The pioneering video game creator throws a spotlight on treasures of 1950s and ’60s Japanese cinema, including Yasujiro Ozu’s TOKYO TWILIGHT and Nobuo Nakagawa’s JIGOKU. Shop Hideo Kojima’s Closet Picks: www.criterion.com/shop/collec...
Please have him come back for a round 2. Kojima is such a great curator, his book is literally about what books he would recommend you read and it is an absolute page turner. How I could be so enthralled about material that I’m no t even reading just reading someone else’s love for is wild.
For those wondering, the book is called "The Creative Gene" and it's a great read even for those who don't know a single thing about the books and films he talks about in each chapter. Great read!
Bro the fact that my favorite video game creator also loves my favorite movie creator (Akira Kurosawa) is something which brings me so much shock and joy.
Hideo Kojima is a filmmaker at heart, who CHOSE to bring his perspective of film and storytelling to the games medium. And on top of that, he's an incredible gameplay designer. He's absolutely up there with Shigeru Miyamoto, Hidetaka Miyazaki, and so many other contemporaries. His games are a breath of fresh air in the industry. I will play anything this man makes for the rest of his life.
Same my dude. I think his stories are absurd and often make little sense and feel very silly at times. I’m rolling my eyes half the time playing his games but I love it.
From what I've read, he did it cause he needed a job and couldn't get into film making, so I don't know if "CHOSE" is the best word lol. Eventually, they just kept paying him too much for him to turn it down, so he abandoned film making at one point and went all-in on games.
@@KillerLettuce There's a reason for that Metal Gear was originally going be an over the top action game in the same vain as Capcom's Commando. That was what Konami wanted, but Kojima felt that an action game would be too difficult on the MSX, so it become a stealth game instead.
Kojima makes a great point about film and streaming today. A friend of mine pointed out that, unless it's a classic, the vast majority of content on streaming platforms is from the 80s and later. Once you get into the 70s and earlier, it's much harder to find something that isn't already incredibly well known.
So true, and the main reason I still buy physical copies. Sometimes "genre" movies (a term I'm not in love with) are easy to find, but anything else besides classics is unobtainium.
the list is presented on screen at 5:46. But here it is as well, Akira Kurosawa - High and Low Yasujiro Ozu - Late spring Yasujiro Ozu - Tokyo Twilight Mizoguchi - Ugetsu Kwaidan Harakiri Nobuo Nakagawa - Jigoku Kaneto Shindo - Onibaba Tegahara - Woman in the Dunes
Bro the fact that my favorite video game creator also loves my favorite movie creator (Akira Kurosawa) is something which brings me so much shock and joy.
For people who don’t know, Kojima has always been a lifelong cinephile and his original goal was to become a filmmaker, but saw Nintendo's Famicom and thought of joining the video game industry. Kojima's love of movies is noticeable in his games where he pays homage through his stories and characters, such as in Snatcher. He cited a contrast between films and games as while in his games he intends to portray violence like in a movie, in the game it is up to the player to decide. Anyone who’s played any of Kojima’s games will tell you that Kojima’s style breaks the barrier between cinema and games. In a way, he’s a film director but he uses video games to tell the story.
Kojima is a genius of an artistic mind, but he makes it more clear to me than anyone else: Genius artists are inspired by genius art. The cycle of repetition is unavoidable, in paying tribute to what you love, you almost have to rip it off or copy it. But it's how you do it, and how open you are about it, that spreads the love, by getting new people into it. I love Kojima for how he's always been very open and obvious about where his inspirations come from. The man is a living legend. I will always appreciate how creatively fresh he is with the way that he works.
@@laughingBun Yup, highly recommend, guy is a movie fanatic, unsurprisingly. Not just Japanese movies either, and he loves to break them down and point out the artistic parts that stand out to him in particular.
@@thecluckingassassinbut honestly doesn’t anybody? It generally comes from things people have watched. There are those who create things I’ve never seen before but it’s difficult.
@@llort7771 @thecluckingassassin565 You're both delusional. Hideo can wake up in the morning, take a shit and the turd would have more originality than your weak opinion.
