SABU
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.
Known For | Directing |
---|---|
Most Rating | 3.429 |
Birthday | 1964-11-18 |
Place of Birth | Wakayama, Japan |
Also Known As | Hiroki Tanaka, 田中博行, サブ, Hiroyuki Tanaka, 田中博樹, |
2001
Ichi the Killer
6.999/955
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to in...
Watch Now
Ichi the Killer
1994
Zëiram 2
6.3/10
Intergalactic bounty hunters Iria and Bob return to track down an ancient mystical relic. When a second Zeiram unit shows up and goes berserk, it take...
Watch Now
Zëiram 2
1991
World Apartment Horror
5.8/10
A 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...
Watch Now
World Apartment Horror
1996
Dangan Runner
6.9/21
A 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 s...
Watch Now
Dangan Runner
1993
Kuma-chan
0/0
Kuma-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.
Watch Now
Kuma-chan
1994
800 Two Lap Runners
4.3/3
This coming-of-age story revolves around two young long distance runners, Kenji Hirose and Ryuji Nakazawa. Kenji, haunted by memories of his dead frie...
Watch Now
800 Two Lap Runners
1995
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Heist
8/2
Two petty gangsters get ransomed by a group of Yakuza members, fortunately they are rescued by a kindly Kindergarten teacher.
Watch Now
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Heist
1997
Postman Blues
7.3/30
Sawaki 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...
Watch Now
Postman Blues
1994
Kiriko
3/1
1994 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 ma...
Watch Now
Kiriko
2016
Silence
7.128/3017
Two Jesuit priests travel to seventeenth century Japan which has, under the Tokugawa shogunate, banned Catholicism and almost all foreign contact.
Watch Now
Silence
2003
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
6.944/45
Tsuneo is a university student working part-time in a mah-jong parlour. Lately the customers have been talking about an old lady who pushes a baby car...
Watch Now
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
1996
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Gamble
6/1
Having lost everything to horse racing, Yûji accidentally gets 10 million yen. But this sum belongs to a Yakuza.
Watch Now
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself: The Gamble
1995
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Escape
6.667/3
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...
Watch Now
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Escape
1995
Shinjuku Triad Society
6.323/62
Tatsuhito, a cop, pursues Chinese warlord Wang through the underworld of Shinjuku and over to Taiwan.
Watch Now
Shinjuku Triad Society
2006
Sakuran
6.404/57
Anna Tsuchiya blasts back in time playing an oiran, a top-notched geisha of the Edo period’s Yoshiwara District, navigating brothel politics while try...
Watch Now
Sakuran
1991
Savage City: Angel Whisper
5/1
A corrupt cop teams up with an unlikely partner to protect the city from a gang of ruthless drug addicts.
Watch Now
Savage City: Angel Whisper
1998
Unlucky Monkey
6.5/13
A 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 cro...
Watch Now
Unlucky Monkey
1996
Don't Look Up
6.7/14
On the set of a dark war time drama at an old movie studio, a young director, Toshio Murai, is trying to complete his debut film. The two starring act...
Watch Now
Don't Look Up
1992
A Legend of Turmoil
7.5/2
A 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....
Watch Now