SABU
Director · b. 1964 · Wakayama, Japan
Sabu (サブ, Sabu, born November 18, 1964) is the pseudonym of Japanese actor and director Hiroyuki Tanaka. Born in Wakayama Prefecture, Sabu studied at an Osaka fashion school before deciding to go to Tokyo to become a professional musician. It was suggested he try acting and in 1986 he made his film debut in Sorobanzuku. He earned his first starring role in the 1991 World Apartment Horror, a live-action film directed by Katsuhiro Ōtomo of Akira fame. Working from a script he wrote himself, he made his directorial debut with the 1996 Dangan Runner, a film that set his early style of "quirky action-comedies propelled by characters who hurtle headlong though squirming narratives steered more by the forces of incidence and coincidence than the actions of the protagonists themselves." Shin'ichi Tsutsumi played the lead in Sabu's first five films. Blessing Bell, starring Susumu Terajima (who has played minor roles in nearly all of Sabu's films), was a turn away from his kinetic, parodic, and black comedy narratives, and earned the NETPAC Award at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. Later films featured the J-pop band V6. In 2009, he directed The Crab Cannery Ship, a modern adaptation of a classic of Japanese proletarian literature written by Takiji Kobayashi. He has continued to work as an actor, such as in Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer (2001). His film Chasuke's Journey was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.
Movies17
Movie7.1DramaHistoryIn the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.
Silence
2016 · 3.4K votes
Movie7.0ActionCrimeAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.
Movie6.5HistoryDramaKiyoha rises from the lowly courtesan ranks to the high class position of Oiran in the steamy red-light district of Yoshiwara. She is determined to stand on her own two feet and live life as she pleased.
Movie6.9DramaRomanceA part-time employee in a mahjong parlour runs across a young woman, who is unable to walk, in baby carriage. He becomes friends with the woman and begins to feel enamoured with her.
Movie6.5Action1994 sequel to Satoru Kobayashi's "The Blind Cat". Yakuza drug dealers lure the blind Kiriko into town to take revenge on her. However, Kiriko is a master swordswoman and has plans of her own.
Movie6.5ActionScience FictionIntergalactic bounty hunters Iria and Bob return to track down an ancient mystical relic. When a second Zeiram unit shows up and goes berserk, it takes all of Iria's resources to survive a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the fearsome space creature.
Movie4.4A coming-of-age story about two runners, Kenji and Ryuji, tangled in love, loss, and rivalry, as they navigate complex emotions and relationships.
800 Two Lap Runners
1994 · 5 votes
Movie6.4HorrorA filmmaker and crew slowly go insane after being continually haunted by the ghost of a dead actress.
Movie6.8CrimeComedyA would-be bank robber forgets his mask on his first big heist, and then botches an attempt to shoplift a replacement mask from a nearby convenience store. The store's clerk, a washed-up rock star, chases the thief and literally runs into a Yakuza to whom he owes money. Thus begins an all-night, three-way pursuit through the streets of Tokyo.
Movie6.2ActionThrillerTatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.
Movie7.5CrimeActionA story about the development of a bright and strong yakuza. Otaki is an old-fashioned respectful yakuza who tries to protect his small yakuza family. When his boss gets shot, he decides to go after the plotters.
Movie7.4CrimeDramaSawaki is a postman who's not quite thrilled about his boring way of life. But his life is about to change when he delivers mail to his old schoolmate Noguchi, who's now a member of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, and just finished cutting his little finger off.
Movie5.8ComedyHorrorA Yakuza underling is given the assignment to rid an apartment of its tenants within a week. He tries a variety of desperate tactics to no avail. Soon his problems get worse as an evil spirit makes its presence known.
Movie6.0ComedyCrimeHaving lost everything to horse racing, Yûji accidentally gets 10 million yen. But this sum belongs to a Yakuza.
Movie6.7ComedyCrimeA dark and strange comedy about a bank robber with bad luck. Bungling a bank robbery turns out to be a profitable mistake for Yamazaki, an amateur crook who ends up with 80 million yen after a string of improbable accidents. But having so much cash doesn't make his life is any easier. In fact, it gets much more complicated when Yamazaki stabs a hairdresser by mistake and instantly becomes a hunted fugitive. He's just one unlucky monkey but can he turn his luck around?
Movie7.0FantasyRomanceKuma-chan, an alien who looks just like a stuffed bear, helps a middle-aged sculptor fall in love with a young actress from a theater company.
Movie6.5ActionCrimeA corrupt cop teams up with an unlikely partner to protect the city from a gang of ruthless drug addicts.