27 Movies Starring Tadanobu Asano

Maborosi

Maborosi

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1997-03-21

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

110 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.7 (2411 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Teru Miyamoto (novel)

Yoshihisa Ogita (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.

Picnic

Picnic

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1996-07-26

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

68 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (1099 Reviews)

Director:

Shunji Iwai

Genres:

DramaFantasy

Fullplot:

Believing that the world will end that very day, three mental patients Coco, Tsumuji, and Satoru set out upon a journey. Walking upon the tops of the walls of the city, they seek to find a picnic spot with the best vantage point to view the final event.

Yume no ginga

Yume no ginga

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1997-02-15

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

90 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.5 (395 Reviews)

Director:

Gakuryè Ishii

Cast:

Writer:

Gakuryè Ishii

Kyuusaku Yumeno (novel)

Fullplot:

Tomiko is a conductor in a rural bus driven by the handsome Niitaka. Tomiko had received a letter from her best friend Tsuyako, a conductor in another bus company, just after Tsuyako was killed in a bus accident. Tsuyako wrote that she felt that her fiance and driver, Niitaka, planned to kill her. Tomiko therefore plans to take revenge on Niitaka. However Tomiko falls in love with Niitaka, even though she also suspects him of being the Tokyo bus driver serial killer, who killed his female conductors after tiring of them.

Love & Pop

Love & Pop

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1998-01-09

Languages:

Japanese, Japanese Sign Language

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

110 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (645 Reviews)

Director:

Hideaki Anno

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Hideaki Anno (screenplay)

Akio Satsukawa (screenplay)

Ryè Murakami (novel)

Fullplot:

Teenage drama; schoolgirls, enjo-kosai (compensated dating)

Gohatto

Gohatto

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1999-12-18

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan, France, UK

Runtime:

100 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (5889 Reviews)

Director:

Nagisa èshima

Cast:

Writer:

Ryètarè Shiba (novel)

Nagisa èshima

Fullplot:

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

Gojo reisenki: Gojoe

Gojo reisenki: Gojoe

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2001-10-07

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

138 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (755 Reviews)

Director:

Gakuryè Ishii

Fullplot:

Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as "the demons". Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.

Ichi the Killer

Ichi the Killer

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2002-07-25

Languages:

Japanese, Cantonese, English

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

129 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (40329 Reviews)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Cast:

Writer:

Hideo Yamamoto (comic)

Sakichi Satè (screenplay)

Fullplot:

When a Yakuza boss named Anjo disappears with 300 million yen, his chief henchman, a sadomasochistic man named Kakihara, and the rest of his mob goons go looking for him. After capturing and torturing a rival Yakuza member looking for answers, they soon realize they have the wrong man and begin looking for the man named Jijii who tipped them off in the first place. Soon enough Kakihara and his men encounter Ichi, a psychotic, sexually-repressed young man with amazing martial arts abilities and blades that come out of his shoes. One by one Ichi takes out members of the Yakuza and all the while Kakihara intensifies his pursuit of Ichi and Ichi's controller Jijii. What will happen as the final showdown happens between the tortured and ultra-violent Ichi and the pain-craving Kakihara?

Woman of Water

Woman of Water

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-05-04

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

115 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.7 (248 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaFantasy

Cast:

Writer:

Hidenori Sugimori

Fullplot:

Last Life in the Universe

Last Life in the Universe

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2003-08-08

Languages:

Thai, Japanese, English

Countries:

Thailand, Japan

Runtime:

112 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.7 (9404 Reviews)

Fullplot:

A mysterious, obsessive-compulsive, suicidal Japanese man living in Bangkok, Thailand, is thrown together with a Thai woman through a tragic chain of events. The woman is everything he is not. He is a neat freak who keeps his dishes washed and his books neatly stacked and categorized. She dresses like a slob, smokes pot and never picks anything up. It's a match that somehow works, though. Slowly and entertainingly, more is revealed about the Japanese man and why he's suicidal and living in Bangkok.

Bright Future

Bright Future

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2003-12-03

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

92 min

IMDB Ratings:

(2040 Reviews)

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

Two young guys work in a plant that manufactures oshibori (those moist hand-towels found in some Japanese restaurants). Their weird bond is based on uncontrollable rage--something neither can articulate or control--and the strange jellyfish that they keep as a pet.

