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Shimizu’s postwar filmography encapsulates the everyday tragedies of life, the delicate sentiments of love and loss in the wake of the war, and the pains that befall common people—from the hardships of motherhood to the ostracization of disability.
The Cinematheque has plucked four gems from the tour, each produced during Shimizu’s brilliant (and even more neglected) postwar career after he left Shochiku and formed his own independent studio, Hachinosu Eiga. The apex of that output, and the centrepiece to our series, is Children of the Beehive (1948).
With over 160 films directed over a 35-year-career that spanned the silent era into the golden age of Japanese cinema, Shimizu is distinguished by his unconventional approach to plotting—one loosely sketched and carefree—and a roaming camera that drifts through the open airs of provincial Japan.
Often shot on location and casted by non-actors, each of these films possess the full essence of humanity with elegance and compassion. Shimizu’s unique style and technique of filmmaking involve constant tracking shots, as he allows the camera to glide alongside characters doing everyday actions.
Jul 26, 2004 · A concern for the relevance of his art informs all of Shimizu’s mature work. Just as, in the pre-war period, he had criticised the direction of Japanese society, so, in the post-war period, he made films focusing on its weakest, most vulnerable members.
- Alexander Jacoby
May 2, 2024 · The traveling shot is at the heart of Hiroshi Shimizu’s cinema. His camera glides alongside people as they walk, or tracks backward as they advance down a road. Scenes unspool at the pace of strollers and pilgrims, chatting pairs of women, itinerant workers on their way to the next job.
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Starring a handful of real-life war orphans that Shimizu adopted and raised, Children of the Beehive combines post-war neorealism with pre-war classicism, pushing his sense of tragedy into starker and more uncompromising realms while still retaining a core belief in the the healing power of community and its ability to preserve social order.
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