As someone who studied Japanese cinema in college, it is like watching my worlds collide hearing Kojima-san speak of the films I consumed and picked apart so intently and passionately. I would kill to spend some time speaking film with him. 🧡🧡🧡
For me Kojima embodies the love for cinematic storytelling, the art of showing and not telling and using the language and history of the visual arts (predominantly movies) to create new stories with multiple layers of interconnectivity. In short, dude fucking rocks and is an awesome storyteller.
You can't help but love the man's excitement. Kojima is one of the greatest video game creators there is. Playing his games you can see that he wanted to be a filmmaker. His games ended up becoming his films. The man essentially made cinematic story telling in video games the norm that we take advantage of today. Big fan of his work, always looking forward to what he will do next, as he is always taking chances that tend to move video games forward in creativity.
@@cartoonvideos5 attention seeking troll right here ladies & gents Also keep your shitty opinion to yourself kid, no one wants to hear about your skill issue problems in the game
Did I see this right? Criterion inviting Hideo Kojima for Closet Picks!!! This seriously made my day. His 'Metal Gear' series have very cinematic cutscenes and to have invited him, it was so cool to see what were his influences. I've never seen an interview with him just talking about film. Criterion you guys are killing it!!
Yes- Mind blowing. 🤯 Someone in the game/film industry absolutely Must have him discuss his influences for each of his interactive masterpieces! ☝️🤓🎞️✨👾
Death Stranding's core emotional narrative doesn't work without the gameplay and social aspects - a pure film from Kojima would be something else entirely, although the cinematics in that game are obviously GOATED. @@jacksquatt6082
This was awesome! That said, this does kind of show how limited the range of Japanese films the Criterion Collection has is. All classics, of course, and Kojima made some really good picks (especially Jigoku. That crazy surrealistic depiction of hell at the end is one of the most amazing things ever put on celluloid) but I would love it if a company like Arrow Films, who release a lot of the more contemporary Japanese classics, had their own criterion closet style series and brought him on. For instance, I just bought a Shinya Tsukamoto boxset from them, and I would love to hear Kojimas opinion on something like Tsukamotos Tetsuo the Iron Man or Battle Royale or Pulse or really any other of the tons of modern Japanese classics that I think probably inspired Kojima's work and, in some cases, were inspired themselves by Kojimas work.
I think the movies you used as example of what to include are still so very easy to get nowadays. Even when i was growing up in the 90s I could easily purchase Tetsuo and Battle Royale (as a matter of fact, i did haha) and nowadays those are still very easy to get. I think the Criterion Collection focuses on licensing and publishing movies that are hard to get mainstream.
That period of Japanese film ranks with the greatest waves of films in world cinema history. All absolutely incredible... highly recommend every single one!
This man has excellent taste in movies, and his Japanese movie recommendations are spot on. Anyone new to Japanese classics can just take the directors introduced here as an excellent starting point... I was attracted to Japanese film by the likes of Koreeda and Beat Takeshi, but I only started truly loving and admiring it when I ventured into Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa. It is interesting that he points out High & Low, because that was also my first exposure to Kurosawa and it remains one of his most memorable films for me.
@@TAMITRO Oh yes, I watched my fair share of Takashi Miike and in my teenage years I surely scarred some friends with a Visitor Q movie night. :) Do you have any specific recommendations for Sion Sono? I only watched Love Exposure and Suicide Circle. LE blew my mind at the time.
Oh my god he mentioned Harakirki! Hands down one of the best Japanese films. Every single shot is a painting. And the pacing is brilliant, not a second wasted
@@bigboss-yv2nr "When a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity." - from IMDB. It's an exploration of samurai culture/tradition with some cool sword fighting and fun twists
@@bigboss-yv2nr if you’re into the kind of scary, artistic and weirdy stuff? Then yes, and no better than to be recommended by an old school Otaku like Hideo Kojima too lol
Bro the fact that my favorite video game creator also loves my favorite movie creator (Akira Kurosawa) is something which brings me so much shock and joy.