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2003-09-06

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

116 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (38480 Reviews)

Director:

Takeshi Kitano

Cast:

Writer:

Takeshi Kitano (screenplay)

Kan Shimozawa (novels)

Fullplot:

Blind Zatoichi makes his living by gambling and giving massages. But behind his humble facade, Zatoichi is a master swordsman, gifted with lightning-fast draw and strokes of breathtaking precision. Zatoichi wanders into a town run by sinister gangs and a powerful samurai. He's destined for violent showdowns when he stumbles on two beautiful geishas avenging their parents' murder... Duels, wit and a touch of zen! Cult anti-hero Zatoichi is back in a sword-fighting adventure written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano.

Cafè Lumière

Cafè Lumière

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-09-01

Languages:

Japanese, English

Countries:

Japan, Taiwan

Runtime:

103 min

IMDB Ratings:

(2107 Reviews)

Director:

Hsiao-hsien Hou

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Hsiao-hsien Hou (screenplay)

T'ien-wen Chu (screenplay)

Fullplot:

The Taste of Tea

The Taste of Tea

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-04-20

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

143 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.9 (4277 Reviews)

Director:

Katsuhito Ishii

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Fullplot:

A spell of time in the life of a family living in rural Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. Though her husband is busy working at an office, Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project at home. Uncle Ayano has recently arrived, looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo for several years. Meanwhile, Yoshiko's daughter Sachiko is mainly concerned with why she seems to be followed around everywhere by a giant version of herself.

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2008-07-04

Languages:

Mongolian, Mandarin

Countries:

Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan

Runtime:

126 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (35870 Reviews)

Director:

Sergey Bodrov

Cast:

Writer:

Arif Aliev

Sergey Bodrov

Fullplot:

The movie is an epic story of a young Genghis Khan and how events in his early life lead him to become a legendary conqueror. The 9-year-old Temèjin is taken on a trip by his father to select a girl as his future wife. He meets Bèrte, who says she would like to be chosen, which he does. He promises to return after five years to marry her. Temèjin's father is poisoned on the trip, and dies. As a boy Temèjin passes through starvation, humiliations and even slavery, but later with the help of Bèrte he overcomes all of his childhood hardships to become one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known.

Vital

Vital

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-12-11

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

86 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

(2250 Reviews)

Fullplot:

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryèko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents. In the dissection class, his group participates of the autopsy of a young woman, and while cutting apart the tissue, he partially recalls his accident. Later, when he sees a tattoo in the arm of the corpse, he discloses that she was his girlfriend and becomes obsessed to go further in the examination of the body.

Rampo Noir

Rampo Noir

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-11-05

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

134 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.5 (842 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Rampo Edogawa (short stories)

Atsushi Kaneko (screenplay)

Akio Satsukawa (screenplay)

Suguru Takeuchi (screenplay)

Shirè Yumeno (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Survive Style 5+

Survive Style 5+

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-04-19

Languages:

Japanese, English

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

120 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (7617 Reviews)

Director:

Gen Sekiguchi

Fullplot:

A man continually trying and failing to get his wife to stay dead; a self-absorbed ad agency creative director who comes up with one unworkable inane idea after another; a British hitman who only wants to know everyone's function in life; and an unfortunate office worker and father whose brain is left scrambled after a stage hypnotist is murdered in mid-performance. Starting off as unrelated plot lines, they intertwine with each other as they continue on their respective ways.

Funky Forest: The First Contact

Funky Forest: The First Contact

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-10-22

Languages:

Japanese, Mandarin, English

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

150 min

IMDB Ratings:

(1677 Reviews)

Genres:

Comedy

Cast:

Writer:

Katsuhito Ishii (screenplay)

Hajime Ishimine (screenplay)

Shunichiro Miki (screenplay)

Fullplot:

An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.

Invisible Waves

Invisible Waves

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-03-02

Languages:

Thai, English, Japanese, Korean

Countries:

Thailand, Netherlands

Runtime:

115 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.7 (1410 Reviews)

Fullplot:

After killing his boss's girlfriend (with whom he was having an affair) on his boss's orders, a man (Asano) is sent from Macau to Thailand in an attempt to escape the consequences of his crime and to cover it up. But the relocation doesn't prevent his problems from following him, as his new friends could be potential enemies.

