Junji Masuda

Junji Masuda

Acting

October 25, 1915 — May 25, 1989
Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
86 movies

Biography

No biography available.

🎬 Junji Masuda's Filmography

86 movies sorted by popularity

I Want to Be a Shellfish
8.0

Television production of I Want to Be a Shellfish. On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder. According to the accusation by GHQ, Toyomatsu "attemped to kill a US prisoner", which was nothing but an order by his superior and failed after all with hurting the prisoner by weak Toyomatsu. Also, Toyomatsu was driven to corner at the trial by the fact that he fed the US prisoner some burdock roots to nourish him. Toyomatsu believes nothing but being not guilty, but he is sentenced to death by hanging. Prior to the execution, Toyomatsu writes a long farewell letter to his family, the wife and the only son: "If I ever incarnate, I hate to be a human being any more.... Oh yes, I would like to be...a shellfish living on the rock-bottom of the sea."

I Want to Be a Shellfish

1958
The Killing Game

A middle-aged office worker, Masao Okada (Eiji Okada), discovers that his worsening illness is terminal cancer. Shaken and resigned, he meets a mysterious man, Suzuki (Haruo Tanaka), who knows every detail of his life. Also a dying patient, Suzuki proposes a “game”: two men with little time left will live in suspense, wondering when and how the other might kill, using paranoia as a way to escape the greater fear of death. Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe and based on a story by Kyotaro Nishimura, this short TV film from "Horror Theater Unbalance" blends psychological dread with social reflection. Alongside Okada’s fragile romance with nurse Akiko (Masumi Harukawa), the story introduces a nihilistic subplot where a reckless young couple (Renji Ishibashi among them) engage in a fatal dare that ends in self-destruction — echoing the era’s sense of emptiness and contrasting Okada’s struggle to find meaning in the face of death.

The Killing Game

1973
Junji Masuda | MovieMind AI