Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (黒沢清, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, born July 19, 1955; Kobe) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, actor, and professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' inner turmoils and quests for meaning and connections, he is best known for his contributions to psychological horror and Japanese horror, notably his acclaimed 1997 film Cure, although he has also worked in a variety of other genres.

Works

Cloud

Ryosuke Yoshii, an ordinary reseller, carelessly earns grudges by people and becomes entangled in a life-threatening struggle.

Release Date:2024-09-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:26

Horror's Greatest

A deep dive into everything we love about horror — from fresh looks at classics to unearthing scores of hidden gems, this series has something for every fright film enthusiast.

Release Date:2024-08-27

Character:Self - Director, Cure

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:8

Chime

A chef's life is disrupted by a chime that brings with it an increasing sense of dread.

Release Date:2024-08-02

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:39

Serpent's Path

A mysterious woman teams up with a man whose daughter was killed and who is now seeking revenge. Together they kidnap members of an organization and torture them to find out what really happened.

Release Date:2024-06-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:14

Les Cuisiniers of Chime

Documentary on the creation of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film "Chime"

Release Date:2024-06-14

Character:Self

Kaidan. Strange Stories of Japanese Ghosts

An exploration of the spirit world as portrayed in the height of the J-horror era of the late ‘90s.

Release Date:2023-10-12

Character:Himself

The J-Horror Virus

How did a single ‘Big in Japan’ videotape change the course of global horror history? Find out in this insightful documentary charting the origins, evolution and diffusion across the world of a distinctive brand of Japanese supernatural chillers featuring vengeful ghosts manifesting themselves through contemporary technology against a backdrop of urban alienation and social decay. From Psychic Vision: Jaganrei (1988) and straight-to-video scary true stories to such key titles as Ring (1998), Pulse (2001) and The Grudge (2002), critics and filmmakers reflect on how the bleak Dystopian visions and unsettling atmospheres infiltrated their way into the world’s shocker consciousness.

Release Date:2023-08-27

Modern Love Tokyo

This seven-episode anthology features a cast of leading actors and depicts various forms of "love," such as love almost forgotten, love between sons and mothers, and love that transcends borders.

Release Date:2022-10-21

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:18

Actually...

Nakanishi Aruno is disliked and bullied by other Nogizaka46 members because she's different from them. After one of them lock Aruno and tell her to not come back, she decides to come back definitely.

Release Date:2022-03-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:4

Wife of a Spy

It’s 1940, and the population of Japan is divided over its entry into World War II. Satoko, the wife of a fabric merchant, is devoted to her husband but is beginning to suspect he’s up to something. Soon she allows herself to be drawn into a game in which she enigmatically conceals her intentions.

Release Date:2020-10-16

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:90

To the Ends of the Earth

A young Japanese woman named Yoko finds her cautious and insular nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of her travel variety show.

Release Date:2019-06-14

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:53

Kiyoshi Kurosawa, au dos des images

At the invitation of Limosin and Bergala, Kiyoshi Kurosawa rediscovers his own films, first during the shooting of his French film in Paris and then in Tokyo. From his first militant films in Super 8 to his undisputed masterpieces, the Japanese director confides his obsessions, his repulsions, his deliciously heterogeneous tastes as a film buff, his pleasures and his fears as a filmmaker.

Release Date:2018-11-22

Character:Self

The Brand New Legend of the Stardust Brothers

A sequel to the 1980 movie The Legend of the Stardust Brothers. As well as being a rock musical comedy, it also borrows elements from other genres such as road movies, westerns, and meta fiction.

Release Date:2018-01-20

Vote Count:1

Foreboding

Miyuki Asakawa tells her colleague Etsuko Yamagiwa that she has a ghost in her home. When Etsuko goes to Miyuki's home, there is only Miyuki's father there. Etsuko becomes worried about Miyuki's state of mind, and she takes Miyuki to the psychiatric hospital where her husband, Tatsuo, works. There, Miyuki receives a diagnosis that she lacks the concept of "family." Later, Etsuko tells Tatsuo that she is not comfortable with Dr. Jirō Makabe. Tatsuo introduced her to Dr. Makabe earlier at the hospital. Etsuko has a feeling of unease about her husband working with Dr. Makabe. One day, Etsuko hears Dr. Makabe state "I came to Earth to invade."

