:Kiyoshi Nishimura

Nishimura graduated from the Tachikawa High School in Tokyo.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khMkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22%20%E8%A5%BF%E6%9D%91%E6%BD%94%22%20-wikipedia%20%E8%87%AA%E6%AE%BA |title=週刊文春 |date=May 1994 |publisher=文藝春秋 |pages=172 |language=ja}} While studying, he worked part-time at a U.S. military base in Tachikawa, where he became interested in filmmaking.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} In 1956, he graduated from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a classmate of politician Shintaro Ishihara.

Nishimura joined the Toho entertainment corporation and worked as an assistant director for multiple filmmakers, including Akira Kurosawa, Mikio Naruse, Ishirō Honda, Yuzō Kawashima, Hirokawa Horimichi, Yasuki Chiba, Eizō Sugawa, Kengo Furusawa, and Hideo Onchi.{{Cite web |title=Kiyoshi Nishimura – Directors Guild of Japan |url=https://www.dgj.or.jp/en/ni-8/ |access-date=2025-03-30 |website=www.dgj.or.jp}}

In 1969, he made his directorial debut with the action-thriller It's Too Early to Die (Shinu ni wa Mada Hayai), starring Toshio Kurosawa.{{Citation |last=Nishimura |first=Kiyoshi |title=Shinu ni wa Mada Hayai |date=1969-06-14 |type=Action, Thriller |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3533420/ |access-date=2025-01-19 |others=Toshio Kurosawa, Mako Midori, Koji Takahashi |publisher=Toho}} Nishimura was known for incorporating jazz into his film soundtracks.{{Cite web |last=Scanlon |first=Hayley |date=2022-12-16 |title=The Creature Called Man (豹は走った, Kiyoshi Nishimura, 1970) |url=https://windowsonworlds.com/2022/12/16/the-creature-called-man-%E8%B1%B9%E3%81%AF%E8%B5%B0%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F-kiyoshi-nishimura-1970/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Windows on Worlds |language=en}}

Due to the decline of the Japanese film industry, Nishimura left Tokyo to work independently and directed numerous television series. In 1987, Nishimura was arrested for using a video camera in a public bathhouse (sentō) to film women. This incident negatively impacted his career and public image, leading to a lack of job opportunities. Following the incident, he directed television series under the pseudonym Yūsai Itō (井藤雄才).{{Cite web |last=Scanlon |first=Hayley |date=2021-05-23 |title=Itaru Kikumura |url=https://windowsonworlds.com/tag/itaru-kikumura/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Windows on Worlds |language=en}}

Nishimura was found dead on the Hayama coast in Kanagawa on November 17, 1993, having drowned. A police investigation concluded that his death was a suicide.

Kiyoshi Nishimura's work never became popular outside of Japan and several of his lesser known works fell into obscurity.{{Cite web |last=Scanlon |first=Hayley |date=2021-05-23 |title=Itaru Kikumura |url=https://windowsonworlds.com/tag/itaru-kikumura/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Windows on Worlds |language=en}} However, some English critics revisited his films and reviewed them positively.

Benjamin Hunting of Hagerty discovered Hairpin Circus and was impressed with the cinematography of the film. He called the film "ahead of its time" and wrote:

{{Quote|text="In an era where practical stunts were the only option, the entirety of the film’s street sequences are shot in-camera, with none of today’s adrenaline-simulating special effects layered on top. To enhance the sensation of speed, and further take viewers down the deep well of detachment and escapism soaking through the lives of each character, Nishimura favors long exposures that sear Tokyo’s streetlights and neons into the retina, while also attaching cameras to several of the vehicles seen on-screen to provide bumper, roof, and rear spoiler perspectives on the action at hand. Of particular note is some of the first use of now-common shaky-cam, adding to the furtive nature of the footage and making it seem almost as though the movie is being stolen straight from the city’s streets."}}

Hayley Scanlon, an independent film critic, revisted Nishimura's debut film Too Young To Die and positively reviewed it, writing that "Nishimura’s 1969 debut is a masterclass in high tension." She also reviewed The Creature Called Man and acclaimed the film, applauding its heavy political commentary.

As director:

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• {{IMDb name|0632756|Kiyoshi Nishimura}}
• {{jmdb name|id=0219560|name=Nishimura Kiyoshi}}
• [http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/hairpin-circus.shtml Hairpin Circus review] at Midnight Eye

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Category:1932 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:Japanese filmmakers

Category:Film people from Tokyo

Category:Hitotsubashi University alumni

Category:Suicides by drowning in Japan