Kobayashi Masahiro, Japanese Film Director of ‘Bashing,’ ‘The Rebirth,’ Dies at 68
variety.comMark Schilling Japan Correspondent Kobayashi Masahiro, the director of four films that screened at Cannes, died in Tokyo on August 20, 2022, age 68.
His death was disclosed only on Wednesday, with the cause given as colonic cancer. Born in Tokyo in 1954, Kobayashi started out as a folksinger and scriptwriter for television and erotic features called ‘pink films.’ In 1996, at age 42, he made his directorial debut with “Closing Time,” a self-financed indie about the life and loves of an alcoholic scriptwriter.
The film won the grand prize at the first Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. His next films screened three years in a row at Cannes – “Kaizokuban Bootleg Film” (1999) and “Man Walking on Snow” (2001) in Un Certain Regard and “Koroshi” (2000) in the Directors’ Fortnight.
Among his biggest critical successes, however, was “Bashing,” a 2005 drama about a young woman who goes to Iraq to provide humanitarian aid, is kidnapped and released.
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