Release Date:2017-11-11

Department:Writing

Job:Teleplay

Vote Count:14

Foreboding: serial version

Something’s wrong and Etsuko is one of the first to notice. It’s not just the sky that looks different, Etsuko suddenly begins hearing strange noises, and an increasing number of inexplicable things are happening around her.

Release Date:2017-09-19

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:1

Before We Vanish

Narumi is on bad terms with her husband, Shinji, when, one day, Shinji goes missing. He comes back a couple of days later, but he seems like a totally different person, and he is now gentle and tender. He goes for a walk every day. Meanwhile, journalist Sakurai covers the story of a family that was brutally murdered, when an unexplained phenomenon takes place. Shinji Kase tells his wife that he came to Earth to invade.

Release Date:2017-09-16

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:86

Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Broken Circuits

An interview with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa discussing his work in the horror genre from his V-cinema days to his 2001 released film Pulse

Release Date:2017-07-17

Character:Himself

Junichiro Hayashi: Creepy Images

An interview with cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi speaking about his work with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Release Date:2017-07-17

Character:Himself

Terror from the Internet

Documentary on the film "Pulse"

Release Date:2017-07-10

Character:Self

Daguerrotype

An aging photographer's obsession with an early form of photography draws his assistant and daughter into a work of mystery.

Release Date:2016-10-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:43

Creepy

After having narrowly escaped an attempt on his life at the hands of a psychopath, detective inspector Takakura quits active service in the police force and takes up a position as a university lecturer in criminal psychology. But his desire to get to the bottom of criminals’ motives remains, and he does not hesitate long when former colleague Nogami asks him to reopen an old case.

Release Date:2016-06-18

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:192

Journey to the Shore

Mizuki’s husband Yusuke has been missing for three years. He suddenly comes back home as a ghost and asks Mizuki to go on a trip with him. Their trip consists of visiting the people that helped Yusuke on his previous travel.

Release Date:2015-09-30

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:65

Hitchcock/Truffaut

Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.

Release Date:2015-09-04

Character:Self

Vote Count:240

Japanscope, panorama de la nouvelle Nouvelle Vague

A “Cinéma, de notre temps” series episode directed by french filmmaker Philippe-Emmanuel Sorlin, originally aired 16 June 2015.

Release Date:2015-06-16

Flowers of Taipei: Taiwan New Cinema

With Taiwan remaining in the grip of martial law in 1982, a group of filmmakers from that country set out to establish a cultural identity through cinema and to share it with the world. This engaging documentary looks at the movement's legacy.

Release Date:2014-10-01

Character:Self

Vote Count:16

Henri Langlois vu par...

Thirteen filmmakers talk about Henri Langlois and their relationship with him.

Release Date:2014-07-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Self

Mr. X

The image of a mysterious, solitary filmmaker - a cineaste maudit - who flees from both the media and the public, is unrelentingly bound to the figure of Leos Carax, in France. Elsewhere, the real focus is on his films and he is considered to be an icon of world cinema. Mr.X dives into the poetic and visionary world of an artist who was already a cult figure from his very first film. Punctuated by interviews and unseen footage, this documentary is most of all a fine-tuned exploration of the poetic and visionary world of Leos Carax, alias "Mr.X".

Release Date:2014-01-20

Character:Self

Vote Count:9

Seventh Code

Akiko, a young woman, comes to Vladivostok to meet Matsunaga, a young businessman she has met in Tokyo only once. Akiko finally finds Matsunaga. However, he leaves her again, warning her not to trust strangers in a foreign country. She tries to follow him, but she is attacked by thugs and dumped on the outskirts of town.

Release Date:2013-11-13

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:27

Real

Koichi and Atsumi are lovers who have known each other all their lives. A year ago, however, a suicide attempt by Atsumi left her in a coma. Through 'sensing', a type of neurosurgical procedure allowing contact with the intentional aspect of a comatose patient's mind, Koishi tries to find out why Atsumi tried to kill herself, and to bring her back to consciousness. He enters her subconscious, and is told to find a picture of a plesiosaur she drew when she was a child. It turns out that a childhood incident buried in their past will bring their minds together.

