In 1982, along with filmmakers Yoshiho Fukuoka, Itsumichi Isomura, Toshiyuki Mizutani and Akira Yoneda, Suo founded a production company called Unit 5. Suo worked as an assistant director and appeared in the cast of
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's directorial debut, the
pink film Kandagawa Pervert Wars (1983). At this early stage in his career, Suo also wrote scripts for the pink film genre, such as
Scanty Panty Doll: Pungent Aroma (1983). Suo first film as director was also in the pink film genre: ''
Abnormal Family: Older Brother's Bride'' (1984), a film designed as a tribute and satire of
Yasujirō Ozu's
Tokyo Story. In his book on the pink film,
Behind the Pink Curtain (2008), Jasper Sharp calls ''Abnormal Family: Older Brother's Bride'' an early masterpiece, and one of the wittiest films ever made in the genre. Suo not only pokes gentle fun at Ozu's story, but also mimics many of his stylistic techniques, such as shooting his actors from a low,
tatami-mat angle, stiff and static characters speaking to each other with mis-matched eye-angles, and a simple, sentimental melody which accompanies the film. In the years since its release, the film has amused film students with the activity of locating and identifying Suo's many nods to Ozu and his
oeuvre. Suo's 1996
Shall We Dance? won fourteen awards at the
Japanese Academy Awards including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Film and performed strongly in U.S. theaters. In 2006, Suo directed ''
I Just Didn't Do It, a legal film starring Ryo Kase. It was followed by the 2012 medical-themed film A Terminal Trust. His musical film, Lady Maiko'', screened at the
2014 Shanghai International Film Festival. ==Style and influences==