Nobuhiko Obayashi

Film Aug 20, 2020

Never forget the struggles of conflict with these Japanese World War II films

by Mark Schilling

Filmmakers are able to record the feelings of history in ways that you can't get from textbooks at school.

Film / Reviews Jul 30, 2020

‘Labyrinth of Cinema’: Nobuhiko Obayashi’s final film is a colorful antiwar fantasy

by Mark Schilling

“Labyrinth of Cinema” bursts with energy, passion and dreamlike invention that immerses the audience in a world that is uniquely Obayashi’s.

Film Apr 14, 2020

For filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi, freedom was the most important thing of all

by Mark Schilling

Director Nobuhiko Obayashi, who died on April 10 at the age of 82, was incredibly prolific during his six-decade career. A pioneering experimental filmmaker in the 1960s, he went on to direct 2,000 television commercials (by his own estimate; no exact count exists) and ...

Film / Reviews Mar 19, 2020

'Extro': A Japanese mockumentary that works

by Mark Schilling

I was once an extra for film being shot in the dead of winter in Nagano Prefecture, playing a member of a media pack running down a snow-covered slope to an ambulance. To stand out, I kept a step behind the others through retake ...

Film Oct 31, 2019

Nobuhiko Obayashi: A life spent working among Japan's movie greats

by Mark Schilling

As the Tokyo International Film Festival stages a retrospective of his work, filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi talks of a past working with movie greats, such as Akira Kurosawa

Film | Wide Angle Oct 3, 2019

Tokyo International Film Festival to celebrate homegrown talent

by Alyssa I. Smith

The 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival kicks off on Oct. 28, and promises a celebration of local talent alongside its program of interntional films

Film / Reviews Dec 6, 2017

'Hanagatami': Extravagance on the edge of war

by Mark Schilling

Despite a lengthy filmography that began in the 1960s, Nobuhiko Obayashi is known in the West mainly for his 1977 feature debut "House." This horror-fantasy about a house that devours its inhabitants is a surreal riot of the imagination that tosses local filmmaking conventions ...

Film Aug 16, 2017

Filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi devotes himself to a message of peace via the big screen

by May Masangkay

At a time when peace appears fragile, veteran film director Nobuhiko Obayashi is not wasting any moment to remind the world's young crop of creators about their power to rid the world of nuclear and other security threats. "I am part of the last generation ...