Release Date:2013-06-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:65

Penance

The murder of a young girl leaves the inhabitants of a small Japanese village in shock. The body of Emili is found by four classmates with whom she was playing. The murder is never solved. Emili's mother, Asako, is torn by grief and puts a curse on the four girls when they claim not to remember the killer's face. Each of the girls, in their own way, will do penance for their silence.

Release Date:2013-05-29

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:38

Beautiful New Bay Area Project

While inspecting a wharf, young Amano, president of an urban planning company, meets beautiful laborer Takako and falls in love at first sight. However, she does not return his affections, so he steals her ID card and goes on the run from the infuriated Takako.

Release Date:2013-03-20

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:11

Wordholic Prisoner

A wordholic man, acting as the chief editor by a certain publishing company, is confined by the writer who wishes to publish.

Release Date:2012-04-13

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Penance

The murder of a young girl shocks a small Japanese village, and the victim's mother is distraught when the classmates her daughter was playing with all claim not to remember the identity of the killer. In her anger, she puts a curse on them.

Release Date:2012-01-08

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Episode Count:5

Vote Count:16

Japanese Cinema: New Territories

This documentary by Hubert Niogret looks at the revival of Japanese cinema during the 1990s.

Release Date:2011-03-25

Character:Self

Occult

Koji Shiraishi interviews the survivors of an indiscriminate attack at a sightseeing resort and starts investigating the strange events that have been happening to them.

Release Date:2009-03-21

Character:Self

Vote Count:56

Tokyo Sonata

A young boy takes interest in piano while his family begins to disintegrate around him after his father loses his job.

Release Date:2008-09-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:239

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows

Martin Scorsese narrates this tribute to Val Lewton, the producer of a series of memorable low-budget horror films for RKO Studios. Raised by his mother and his aunt, his films often included strong female characters who find themselves in difficult situations and who have to grow up quickly. He is best remembered for the horror films he made at RKO starting in 1940. Starting with only a title - his first was The Cat People - he would meticulously oversee every aspect of the film's completion. Although categorized as horror films, his films never showed a monster, leaving it all to the viewers imagination, assisted by music, mood and lighting.

Release Date:2007-09-02

Character:Self

Vote Count:18

Retribution

A detective investigates a series of murders. A possible serial killer might be on a rampage, since they all are in the same vicinity and by the same method, but as the evidence points toward the detective as the prime suspect, a ghost in red follows him, and he begins to question his identity. His realization of what seems to have really happened results in something much more sinister and larger in scope, and it leaves his psyche scarred.

Release Date:2007-02-24

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:90

What's a Director?

Works commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Japan mapping Supervision Association

Release Date:2006-11-04

Building the Inferno: Nobuo Nakagawa and the Making of 'Jigoku'

A new documentary on director Nobuo Nakagawa and the making of the film, Jigoku. Featuring exclusive interview with Nakagawa collaborators.

Release Date:2006-09-19

Character:self

Vote Count:1

Pulse

When the dead discover a means to contact the living through electronic devices, cellphones and computers become open gateways to monstrosities and destruction.

Release Date:2006-08-11

Department:Writing

Job:Original Film Writer

Vote Count:530

Reincarnation

A Japanese actress begins having strange visions and experiences after landing a role in a horror film about a real-life murder spree that took place over forty years ago.

Release Date:2006-01-07

Character:Professor Kawashima

Vote Count:140

Time Slip

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's segment from 'A Story of Love, Wonder and Horror.'

Release Date:2005-10-21

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Loft

A writer retreats to a secluded suburban house to work on her new novel. But her attention is instead occupied by her archaeologist neighbor's newly discovered mummy and a ghostly presence in her house.

Release Date:2005-10-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:37

Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs

A married couple living in a house that seems to be inhabited by supernatural beings and beetles. The first of six movies in the Kazuo Umezz's Horror Theater.

