Kimura was born in Tokyo on April 1, 1918. A graduate of
Aoyama Gakuin University with a background in theatre, Kimura joined the
Nikkatsu Company's
scenography department in 1941. The same year, the government ordered the ten major movie studios to consolidate into two. A counteroffer of three was accepted and Nikkatsu merged with Daito and Shinko, the first shutting down their film production unit, and the new company was named
Daiei. Kimura continued as an assistant with Daiei after
World War II and was promoted to
art director in 1945. When Nikkatsu opened a new studio and resumed film production in 1954, Kimura transferred there. and showed a propensity for realistic set design. However, Kimura became frustrated in doing the same types of films repeatedly and had ambitions to work on films where the art direction was a major focal point. He found an ideal collaborator in the like-minded
Seijun Suzuki, a director of primarily
B action movies. They first collaborated on
The Bastard (1963) which Suzuki considered a turning point in his career. The two became good friends and Kimura became his permanent art director. They worked to refine their style which consisted of more artistry and symbolism than studio bosses generally preferred to see in their action films. For his contributions to
The Flower and the Angry Waves (1964) Kimura received his first screenwriting credit. He was also included in Hachirō Guryū, the joint pen name for the writing group which formed around Suzuki in the mid-1960s, along with six
assistant directors, most prominently Atsushi Yamatoya and
Chūsei Sone. The Japanese film industry lost much of its viewership to television through the 1960s and, in order to avoid bankruptcy, Nikkatsu shut down regular productions in August 1971, and in November began producing low cost
Roman Pornos, romantic softcore pornography films. Kimura left Nikkatsu a couple years later in 1973 to work
freelance. Stylistically, he continues to vary between the surrealistic, as in his subsequent collaborations with Suzuki, and the realistic, including his films with
Kei Kumai. and the release of
Mugen Sasurai (2004) afforded him the oldest directorial debut at age 86. The film was based on his own novel, which touches on autobiographical elements, and more closely resembles his surrealistic collaborations with Suzuki—who appears in the film as an actor—than his more realistic art direction. ==Filmography==