Kon Ichikawa dies, 1915-2008

Many of you may be asking “who?” Well, i enjoy movie and film-makers of all types and all eras and Ichikawa was one of the best Japanese film-makers to date. Ichikawa had a long, productive and successful career in Japanese cinema, but has come to a close as he has died from a battle with pneumonia at the age of 92. Ichikawa was probably most well-known for his film The Burmese Harp (1985) which was nominated for an Academy award. Ichikawa made over eighty films including Fires on the Plain (1959) and Tokyo Olympiad (1965), a fascinating documentary that follows the 1964 Summer Olympics from open to close and is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection.