Boiling Point 1990  N/R, 96 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action / Drama / Thriller
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Yurei Yanagi, Takeshi Kitano, Yuriko Ishida, Gadanukanaru Taka, Dankan, Hitoshi Ozawa, Shinobu Tsuruta, Kengakusha Akiyama, Yurei Yanagi, Bannai Matsuo, Dankan, Eri Fuse, Makoto Ashikawa, Hiroshi Suzuki, Edamame Tsumami
Gang warfare mixes with baseball in this Takeshi Kitano action/comedy offering. When baseball player and car wash attendant Masaki (Yurei Yanagi) is punished by a gang member for not washing his car correctly, he seeks revenge. Masaki and his team mate Kazuo (Dankan) go to Okinawa to buy a gun. Many adventures occur along way as they join forces with other gangsters to confront the gang.
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Brother 2000 R, 114 min.
Genre: Action
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Omar Epps, Claude Maki, Masaya Kato, Susumu Terajima, Royale Watkins, Lombardo Boyar, Ren Osugi, Ryo Ishibashi, James Shigeta
Yamamoto's (Takeshi Kitano) Tokyo gang has been annihilated when he flees to Los Angeles and moves in with his half-brother, Ken (Claude Maki), who happens to be a lowly drug dealer. But Yamamoto makes use of his ability to run a gang, calls on his pal Kato (Susumu Terajima) for help, and soon has Ken set up as a real player in the crime scene. Now, the question is, "How long will it last?"
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 Dolls 2002  N/R, 113 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Miho Kanno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi, Chieko Matsubara, Kyoko Fukada, Tsutomu Takeshige, Kayoko Kishimoto, Kanji Tsuda, Yuuko Daike, Ren Osugi
Three stories about obsessive love intertwine in this film, which is modeled in the manner of the traditional, 300-year-old Buhraku doll theater performances that are loaded with symbolism.
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 Fireworks 1997 N/R, 103 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Susumu Terajima, Tetsu Watanabe, Hakuryu, Yasuei Yakushiji, Taro Istumi, Kenichi Yajima, Makoto Ashikawa
Recently suspended from the police force, Detective Nishi (Takeshi Kitano) must deal with the fact that his wife, Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto), is dying and his partner Horibe (Ren Osugi)–now in a wheelchair following a shooting–needs money to become a painter. Nishi's solution: buy an old car, camouflage it as a police car, rob a bank, and take off with Miyuki for a farewell journey–all this when Nishi is already in trouble with loan sharks who are hot on his trail.
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Gohatto (Taboo) 1999 N/R, 100 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shinji Takeda, Tadanobu Asano, Koji Matoba, Tommys Masa, Masato Ibu, Uno Kanda, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Tomorowo Taguchi
Set in the 1800s, amidst clan uprisings in Japan, this is the story of Shinsen warriors who participated in homosexuality as they prepared for honor and death. Samurai Sozaburo Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda) is the universal object of desire among the warriors. At first, Kano appears innocent and naive–or is he?
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 Johnny Mnemonic 1995  R, 100 min.
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action / Thriller
Director: Robert Longo
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Dina Meyer, Dolph Lundgren, Takeshi Kitano, Ice-T, Henry Rollins, Barbara Sukowa, Udo Kier, Don Francks, Dennis Akayama, Tracy Tweed, Falconer Abraham, Diego Chambers, Sherry Miller, Arthur Eng
Johnny Mnemonic (Keanu Reeves) stores computer data in a chip inside his head as he smuggles data containing a cure for a deadly disease. As a result of his computer chip implant, Johnny has no memory of his past. Leaking data creates visions through which Johnny becomes aware of eminent danger from those who would kill him to obtain his hidden data.
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Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1983 R, 124 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Cast: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Jack Thompson, Johnny Okura, Alistair Browning, James Malcolm, Chris Broun, Yuya Uchida
As a New Zealand officer in a Japanese POW camp, Major Jack "Strafer" Celliers (David Bowie) becomes intrigued with the Asian culture, which leads to his comrades considering him a traitor.
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Sonatine 1993 R, 94 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action / Drama / Thriller
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Aya Kokumai, Tetsu Watanabe, Masanobu Katsumura, Susumu Terajima, Ren Osugi, Tonbo Zushi, Kenichi Yajima, Eiji Minakata, Houka Kinoshita, Yuuki Natsusaka, Rome Kanda, Kanta Yamazaki, Kanji Tsuda
This film shows the brutality of gang life when a gang war on Okinawa accelerates after Tokyo yakuzas enter the fray. Yakuza underboss Murakawa (Takeshi Kitano) has arrived to bring an end to the warfare and then wonders if his boss Kitajima (Tonbo Zushi) has set him up to become the target of the Okinawa gangs. He plots revenge but wonders if it is all worthwhile.
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Tokyo Eyes 1998 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Jean-Pierre Limosin
Cast: Shinji Takeda, Hinano Yoshikawa, Kaori Mizushima, Tetta Sugimoto, Ren Osugi, Takeshi Kitano, Masayuki Yui, Moro Morooka, Ken Mitsuishi, Fumiya Tanaka, Hidaki Oikawa, Asaidori
"Four Eyes," a young man with thick glasses, terrorizes the neighborhood by shooting at people but not hitting any of them. The daughter of the policeman who is assigned to the case finds the shooter, befriends him, and they eventually fall in love. In the process she finds out the motivation for his actions.
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 Violent Cop 1989 N/R, 103 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action / Drama / Thriller
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Maiko Kawakami, Makoto Ashikawa, Shiro Sano, Sei Hiraizumi, Mikiko Otonashi, Hakuryu, Ittoku Kishibe, Ken Yoshizawa, Hiroyuki Katsube, Noboru Hamda, Taro Ishida, Yuuki Kawai, Ritsuko Amano, Katsuki Muramatsu
Detective Azuma (Takeshi Kitano) does not hesitate to use violence–especially when his mentally handicapped sister Akari (Maiko Kawakami) is kidnapped. Azuma learns that his partner Iwaki (Sei Hiraizumi) has been selling drugs to yakuza assassin Kiyohiro (Hakuryu)–and to make matters worse, it is Kiyohiro who has kidnapped Akari. This film is star/director Takeshi Kitano's first directorial effort.
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Zatoichi 2003 R, 116 min.
Genre: Foreign / Action / Drama / Comedy
aka: The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Cast: Takeshi Kitano, Michiyo Ookusu, Gadarukanaru Taka, Daigoro Tachibana, Yuuko Daike, Tadanobu Asano, Yui Natsukawa, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura, Akira Emoto, Ben Hiura, Kohji Miura, Hideboh, Ron Il, Suji
Although he makes his living as a masseur, Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano) is a master swordsman who, despite blindness, steps in to right wrongs in his community that is dominated by evil gang leader Inosuke Ginzo (Ittoku Kishibe). Zatoichi has spent years wandering the country making money gambling and working as a masseur, but now he has settled in the remote mountain village where he uses his skills to help residents seek revenge against those who have harmed them.
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| 1. Boiling Point (1990)
2. Brother (2000)
3. Dolls (2002)
4. Fireworks (1997)
5. Gohatto (Taboo) (1999)
6. Gonin (1995)
7. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
8. Kikujiro (1999)
9. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)
10. Sonatine (1993)
11. Tokyo Eyes (1998)
12. Violent Cop (1989)
13. Zatoichi (2003)
aka: The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
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