Release Date:2005-06-18

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:12

Pink Ribbon

Documentary filmmaker Kenjiro Fujii takes a look at the history of a distinctly Japanese brand of softcore pornography in this extensive examination of the "pinku eiga" genre (ピンク映画 Pinku eiga or Pinkeiga). For more than 40 years, so-called "pink" films have served as both a key source of revenue for the Japanese film industry as well as a launching pad for the careers of such mainstream filmmakers as Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After providing a detailed history of the still-profitable and popular genre through interviews with a variety of behind-the-scenes players and clips from such classic pink films as Fish Bait Boobies, director Fujii shifts his focus to the production of an upcoming pink film to offer a glimpse into the creative and stylistic evolution of the genre.

Release Date:2004-09-27

Character:Himself

Vote Count:4

Leçon de Cinéma

Release Date:2004-03-20

Character:Self

Episode Count:1

Vote Count:1

Soul Dancing

Soul Dancing is an order placed to Kiyoshi Kurosawa by a Japanese alcoholic beverage brand named Shôchu. The director then uses this cine-commercial as an excuse to film a weird fable on the arrival of a stranger in a bloodless human community.

Release Date:2004-03-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Doppelganger

Shortly after hearing from a colleague about a woman whose brother committed suicide after seeing his doppelgänger, a Japanese engineer on the verge of a breakthrough in medical technology is confronted by his own.

Release Date:2003-09-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:43

3 on 3

At some time in the 21st century, Japan's economy is in shambles. Riots and terrorism are the norm. The government buys up television stations in a last-ditch effort to promote nationalism and order to the nation. But this is the dawn of a new dark state. A new form of 3 on 3 basketball is developed in which anything goes, and the winner of the game is the team with the last man left standing.

Release Date:2003-04-26

Ambivalent Future: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Initially, Ambivalent Future was intended as a film about the production of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Bright Future". But director Fujii has taken the "behind the scenes"-concept to unprecedented heights with this unique documentary offering a close look into the world of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the auteur. Scenes from the surprisingly low key and relaxed production of "Bright Future" are of course sprinkled liberally throughout the documentary, but between these we are treated to interesting and revealing interviews with actors, producers and Kurosawa's many other collaborators. And perhaps the most surprising thing of all is how much of Kurosawa there is, talking candidly about his working methods and the philosophy behind it all.

Release Date:2003-02-08

Character:Himself

Bright Future

Two friends who work together at a Tokyo laundry are increasingly alienated from everyday life. They become fascinated with a deadly jellyfish.

Release Date:2003-01-18

Department:Editing

Job:Editor

Vote Count:47

Deka Matsuri

12-part omnibus made under the rules: "the main character is a detective" "at least one gag per minute" "the length must not exceed 10 minutes"

Release Date:2003-01-11

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:

Matasaburo the Wind Imp

Each year, at the start of the fall school year in September, Japan suffers from typhoons. That same month, in a small elementary school in a mountainous region, Saburô, a new red-haired pupil has just arrived with the wind. The children of the village thought they recognized in this strange boy who came from the city the spirit that they called “Matasaburô, the wind”. During two weeks of autumn, Matasaburô and the other children will do various experiments in nature.

Release Date:2003-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Ju-on: The Grudge

When social worker Rika is sent to check on a traumatized old lady whose family have moved in at the site of the notorious Saeki family murder case, she unwittingly unleashes a cycle of terror that is transmitted via its victims further and further from its original source.

Release Date:2002-10-18

Department:Crew

Job:Creative Consultant

Vote Count:814

School Ghost Story: Mononoke Special

"Kaibyo Densetsu" - Maki (Chizuru Ikewaki), who finds it strange that her best friend appears as a living spirit, goes to check on her. "Nanika ga Tsuite iru" - (Atsushi Itô) performs at a live concert under the direction of a female teacher who appears in front of him, and learns the truth behind the mysterious incident. "Hanako-san" - In order to escape from the curse of Sakurako, who committed suicide because of them, a former member of the newspaper club and his friends begin the Hanako-san ritual.

Release Date:2001-03-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Pulse

In the immense city of Tokyo, the darkness of the afterlife lures some of its inhabitants who are desperately trying to escape the sadness and isolation of the modern world.

