Previously at the ICA - Seasons

The Profound Desire of the Gods, dir Shohei Imamura, Japan 1968

Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Shohei Imamura

23 Oct 200931 Oct 2009

With his declared interest in 'the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure', director Shohei Imamura offered a lusty and seemingly impolite response to the films of Yasujirō Ozu (with whom he served as an assistant), Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse that had come to represent Japanese cinema.

Along with Nagisa Oshima and Yoshishige Yoshida, Imamura's cinema pushed the boundaries of both form and content, creating a body of work that spans more than 40 years.

The ICA is proud to present a selected overview of his career, with thanks to Alastair Cameron at the Bristol Arnolfini and The Japan Foundation for making it possible.

  • Pigs and Battleships, dir Shohei Imamura, Japan 1961

    Pigs and Battleships

    23 Oct 2009

    Carefully controlled but with a manic energy and breakneck pace, this early Imamura drama depicts the power struggles between small-time gangsters.

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  • Black Rain

    Black Rain

    24 Oct 200926 Oct 2009

    Cutting back and forth between the past and present, Imamura confronts the horror of the Hiroshima bombing in forthright, unblinking fashion.

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  • Intentions of Murder, dir Shohei Imamura, Japan 1964

    Intentions of Murder

    25 Oct 2009

    Another of Imamura's remarkable portraits of female strength and awakening. A housewife falls prey to an intruder, and the encounter sets her off on an unexpected path.

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  • The Insect Woman, dir Shohei Imamura, Japan 1963

    The Insect Woman

    27 Oct 2009

    Imamura charts the crucial points in 20th century Japanese history through the experiences of a young woman who survives a harsh rural upbringing to become a prostitute in Tokyo.

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  • The Eel

    The Eel

    28 Oct 200931 Oct 2009

    A just-released killer becomes a barber, befriends an eel, saves a suicidal woman and attempts to come to terms with his past. Winner of the 1997 Palme D’Or at Cannes.

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  • The Profound Desire of the Gods, dir Shohei Imamura, Japan 1968

    The Profound Desire of the Gods

    29 Oct 2009

    A wild and at times deliberately bewildering tale set on a Okinawan island where an inbred family confront an engineer sent from Tokyo to convert sugarcane.

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When

E.g., 31-07-2021
E.g., 31-07-2021