To Each His Own Cinema
Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, “To Each His Own Cinema” brought together 33 of the world’s pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the…
Kubi
Lord Oda Nobunaga plans to control Japan where rival warlords battle by waging war against several clans. His vassal Araki Murashige stages a rebellion and promptly disappears.
Getting Any?
While pursuing his dream of having car sex, a goofy middle-aged man makes all the wrong moves and ends up enrolling in a number of crazy escapades.
Glory to the Filmmaker!
Takeshi Kitano plays a version of himself in which he’s a struggling director cycling through a number of different genres in an effort to complete his latest project.
Takeshi’s Castle (2002)
Takeshi’s Castle was a Japanese game show that aired between 1986 and 1990 on the Tokyo Broadcasting System. It featured the Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano as a count who owns…
Beyond Outrage
As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as…
Achilles and the Tortoise
Machisu is a painter. He never had the success he thinks he is entitled to. Regardless of this, he always remains trying to be successful. His wife Sachiko keeps supporting…
Takeshis’
Beat Takeshi lives the busy and sometimes surreal life of a showbiz celebrity. One day he meets his blond lookalike named Kitano, a shy convenience store cashier, who, still an…
Dolls
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a…
Zatoichi
Zatoichi is a 19th century blind nomad who makes his living as a gambler and masseur. However, behind this humble facade, he is a master swordsman gifted with a lightning-fast…
Brother
A Japanese Yakuza gangster’s deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother’s gang.
Kikujiro
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro is the unlikely companion for Masao who is determined to see the mother he has never met. The two begin a series of adventures which…
Fireworks
Detective Nishi is relieved from a stakeout to visit his sick wife in hospital. He is informed that she is terminally ill, and is advised to take her home. During…
Kids Return
Shinji and Masaru spend most of their school days harassing fellow classmates and playing pranks. They drop out and Shinji becomes a small-time boxer, while Masaru joins up with a…
Sonatine
Kitano plays Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life. Along with a few of his henchmen, he is sent by his boss to Okinawa to help end a gang…
A Scene at the Sea
When deaf garbage man Shigeru finds a broken surfboard on one of his runs, it piques his curiosity, even though he has no experience with surfing. So he repairs the…
Violent Cop
A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.
Boiling Point
Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a…
Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen
Ryuzo and his 7 former henchmen are all retired yakuza, but they now live as regular old men. One day, Ryuzo becomes the victim of a phishing fraud. He calls…
Outrage Coda
Ôtomo gets involved with new Yakuza battles after he comes back the Yakuza society.