Koji Wakamatsu, award-winning Japanese director of ‘Caterpillar,’ who challenged society dies
TOKYO – Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu, who ruthlessly challenged authority with the grotesque and sexual, has died after a traffic accident this month. He was 76.
His production company said on its official Twitter site Thursday that Wakamatsu died late Wednesday after being hospitalized unconscious after a traffic accident earlier this month.
His “Caterpillar” depicts a Japanese World War II soldier who returns scarred, and with no arms and legs, but with an ample sexual appetite. Shinobu Terajima, who played the soldier’s enduring wife, won the Silver Bear award for Best Actress at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.
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Wakamatsu ventured into pornography, especially early in his career, but with his artistry he managed to turn such works into a pensive critique of society. His latest film is about writer Yukio Mishima.
