Early career - Nikkatsu Negishi graduated from
Waseda University in the Faculty of Theatre and Film Arts, and as with several other filmmakers of his generation, began his career directing
Roman porno films for the
Nikkatsu studio. but his debut as a director for Nikkatsu was with the June 1978 erotic thriller ''From Orion's Testimony: Formula For Murder''. The young Negishi's success with this film was a factor in Nikkatsu's decision to focus more on projects emphasizing story. After a disappointing second feature
High School Girl, Negishi returned to form with the box office hit
Wet Weekend, which won the 9th Best Film award at the 1979
Yokohama Film Festival. Negishi's next film for Nikkatsu,
Rape Ceremony was a tale of disaffected youth concerning a feud between former motorcycle gang members and the high school boys who once idolized them and now accuse them of selling out to the system. In the June 1980
"Never in the Morning" Negishi uses the office romance sex-farce plot to poke fun at contemporary morality and sexual double standards. Negishi began 1981 with
Female Teacher: Dirty After School, the third entry in the 8 episode "Female Teacher" series from Nikkatsu, all based loosely on
Noboru Tanaka's 1973 hit film for Nikkatsu,
Female Teacher: Private Life. Negishi's film is considered to be one of the best in the series and he was by this time one of Nikkatsu's top directors. His second film in 1981,
Crazy Fruit, another story of alienated youth, was based on a 1956 Nikkatsu film
Crazed Fruit, made before the studio's
Roman porno period.
Into mainstream film Negishi made his breakthrough into mainstream film with his October 1981
Enrai or
Distant Thunder, produced by
ATG, New Century Producers (NCP) and Nikkatsu. This film, with its detailed realism and complexity, along with his earlier
Roman porno feature
Crazy Fruit, won him the Best Director award at the 1982
Yokohama Film Festival. Negishi left Nikkatsu after this film and was one of the founding members of
Director's Company along with eight other young directors. as well as the Best Film prize at the
Blue Ribbon Awards, and was cited as "one of the forerunners of Japanese new age movies in the 80s." which took the 4th Best Film award at the 1988
Yokohama Film Festival. Despite his success in the late 1980s, Negishi worked only sparingly for the next 15 years: a 1992 film based on the
manga series
Kachō Kōsaku Shima, the short feature
Chibusa about a man (
Kaoru Kobayashi) caring for his leukemia-stricken wife, and
Kizuna (1998), a thriller about a former
yakuza with
Kōji Yakusho and
Ken Watanabe. A year later,
What the Snow Brings, a low key drama about a prodigal son returning home to his family in
Hokkaido, brought Negishi recognition in Japan with Best Director awards from the 2006
Hochi Film Awards, the 2007
Kinema Junpo Awards, the 2007
Mainichi Film Concours, the 2006
Nikkan Sports Film Awards, and the 2005
Tokyo International Film Festival, and international exposure at the 2007
Raindance Film Festival. Negishi's 2009 melodrama, ''
Villon's Wife'', about an author and his long-suffering wife in post-war Japan, received ten nominations at the 2010
Japan Academy Awards including Best Film and Best Director. As in previous films, Negishi was able to evoke strong performances from his leads with
Takako Matsu winning several Best Actress awards. The film also brought Negishi a Best Director award from the 2009
Montreal World Film Festival. ==Filmography==