Release Date:2001-02-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Man in Internet (uncredited)

Vote Count:541

Hanako San

Short film directed by Kurosawa Kiyoshi as part of the 学校の怪談物の怪スペシャル series centered around the legend of Hanako san.

Release Date:2001-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:2

Gore from Outer Space

A mother is accused of murdering her daughter but when she tells her tale, things don't seem to make sense. Her husband says they have no daughter, there's a psychic that can trace phone calls, a blonde who sings the US anthem, a house with no bathroom, some Lynchian dream sequences, aliens, breeding experiments, very quirky FBI agents, and some other random events.

Release Date:2001-01-01

Vote Count:2

Séance

A psychic housewife and her husband accidentally find a kidnapped girl. But instead of informing the police, they hatch a scheme to get famous by working with the police as a psychic consultant to "find" the girl. And then, things start to go terribly wrong.

Release Date:2000-08-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:44

Barren Illusion

In a near future where allergies have become an epidemic, music producer Haru half-heartedly dates post office clerk and mail thief Michi. He searches for violent ways to reactivate his life, she dreams of escaping abroad; both volunteer to test a new drug which may provide a cure.

Release Date:1999-12-11

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:13

Charisma

A seasoned detective is called in to rescue a politician held hostage by a lunatic. In a brief moment of uncertainty, he misses the chance for action. Leaving his job and family without explanation, he makes his way to a mountain forest, encountering a peculiar tree called Charisma.

Release Date:1999-11-10

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:45

License to Live

Yutaka was fourteen years old when he was run over by a car and fell into a coma. Now, ten years later, he wakes up and realizes that his family is not intact anymore: father, mother and sister live at different places. Yutaka decides to re-open the pony farm that his family once ran.

Release Date:1999-01-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:15

School Ghost Story G

A made-for-TV anthology horror film composed of four stories, two of which serving as prequels to the Ju-on series.

Release Date:1998-09-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:13

Eyes of the Spider

Nijima, a white-collar worker, finds the man responsible for his young daughter's murder. He tortures and interrogates the man, who maintains his innocence, before killing and burying him. He returns to his ordinary life feeling listless and hollow, until he encounters a man that introduces himself as an old friend. The man offers Nijima a new job, and subsequently introduces Nijima to his band of hired killers.

Release Date:1998-04-11

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:19

Serpent's Path

Miyashita, a former low-level yakuza member, has tracked down and kidnapped his daughter's murderer with help of his friend Nijima. But others are soon implicated in the death, leading the pair further down a violent path of revenge.

Release Date:1998-02-21

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:14

Cure

A detective starts spiraling out of control when a wave of gruesome murders with seemingly similar bizarre circumstances is sweeping Tokyo.

Release Date:1997-12-27

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:565

School Ghost Story F

A made-for-TV anthology horror film composed of three stories : Rei Video & Hoken-shitsu by Hideo Nakata and Haiko Kidan by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Release Date:1997-07-19

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

The Revenge: A Scar That Never Disappears

Second half of the violent tale of revenge from actor Sho Aikawa and director Kiyoshi Kurosawa! It's been five years since he left the force, lost his wife, and waged all out revenge, and now our hero is idling his time with a failing yakuza group. When he discovers the secret of one of his superiors, he takes up the gun of vengeance and realizes that his life has only been to serve that purpose.

Release Date:1997-05-31

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

The Revenge: A Visit from Fate

Sho Aikawa plays a police detective whose dark personal history makes it impossible for him to stay within the limits of the legal system. But he is not just a detective; he is also a husband who has to explain to his wife how he got blood on his sleeve. And the criminals he pursues turn out to be as imperfect and oddly human as he is-and just as determined to protect their own families.

Release Date:1997-03-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

A Haunted School

Amidst rumors that the spirit of a student, who committed suicide years ago, appears in the photography club darkroom, high school sophomore Yuri borrows a mysterious horror manga from her elusive but studious senior, Miwako.

Release Date:1996-11-22

Vote Count:1

Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Hero

Yuji and Kosaku become involved with a brother and sister who want to drive a local yakuza gang member out of their neighborhood.

Release Date:1996-09-21

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Nouveau Riche

A duo get mixed up with a girl who finds a trunk load full of heroin.

