Born in Hokkaido in 1916 and died in 1996, Kobayashi was a pacifist who served in the Japanese army in the Second World War, and his films are fierce critiques of authority, war and conformity.
Filmography
- The Thick-Walled Room (1956)
- Black River (1957)
- The Human Condition (1959)
- Harakiri (1962)
- Kwaidan (1964)
- Samurai Rebellion (1967)
- Fossils (1975)
- Tokyo Trial (1983)