Kinji Fukasaku, a Japanese director hailed as one of his country’s living masters of cinema, whose 60 films ranged from outrageous cult hits such as Black Lizard and a series of violent gangster movies to the Japanese scenes in the 1970 World War II epic Tora! Tora! Tora! died in Tokyo on Jan. 12.
He was 72.
The cause was prostate cancer, according to his film distributor, Toei Co.
Heralded by such directors as Quentin Tarantino and John Woo, Mr. Fukasaku was best known in the United States for a handful of sci-fi films, including The Green Slime and Message From Space.
But in Japan, the prolific director was respected for a broad range of adventuresome, edgy works that often used violence to make statements about social control, authority and individual freedom.
Mr. Fukasaku’s last film was the provocative and graphic Battle Royale, released in late 2000, about a class of high-school students coerced into killing one another in a bizarre game of survival. Nearly banned by the government, it was an indictment of Japan’s competitive education system and other aspects of societal deterioration.
It set box-office records in Japan, packing theaters with adolescents despite an unusual R-15 rating, barring viewers under the age of 15.
At his death he was working on a sequel, Battle Royale II, which will be completed by his son, Kenta.
Mr. Fukasaku said his war and gangster movies drew on his experiences as a child in war-torn Japan.