Release Date:1996-09-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Door III

Miyako is a frustrated insurance saleswoman stuck in a major dry spell. She tries every trick in the book, including aggressive flirting, which gets her plenty of gropers but no buyers. One day while venturing down a narrow stairwell, she injures her ankle and happens upon Mitsuru who works for some mysterious foreign company. Decked out in high goth style -- complete with long inky black hair and mascaraed eyes -- Mitsuru cuts quite an odd figure, yet his seductive though menacing ways make him difficult for Miyako to resist. Escorting her to his office to treat her ankle, Miyako notices that his all-female staff seem more glassy-eyed and soul-deadened than the average office workers. In fact, they seem almost like zombies. Later, weird things start happening. Mitsuko finds vomit on her doorstep, she seems to be tailed by a shadowy woman in a red dress, and most strikingly, she finds herself utterly powerless against Mitsuru's advances.

Release Date:1996-04-13

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:8

Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Gamble

Having lost everything to horse racing, Yûji accidentally gets 10 million yen. But this sum belongs to a Yakuza.

Release Date:1996-03-01

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:1

Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Loot

Yûji and Kosaku are hired to track down an old man. But when he suddenly dies, his granddaughter surfaces with a map to his buried fortune, which the yakuza and a dirty cop are determined to find.

Release Date:1996-02-16

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:2

Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Escape

Hapless gangsters are hired by the yakuza to tail his daughter. Once the identity of the boy she's dating has been unveiled, the boss offers a reward for his capture.

Release Date:1995-08-12

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Heist

Two petty gangsters get ransomed by a group of Yakuza members, fortunately they are rescued by a kindly Kindergarten teacher.

Release Date:1995-04-22

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:2

Men of Rage

The second installment of a V-Cinema sports drama, directed by Kurosawa in 1994, following "打鐘" (Dakan) from 1993, which was based on Yamamoto's manga and directed by Komatsu Takashi. While there is no direct narrative connection between the two films, they share thematic similarities. The protagonist, Wataru Tachibana, a self-destructive yet genius keirin cyclist, is once again passionately portrayed by Nishimura. This time, Wataru fiercely competes against a rival known as the "Prince of Keirin," who is also the heir of a powerful conglomerate. Kurosawa directs with intense and dramatic storytelling, capturing the protagonist’s burning determination.

Release Date:1994-12-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Yakuza Taxi

The Yakuza clan Inoshika decides to help a small family business, Taxi Tanaka, lured by the clan Jinryûkaï and deeply in debt.

Release Date:1994-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:3

The Guard from Underground

A former sumo wrestler, now working as a security guard, goes on a murderous rampage.

Release Date:1992-06-16

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:14

Whirlpool of Joy

The second TV series by Kiyoshi Kurosawa made just after the pop of the economic bubble in Japan. His comical (and melodic...) analysis of Japanese society corresponds to Godard's films about French society in the 60s.

Release Date:1992-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:1

Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla

During World War II, the Japanese military established a secret underground laboratory in Tokyo. Three Olympic-level athletes were selected to undergo a process that would turn them into Jinra-go, superhuman armored soldiers. By March 1945, one of the soldiers had been completely transformed into the half man/half machine ultimate soldier called Mikadroid. But American B-29s firebomb the city and, while the two super soldiers manage to escape, Mikadroid and the lab are apparently destroyed. 45 years pass, Tokyo is rebuilt, and old secrets are forgotten. The site is now home to a complex that includes the Discoclub Layla. The disco’s patrons dance late into the night, unaware that a faulty basement generator has reactivated Mikadroid and the cyborg now prowls the basement levels, killing anyone in its path...

Release Date:1991-07-10

Character:Military Police Officer A

Vote Count:7

The Enchantment

A Tokyo psychiatrist is hoping to better his career by marrying the daughter of a prominent doctor. The match is threatened however when an attractive but very troubled tourist guide comes to him for consultation...

Release Date:1989-10-29

Character:Librarian

Vote Count:2

Dangerous Stories

Three stories with horror and science fiction elements. 1st episode: "The Curse of Tutankhamen" (Tsutankâmen no noroï) by Kazuyuki Izutsu. With Naoto Takenaka. Two clans of Yakuza clash in a bar. 2nd episode: "They came back, tonight too" (Yatsura wa konya mo yattekita) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. With Renji Ishibashi. A polar writer is pursued by two mysterious mountebanks. 3rd episode: "I want to come back to this day" (Ano hi ni kaeritai) by Banmei Takahashi. With Toshiyuki Nagashima. A couple who robbed a bank decides to separate to escape the police.

Release Date:1989-07-08

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Great SFX Adventure: Take Me to 'Sweet Home'

Release Date:1989-04-01

Character:Self

Vote Count:2

Sweet Home

A TV production crew are making a documentary about the infamous painter Mamiya Ichiro. When they start filming at his old home, they come under attack from the ghost of the painter's wife.

Release Date:1989-01-21

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:33

Bumpkin Soup

A country girl visits Tokyo in search of her college heartthrob. Here she meets horny students, a psychology professor in search of the theory of shame, and Yoshioka who has become a campus nobody.

Release Date:1985-11-03

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:9

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers

A shady music mogul brings together two wannabe stars—punk rock rebel Kan and new-wave crooner Shingo—and transforms them into the Stardust Brothers, a girl-friendly, silver-jumpsuited, synth-pop sensation. Along with their #1 fan, who herself dreams of a music career, the duo rockets to stardom.

Release Date:1985-06-15

Character:Visitor of Salon "Uonome"

Vote Count:23

Yatsura wa konya mo yattekita

Release Date:1985-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

The Funeral

When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.

Release Date:1984-11-17

Character:Assistant Director

Vote Count:44

Kandagawa Pervert Wars

Two sexually energized young women who live in a high-rise apartment building happen one day to spy from their window a mother and son making love in the apartment across from theirs. They decide to stage a rescue attempt to free him and in the process one of the young women ends up falling in love with the son despite having a boyfriend and enjoying sex with her female companion. Of course, the mother they are warring against has her own plans when she feels her privacy invaded.

Release Date:1983-08-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:12

The New Seven Lines Between Things

An anthology film by eight members of Parodious Unity.

Release Date:1983-07-13

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Wolf: Running Is Sex

First production by Directors' Company. A man stripped bare of all modern values lives in a pure form, like a beast, feeding and satiating his every primal desire whenever they may arise. He takes on a mate, a woman intrigued by his personage or lack thereof, and they live in his den in central Tokyo. As time goes on, we see how this animal clashes with modern man, and the consequences of their coexistance.

Release Date:1982-11-20

Department:Production

Job:Production Assistant

Vote Count:1

So Long, My Partner: Rock Is Sex

Rachi has aspirations of becoming a punk rocker. But his tendency towards self-sabotage and a budding sexual addiction makes matters increasingly difficult for him and his band mates to make it big.

Release Date:1982-11-20

Department:Writing

Job:Writer

Vote Count:1

The Night Before the Escape

Release Date:1982-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

LOSING THE WAY

Release Date:1982-01-01

Character:Yakuza

Sailor Suit and Machine Gun

A high-school girl inherits a declining yakuza organization, which seeks to repair its fortunes under her leadership.

Release Date:1981-12-19

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

Vote Count:49

Vertigo College

At the beginning of the film, we are presented with an ordinary story. It is the story of a student organization's internal struggle. The story begins with the protagonist taking a briefcase and the organization taking it back, along with his woman. The man who brings back the bag faces the woman. The room is somehow symmetrical. The room is somehow left-right symmetrical, with a low angle and fixed screen as in the Ozu style.

Release Date:1980-05-15

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Manager

All Girls Are Twins

The film multiplies women. A tragicomedy about a boy who is continually pranked by the appearance of his twin lovers.

Release Date:1980-01-01

The Man Who Stole the Sun

A high school science teacher is the butt of all his students' jokes, until their bus is hijacked on a school trip. But something more sinister lurks beneath the surface: he's building an atomic bomb in his apartment.

Release Date:1979-10-06

Department:Directing

Job:Assistant Director

Character:Suspect on TV News

Vote Count:34