I got to discover the films of Kumashiro thanks to this interview with Haruhiko Arai who wrote the script of The Woman with Red Hair, https://asianmoviepulse.com/2024/02/int ... hiko-arai/.
I had never heard of Kumashiro before, so him being called the best of the pink or whatever films of that period surprised me. I have already watched Wakamatsu, Adachi and multiple others, so how could I have missed this one?
It's strange because it really seems like he enjoyed real notoriety and positive critical reception in the 70s, so my best guess is that with time his very human and honest film about the human condition got forgotten because the pretty blunt sexual themes couldn't fit in any of the categories that started to settle with time. For exemple Oshima is still venerated because he is very clean, pret-à-porter poetry, Mizoguchi for the slowly burning socially complex rebellion, Wakamatsu (while being less known) because he is more pointy and ruthless in his social critique, etc. Kumashiro is something else. After watching The Woman with Red Hair I was taken aback. The main girl character is such a strong rebel, the armonization of violence and rapes while still trying to find something else for me was stronger than other japanese narratives with similar themes. The sex scenes are all full of human novelties, I don't think I have actually seen another movie where a specific sexual position is developped so well in the script.
The good thing is that all his biggest movies seems to be available on bluray. Fans have kept filling the gaps of missing english subtitles so little by little I'll be able to watch all of his. Which isn't the case for Wakamatsu for exemple.
Have you watched any of his films?