first film
released on video outside Japan. Last Cabaret was
one of the final roman porno films made by Nikatsu.
The movie is considered an example of the best of
the genre.
In 1993, Kaneko was invited to America to direct the
sequence The Cold for the Brian Yuzna production
Necronomicon. It was an experience that profoundly
influenced Kaneko, as he has always revered the US
style of filmmaking.
 Kaneko continued directing for a variety of studios
and quickly built an impressive resume.
When in 1993, Daiei Studios opted to revive their
once popular Gamera series, Kaneko's name appeared
on their short list of potential directors. Lobbying
hard for the job, Daiei eventually awarded the
directorial position to Kaneko. For this lifelong
fan of kaiju, the task of creating his own film for
the genre was the realization of a boyhood dream.
Kaneko assembled a core creative staff consisting of
then newcomer Shinji Higuchi as effect director, and
Kazunori Ito as scriptwriter.
Gamera, Guardian of the Universe, released in 1995,
was hailed for its sharp direction, realistic
sensibility and groundbreaking effects. Kaiju films
had originally begun in Japan with the first
Godzilla motion picture in 1954 and remained more or
less popular through the years. By 1995, however,
they had been displaying a lack of originality and
had fallen on tired clichés. Gamera was different,
and the film successfully laid to rest any claims
that the kaiju genre had gone dry. Kaneko followed
the film with two successful sequels until retiring
from Gamera in 1999.
In 1999 he began work on Cross Fire (foreign release
title: Pyrokenisis). Released at the start of the
summer of 2000, Cross Fire is considered his most
polished work to date. It is also the first film
Kaneko has made that was produced and lensed at Toho
Studios, Japan's largest film studio. Cross Fire is
currently being shown at film festivals in Hong
Kong, Europe and the US.
At the time of this writing Kaneko is involved in
many new and exciting projects. More will be added
when information becomes available.
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Shusuke
Kaneko and his films have won a number of awards:
|
1984 |
New
Director Award - Yokohama
Film Festival |
|
1988 |
Best Director Award -
Yokohama Film Festival |
|
1988 |
Best Director Award -
Kumamoto Film Festival |
|
1995 |
Best Director Award -
Yokohama Film Festival |
|
1995 |
Blue Ribbon Director
Award |
|
1996 |
Gamera 2 - Japanese Best
Science Fiction Award |
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