Kojima is like the gamer and movie enthusiast who made it bigtime. He never settles for anything less than perfection, never copypasting other games just for the sales. He's hands down my favorite developer, and one of my favorite people on the planet, he's basically the reason I'm still a gamer to this day.
This was such a nice surprise. I think they should do this more often and get some other creators to do this. I would love to see Suda 51 or Shinji Mikami on here and see what kind of movies they consider amazing or a must watch.
For anyone who wishes to hear more of Kojima‘s favorites: There is an article he wrote in the mid 2000s (translated by none other than Marc Laidlaw) where he lists his 30 favorite films of all time - including the ones that were a heavy influence on the Metal Gear series - with many more on the side, ranging from Japanese to Western and even animated ones. It’s a fantastic read and shows a diverse array of films that he loves, with a little inside on each listing. I highly recommend it and would link it here but I think RU-vid wouldn’t let me, but it’s not hard to find on your own!
Onibaba absolutley floored me the furst time I watched it! I went into it not really thinking much just assuming it was gonna be a little more “scary” than most Japanese films. But it wasn’t just scary it was absolutely terrifying! It scared me even though I’m 18 and more grown then when Kojima watched it. Some of the best and most carefully crafted scares I have ever seen! I contribute most of that to the absurdly good lighting used in the film. It’s probably the best use of lighting I have ever seen in a movie! With the lighting film is able to create these dark shadow areas and use them for scares. The scares are never super fast and jumpy most of them are just something slowly emerging and walking out of a shadow. Which made it all the more terrifying. All that isn’t including it’s brilliant themes and tellings of grief and indirect effects of war!. So well made and wish more people saw it! It’s absolutely brilliant!
Just watched Seven samurai, throne of blood, yojimbo, sanjuro and some others recently and mannnnnn japan was way ahead of their time. Those movies are masterpieces. The seven samurai and yojimbo soundtrack still hasnt left my head.
One of my biggest movie watchlists came when I was 16, playing Metal Gear Solid 3. As Snake, you could call a young lady on the radio at random times and talk about film recommendations with her. I watched some of my favorite American classics that way, and ironically got into Criterion through that. Awesome that Hideo Kojima is going into classic Japanese films, since I don't usually see him talk about them! Even happier I know and own most of them.
Hideo Kojima & Quentin Tarantino should meet each other. They are probably the biggest movie fanatics I can think of that would make an awesome collaboration on a game or a movie.
This is the absolute most excited I’ve ever seen Kojima. It just goes to show that we all love him for MGS, but at heart he will always just be a movie guy.
Bro the fact that my favorite video game creator also loves my favorite movie creator (Akira Kurosawa) is something which brings me so much shock and joy.
There's a good argument to make that Japanese film is in the top 2 or 3 all time of any country's film output. Ugetsu, High & Low, Harakiri, Tokyo Story, Onibaba, Woman In The Dunes, Kwaidan & Jigoku are all perfect examples of Japanese mastery. All among the greatest films of all time!
Those 50’s and 60’s Japanese films in the criterion collection continually surprise me, cause they are always awesome. Safest bet as far as blind buying is concerned.
As someone who only recently discovered the joy of Ozu movies having heard his name many times, I wholeheartedly agree with Kojima's point. There is a real charm to his movies that in many ways we miss today, and perhaps those sentiments from the 50s and 60s are exactly what young people need to hear.
I saw him post a pic on his Instagram a while ago, and I was really hoping for this to happen. To see a man who is mostly made of movies in the Criterion closet brings me joy.
I dont know a lot about Kojima, but still happy too see that i have all the films he picked, in my own collection. Late Spring is my favorite Ozu film.
Last year I got to watch The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo from Akira Kurosawa, I'll certainly watch High and Low and a few other of the recommendations. Always amazing learning more about Mr. Kojima's story and his favorite picks from the expanding collection of japanese cinema.
So cool to see someone picking films from a specific time and place, and I love that he's especially encouraging young people to try older foreign films. Some of these are personal favorites of mine, so I would encourage everyone too!
Tokyo Twilight is a golden and unknown Ozu's masterpiece ! So true and so great picks Mr Kojima! From mr Kobayashi I highly recommend his war trilogy "The Human Condition" which are probably my favorite films ever, astoundingly deep and moving.
This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while, quite a treat of an upload. I'm gonna have to check out Onibaba now, I LOVE Death Stranding as well as Del Toro's work, so now I gotta see this movie both directors really like.
Metal Gear Solid (1998) is the greatest video game of all time, in my opinion. Thank you Hideo Kojima for making my childhood wonderful. Also, it's great to see everyone from all generations coming into the Criterion closet and seeing their tastes. The beauty of it all is knowing they're the ones who understand you when majority of people don't, especially when it comes to film history. Excellent picks!
I agree Metal Gear Solid 1998 is the greatest video game of all time. Also the ending of Metal Gear Solid 2 when the AI is speaking to Raiden essentially describes our world today perfectly. Hideo Kojima is a genius.
Nice pick getting Hideo Kojima. I love it. I havent seen many of these but it always feels like the person never picks/recommends too many films so I love seeing Hideo just go to town. Hes given me many new films to check out.
I'm not hugely familiar with old Japanese films, so I was surprised by how many of these I had already seen, and I have to admit, Kojima-san has great taste. I especially recommend both High and Low and Kwaidan.
I somehow knew about some of those, but I will check out the rest! And I want to re-watch the ones I have seen. Kojima-san is a living legend! I'm very much looking forward to what his studio is working on - game-related and otherwise!
Love it. A crash course in Japanese film history. More of this please. Get Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideki Kamiya, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Takeshi Tezuka in there.
Incredible I knew Kojima from the legendary video-games he's made and a few years ago I followed him on Instagram then I found out he is a cinephile and now he's in the Criterion closet it's like my two worlds are meeting it's awsome.
It’s surreal watching two worlds collide between video games and cinema. Kojima is the greatest video game auteur to ever live and I hope he can make his own film one day.
I love Setsuko Hara and Ozu as well. Late Spring is one of my favorite films of all time. Setsuko's presence in that film is astonishing. And yes, the bicycle scene is so great that it was mimicked in Millennium Actress which is an anime loosely based on Setsuko Hara's life. An absolute amazing film!!!
Good picks. Was really happy to see Ugetsu among his selections. IMO, the three Japanese classics that everyone should watch are Seven Samurai, Ugetsu and The Sword of Doom.
I've been wanting this to happen for years now. Kojima has such a keen eye & genuine love for cinema, you can feel it in each of his creations. I love reading his thoughts about film on Twitter. Such a perfect match, glad it finally happened!
All great stuff. You need to put some of the Naruse films you have the rights to on disc though. Floating Clouds, Yearning, Sound of the Mountain, and Scattered Clouds all definitely deserve to be in the collection. An upgrade of When the Woman Ascends the Stairs would be great too. Would also love to see a box set of Sadao Yamanaka's remaining existing films. All three I believe have had restorations recently.
50s and 60s Japanese films are absolutely peak cinema for me. Thrilled Kojima agrees (although I shouldn't be surprised). Onibaba and Woman in the Dunes are two of my all time favorites.
I’ve tried a few times to get into ozu, what am I missing it just seems so boring and dry😂 Haven’t seen tokyo story but I watched late spring and autumn afternoon.
The Cinema Cartography video was the one that got me into Ozu, so I'd highly recommend it. For me it's a few things, he creates these gorgeous worlds and gives them time to breathe. Every frame is so carefully constructed it's almost as if watching a series of moving paintings. You could call Ozu contemplative cinema or slow cinema but for me he finds beauty in the everyday and never vies for your attention, his movies just are. @@jimreplicant
Also his stories and dialogue are so deeply human. The way he frames his dialogue sequences. The camera, aside a few choice examples, almost never moves. It also feels like a contemplation on what it means to be Japanese. The period of history that was seen in Ozu's career oversaw huge changes both for Japan domestically as well as foreign influence beginning to come in.
The more I learn about him, the more I love him. Death Stranding is the first game I’ve played since being able to sit up after four years battling long covid. His game touched me and inspires me to keep working and recovering and making connections. Thank you!