Kabei: Our Mother

Kabei: Our Mother

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2008-01-26

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

133 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (905 Reviews)

Director:

Yèji Yamada

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Teruyo Nogami (biography)

Yèji Yamada (adaptation)

Emiko Hiramatsu (adaptation)

Fullplot:

Based on childhood days of Teruyo Nogami.

Lupin III

Lupin III

Basic Info:

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

133 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.6 (627 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Monkey Punch (manga)

Mataichirè Yamamoto (screenplay)

Mataichirè Yamamoto (story)

Ryèhei Kitamura (story)

Joey O'Bryan (story)

Fullplot:

Interpol Inspector Zenigata begins a world-wide hunt for the infamous thief Arsene Lupin III.

47 Ronin

47 Ronin

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2013-12-25

Languages:

English, Japanese

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

118 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

6.3 (106539 Reviews)

Director:

Carl Rinsch

Cast:

Writer:

Chris Morgan (screenplay)

Hossein Amini (screenplay)

Chris Morgan (screen story by)

Walter Hamada (screen story by)

Fullplot:

While hunting in the forest, Lord Asano of Ako and his samurai find a young half-breed and take him with them to live in the castle. Several years later, Lord Asano holds a tournament to welcome the Shogun to Ako. The night after the tournament, Lord Asano is bewitched into hurting Lord Kira of Nagato, and is punished into committing seppuku by the Shogun. Realizing that it was a Lord Kira's evil plot, the samurais and the half-breed sets out for revenge against the Shogun's order.

Redline

Redline

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2010-10-09

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

102 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.5 (5044 Reviews)

Director:

Takeshi Koike

Cast:

Writer:

Katsuhito Ishii (original story)

Katsuhito Ishii (screenplay)

Yoji Enokido (screenplay)

Yoshiki Sakurai (screenplay)

Fullplot:

An action drama centered on a deadly racing tournament held every five years and the reckless dare-devil driver who wants to win it.

The Kiyosu Conference

The Kiyosu Conference

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2013-11-09

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

IMDB Ratings:

6.9 (300 Reviews)

Director:

Kèki Mitani

Genres:

History

Cast:

Writer:

Kèki Mitani (based on the novel by)

Kèki Mitani (screenplay)

Fullplot:

After the forced suicide of Nobunaga Oda at the Incident at Honno-ji, powerful figures Katsuie Shibata, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Nagahide Niwa and Tsuneoki Ikeda meet to decide on a successor. The conference would become Japan's first group made political decision. The meeting was known as the Kiyosu Kaigi.

Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal & a Whore

Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal & a Whore

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2015-03-26

Languages:

English

Countries:

Philippines, Germany

Runtime:

73 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.2 (71 Reviews)

Director:

KhavnKhavn

Genres:

DramaMusical

Fullplot:

When violence is the only life you know, will love save you or just unravel everything?

My Man

My Man

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2014-06-14

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

129 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.7 (242 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Kazuki Sakuraba (based on the novel by)

Takashi Ujita

Fullplot:

After losing everything in a tsunami, 10-year-old Hana is taken in by 26-year-old distant relative Jungo Kusarino. They live as father and daughter but share a profound sense of loss. Jungo works as a cook for the coast guard, leaving young Hana alone for days at a time. In wintry Hokkaido, Jungo and Hana both desire to fill their empty, love-starved hearts as they set foot into a forbidden world. Eventually, an elder benefactor in their small town learns of their illicit relationship. When he tries to separate them for Hana's own good, it provokes her emotional rage. Soon after, a murder quietly occurs atop the ice floes. With their dark secret, Jungo and Hana escape to Tokyo. However...

Journey to the Shore

Journey to the Shore

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2015-10-01

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

127 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.2 (63 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (screenplay)

Kazumi Yumoto (based on the novel by)

Takashi Ujita (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Mizuki's husband (Yusuke) drowned at sea three years ago. When he suddenly comes back home, she is not that surprised. Instead, Mizuki is wondering what took him so long. She agrees to let Yusuke take her on a journey.

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