The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke Laughter through Tears [Paperback]

The elegant, graceful, and deeply humanistic cinema of Gosho Heinosuke has found its perfect English-language explication in this equally elegant, graceful, and humanistic study by Arthur Nolletti. A director of wide-ranging interests, Gosho was at his strongest in stories of ordinary Japanese life. Like Mizoguchi he had a particular strength and sensitivity to womens issues; like Ozu he was a delicate yet piercing commentator on middle-class life. But he had a voice and style of his own, and Nolletti is careful to define and describe this sensibility in telling detail. David Desser

Through close readings of the most significant films of Gosho Heinosuke and descriptions of their historical, social, and industrial contexts, Arthur Nolletti illuminates the work of this important director. The careful attention Gosho gave to even the smallest gestures and nuances of character and emotion is matched by the breadth of Nollettis research and the depth of his understanding. His analysis illustrates the important influence of Goshos unique style and sensibility on cinematic form in Japan and beyond.

With this work Nolletti (English, Framingham State College) closes a gap in the anglophone literature on the history of Asian cinema. . . . Nolletti's intention is that this book, which includes a useful filmography, will inspire further research on this great filmmaker, and it is certain to do so. Summing Up: Essential. Readers at all levels. December 2005

Arthur Nolletti, Jr. is Professor of English at Framingham State College. He is editor of The Films of Fred Zinnemann, co-editor of Reframing Japanese Cinema (Indiana University Press, 1992), and author of numerous articles on film.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Gosho and Shomin Comedy in the 1930s
2. Dancing Girl of Izu (1933) and the Junbungaku Movement
3. Woman of the Mist (1936): Blending the Shomin-geki, Shitamachi, and Romantic Melodrama
4. Once More (1947) and Gosho's Romanticilƒ­