{"product_id":"the-man-who-left-his-will-on-film-東京戦争戦後秘話-original-japanese-first-release-movie-poster-1970-nagisa-oshima-atg-b2-size-c-51-73-cm-m177","title":"“The Man Who Left His Will on Film” (東京戦争戦後秘話), Original Japanese First-Release Movie Poster 1970, Nagisa Oshima \/ ATG, B2 Size (c. 51 × 73 cm) M177","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is an \u003cstrong\u003eoriginal Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the first Japanese release of Nagisa Oshima’s\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Man Who Left His Will on Film\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ein 1970\u003c\/strong\u003e. Released in Japan as \u003cstrong\u003e東京戦争戦後秘話\u003c\/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003eTokyo Sensō Sengo Hiwa\u003c\/em\u003e), the film is one of the most intellectually radical works of the \u003cstrong\u003eJapanese New Wave\u003c\/strong\u003e and an important production associated with the \u003cstrong\u003eArt Theatre Guild (ATG)\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDirected by \u003cstrong\u003eNagisa Oshima\u003c\/strong\u003e and produced during one of the most politically charged periods of post-war Japanese cinema, the film uses the story of a group of radical student filmmakers to explore \u003cstrong\u003ememory, political commitment, suicide, cinema, voyeurism and the unstable boundary between lived reality and recorded image\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is less a conventional narrative than a deeply self-reflexive film about the act of filmmaking itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePoster design\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe poster is an exceptional example of \u003cstrong\u003e1970s Japanese avant-garde film graphics\u003c\/strong\u003e, perfectly suited to Oshima’s fractured and self-conscious approach to cinema.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe upper half is dominated by a monumental \u003cstrong\u003eblack-and-white close-up of a filmmaker staring through a motion-picture camera\u003c\/strong\u003e. The camera almost merges with the face behind it, making it difficult to separate the observer from the mechanical apparatus through which he sees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is not simply promotional imagery—it goes directly to the central question of the film:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat happens when the camera becomes the mediator between experience, memory and truth?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeneath the camera is a striking semi-transparent female figure seated and looking upward. Her body is filled with a \u003cstrong\u003esuperimposed image of a narrow Tokyo streetscape\u003c\/strong\u003e, creating an extraordinary double-exposure effect in which the human form and the city become inseparable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe imagery suggests that Tokyo is not merely the setting of the film but something \u003cstrong\u003eprojected into, remembered through and physically carried by its characters\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe palette is deliberately restrained: \u003cstrong\u003echarcoal black, smoky grey, faded photographic blue and raw cream paper\u003c\/strong\u003e, interrupted only by small passages of yellow, red and indigo typography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is severe, cerebral and highly sophisticated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe title\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcross the lower section appears the Japanese title in large, jagged brush lettering:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e東京戦争戦後秘話\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe calligraphy has an intentionally rough, almost improvised quality, rejecting the polished commercial typography of mainstream cinema advertising.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe title may be translated approximately as:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Secret History of the Post-Tokyo War”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewhile the internationally used English title:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHE MAN WHO LEFT HIS WILL ON FILM\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eappears vertically through the composition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDirectly above the title is the red line:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e「映画で遺書を残して死んだ男の物語」\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e— \u003cstrong\u003e“The story of a man who died leaving his will on film.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis line encapsulates the film’s premise while retaining the ambiguity that defines the work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFilm background\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe story centres on a young radical filmmaker who becomes obsessed with footage apparently left behind by a colleague who has died.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs he attempts to understand the meaning of the images, the boundaries between \u003cstrong\u003ememory, actuality, political action and cinematic reconstruction\u003c\/strong\u003e begin to collapse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe film repeatedly questions whether the images being viewed are genuine records of events, reconstructions, projections of memory—or something that exists only through the act of filming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOshima deliberately destabilises the viewer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstead of using cinema to offer certainty, he uses it to undermine certainty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe film asks whether a camera can preserve truth, whether political action can be meaningfully represented, and whether memory itself is fundamentally shaped by the images through which we attempt to retrieve it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNagisa Oshima\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1970, \u003cstrong\u003eNagisa Oshima\u003c\/strong\u003e had become one of the defining figures of the Japanese New Wave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis work consistently rejected the conventions of traditional studio cinema and confronted subjects including \u003cstrong\u003epolitical radicalism, sexuality, crime, nationalism, social alienation and institutional authority\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFilms such as \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCruel Story of Youth\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNight and Fog in Japan\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDeath by Hanging\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBoy\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e had already established Oshima as one of the most uncompromising filmmakers of his generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Man Who Left His Will on Film\u003c\/em\u003e pushes that radicalism further by turning the \u003cstrong\u003eprocess of filmmaking itself into the subject\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe camera is no longer merely observing the story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt becomes part of the story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe ATG connection\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe upper-right corner carries the unmistakable \u003cstrong\u003eATG\u003c\/strong\u003e insignia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eArt Theatre Guild\u003c\/strong\u003e was central to the development of experimental and independent Japanese cinema during the 1960s and 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eATG provided an exhibition and production framework for filmmakers working outside conventional studio expectations, allowing directors to pursue formally adventurous, politically confrontational and often highly personal projects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginal ATG posters therefore occupy a special position in Japanese film collecting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey represent not only individual films but an extraordinary period when \u003cstrong\u003ecinema, theatre, graphic design, political thought and the Japanese counterculture intersected\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis poster’s uncompromising design is entirely consistent with that history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMeta-cinema and the image of the camera\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the most powerful element of the design is the enormous camera occupying the upper centre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn most film advertising, cameras and filmmaking apparatus are carefully kept outside the illusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere, the camera is unavoidable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts lens, viewfinder and mechanical body occupy the same visual importance as the human face behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat choice is particularly appropriate for a film concerned with the question of \u003cstrong\u003ewhether an image documents reality or creates an alternative reality of its own\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe poster therefore becomes unusually self-aware: an advertisement for a film about images that explicitly shows the machine responsible for making those images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is an exceptionally intelligent piece of film-poster design.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExcellent condition overall.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease review all photographs carefully; they show the \u003cstrong\u003eexact poster for sale, front and reverse\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is an \u003cstrong\u003eoriginal Japanese B2 theatrical poster from the film’s first-release campaign in 1970\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003cbr\u003eIt is \u003cstrong\u003enot a reproduction or modern reprint\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is approximately \u003cstrong\u003e56 years old\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCertificate of Authenticity included.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Japan Poster Shop","offers":[{"title":"Default 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