Golden Age Double Oscar Winning Actress Luise Rainer Dies Aged 104

R.I.P - Shirley Temple America's Little Darling Has Died Aged 85

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence's Nagisa Ôshima Has Died

Japanese New Wave screenwriter and director Nagisa Ôshima has sadly died at the age of 80 from pneumonia.

The provocateur filmmaker constantly challenged censors with his confrontational work winning him not just a loyal fanbase in his homeland but respected worldwide. It was his dark and fanatical In The Realm of Senses about  obsessive love affair which has unsimulated sex scenes that brought him attention worldwide but to many in Japan scandal and embarrassment.If you are unfamiliar with his work Merry Christmas  Mr Lawrence (1983) gained him some more mainstream recognition  starring David Bowie,Takeshi Kitano and Ryuichi Sakamoto a POW film which was shot entirely with Oshima not letting the cast see the outcome until the film was complete.

Oshima was a former law student left his hometown of Kyoto for the Shochiku production house near Toyko in 1954. This was the production company that could boast the likes of Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi and in 1959 he made his directorial debut with Cruel Story of Youth, before going on to make The Sun's Burial and the politically intense Night and Fog in Japan before leaving to star his own company.After the In the realm of The Sense (1976) he won accolades at Cannes in 1978 with The Empire Of Passion.

In 1986 he made Max, Mon Armour which starred Charlotte Rampling with a chimpanzee but after a stroke and a bout of ill healt Oshima returned to directing in 1999 for what was his last film Taboo. The man regarded as Japan's Jean Luc Godard due to his left social political beliefs would  go onto suffer ill health right upto his final days.

source:The Playlist

R.I.P Chris Marker

One of cinema's true originals Chris Marker has just died at the age of 91. Chris as most well known for "La jetée" in 1962, which served the inspiration for Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys" in 1995. Chris Marker was also known for his documentary which pushed the boundaries of the medium "Sans Soleil" and for his writings on film. Watch La Jetee

Ian Schultz