Kon Ichikawa's filmmaking career has been shaped by a diverse range of artistic influences, including the likes of Walt Disney and Jean Renoir. His body of work spans a broad spectrum of moods, from comedic to overwhelmingly ironic and even perverse.
Ichikawa began his career as a cartoonist, and this background is evident in his skillful use of the widescreen format and the strong, angular patterns that feature prominently in many of his compositions. He has directed a number of films based on popular comic strips, including "Mr. Pu" (1953),which was adapted from Junichi Yokoyama's comic strip of the same name.
Throughout his career, Ichikawa has demonstrated an ability to appeal to a wide audience without compromising his artistic vision. He is a master of visual storytelling and has a keen eye for detail, which has served him well in his numerous screen adaptations of literary classics. These adaptations include "The Heart" (1955),"Conflagration" (1958),"Odd Obsession" (1959),"I Am a Cat" (1975),and "The Outcast" (1962),all of which were based on works by renowned Japanese authors such as Sôseki Natsume, Yukio Mishima, Jun'ichirô Tanizaki, and Tôson Shimazaki.
Ichikawa has also remade classic films, transposing them to contemporary settings while maintaining their original essence. Examples of this include his remakes of Yutaka Abe's "Ashi ni sawatta onna" (1926) and Teinosuke Kinugasa's "Yukinojô henge: Daiippen" (1935),which were released in 1952 and 1963, respectively.
The Western world was first introduced to Ichikawa's work when his film "The Burmese Harp" (1956) won the San Giorgio Prize at the 1956 Venice Film Festival. This was followed by his epic documentary "Tokyo Olympiad" (1965),which explored the limits of human endurance with dignity and imagination. He has also worked in the thriller genre, with films such as "The Hole" (1957),"The Inugami Family" (1976),and "The Devil's Island" (1977).
Ichikawa is known for his ability to create complex, strongly etched characters, including a stuttering acolyte who desires to preserve the "purity" of the Golden Pavilion, an elderly husband who resorts to injections and voyeurism in order to remain sexually active, and a member of a pariah class who tries to deny his identity and "pass" in regular society.
More recently, Ichikawa has paid tribute to the fiercely independent Japanese actress Kinuyo Tanaka, who starred in many of Kenji Mizoguchi's films and was herself a director in later life. He has also created characters that are more lighthearted, including a 19th-century cat, a good-hearted but hapless teacher, and a baby who narrates how the world looks from his vantage point.
Ichikawa is particularly adept at blending comedy and tragedy within the same story, and his films often feature a mix of both elements. Until 1965, his close collaborator was his wife, screenwriter Natto Wada, with whom he produced many of his finest films.
