Hirobumi Watanabe
Director · b. 1982 · Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Born in 1982 in Otawara, Tochigi prefecture, Watanabe Hirobumi graduated in Japanese literature and, after graduation, entered the Japan Academy of Moving Images. His graduation project, the 41-minute film The Light Pig of August (Hachigatsu no Karui Buta), received the Grand Prix at the Fuji Film Lovers Festival, as well as other awards. In 2013, together with his brother Yuji, composer of film music, he created Foolish Piggies Films in his hometown of Otawara. Their first production was also the debut in Watanabe's feature film, And the Mud Ship Sails Away..., which was presented at the 26th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival and had several screenings outside Japan. The film was released in Japanese theatres in December 2014. His second film, 7 Days, won the best film award in the Japanese Cinema Splash section of the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival. He has been invited to several other festivals and won the Nippon Vision Jury Award at the 17th edition of the Nippon Connection festival. Subsequently, Watanabe shot at least one film a year, always with his brother Watanabe Yuji as the author of the soundtrack and Bang Woo-hyun as director of photography. However, for his most recent film, I'm Really Good (2020), Watanabe also served as a cameraman. This is also his first title in which his grandmother, who died last year at the age of 102, does not appear. After almost a decade of consistency, more or less with the same people in front of and behind the camera, Watanabe's career seems to have come to a turning point.
Movies11
Movie7.3ComedyRomanceArakawa Ao lives happily on his own and hardly ever leaves Shimokitazawa, where he works at a vintage clothing shop, goes to occasional concerts and hangs out at his favorite bar. Then, he gets an unusual request to appear in an independent film.
Movie8.0DramaA four-part film done in the unique style of each director, Matusbayashi Urara gives a portrayal of a struggling actress named Machiko who lives in Kamata. Machiko is the central axis of the movie as the film comically depicts what it means to be a "woman" and an "actress" in society through showing the patterns of life as conducted by her and the people that surround her.
MovieDramaComedyA bittersweet, hilarious, enlightening and inspirational road trip through Japanese arthouse cinemas with a heartily independent filmmaker, who also struggles to release his own movies in real life.
Movie5.8ComedyBorn out of every artist’s creative crisis, the search for the next topic, Hirobumi WATANABE presents his latest film, dealing with the question of what his film should be about. The director stages himself as he idles away his days, delivering endless monologs during car rides, sleeping on the floor at his grandma’s house, or philosophizing over video games and the FIFA World Cup.
Movie8.0DramaMysteryIn a suburb north of Tokyo that seems to be secluded from the world’s madness and malice, Yusuke Mizuhara works as a lifeguard at a swimming pool. With no family, friends or love, his life is lonely and monotonous. One day, he goes to another pool as a replacement guard with his unpopular co-worker Koji Shirasaki…
MovieDramaAoi is a 17-year-old girl uncertain about her future, but one thing she’s sure of is her pride in being a junior to the legendary actor RYU Chishu, who graduated from her school a century ago. Unfortunately, she’s the only member of her high school’s film club, which now faces closure as her graduation approaches. One summer afternoon, she discovers an old, tattered script in the clubroom, sparking her imagination—who could have written it? As her thoughts run wild, Her strained relationship with her father, a homeroom teacher whose stance remains unclear—friend or foe— and navigates her interactions with a group of eccentric classmates.
Movie6.0MusicDramaThe band "Techno Brothers" played by Watanabe, brother Watanabe Yuji and pal Kurosaki Takanori, go to find fame and fortune in Tôkyô. It’s more accurate, though, to call it their manager’s plan. Named Himuro, she channels the look and attitude of famed Vogue editor Anna Wintour, from her bobbed hair and ever-present sunglasses to her commanding air and iron will.
Movie8.0DramaThe latest unique human drama from Hirobumi and Yuji Watanabe portrays, in black and white and without words, a man who lives with his aging grandmother and works silently in a pigpen.
Movie6.8DramaComedyA normal day for little Riko at home and at school. A vivid snapshot pervaded by the calm flow of reality that creates an authentic sense of wonder.
Movie6.0DramaComedyPoolsideman's Watanabe Brothers stamp their trademark brand of humor and melancholy on this gem of a road movie, as two Beatlemaniacs plan and then travel to Tokyo for a Paul McCartney concert.
Movie5.5HorrorComedyWhat happens when Watanabe meets horror? The eccentric director of instant cult movie "Techno Brothers" plays a director hired by a production company to make a documentary. His task is to spend a week in a haunted house. The approach is comical and offbeat, but as the story progresses, the laughter gives way to fear. Will we end up more scared or amused?