Hiroyuki Tanaka

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Hiroyuki Tanaka at the Berlinale 2017

Hiroyuki Tanaka ( Japanese 田中 博 樹 , Tanaka Hiroyuki ; born November 18, 1964 in Wakayama Prefecture , Japan ) is a director and actor who is particularly popular abroad and better known by his stage name Sabu . He's been using it since he played a well-known yakuza of the same name.

Services

His first appearance as an actor was in 1986 in the comedy "Sorobanzuku", which was nominated for the screenplay at the Japanese Film Awards, among other things . In this film he took on a small supporting role.

In 1991 he was given the lead role as an actor in his second film. The English title of the film is "World Apartment Horror" and brought Sabu a prize for best newcomer .

Sabu achieved his first major success with his film "Dangan Runner", in which he directed, wrote the screenplay and played a supporting role. This film showed the direction in which Sabu's films were aimed: “Little” people are often the heroes in his films who get caught up in the most unlikely situations. Sabu relied on a mixture of comedy and tragedy . In addition, since this film, Sabu has been invited to film festivals outside of Japan several times.

With his first work “Dangan Runner” he was invited to the 1997 Berlin Film Festival (“Panorama” section) and the 1999 “ Fantasporto ” fantasy film festival in Portugal. Because he was successful with his film in Berlin, he was invited to the Berlin Film Festival several times in the following years.

In 1997 the second film appeared under his direction, entitled "Postman Blues". This film is about a postman who, through unfortunate coincidence, is suspected of being a terrorist by the police and is being followed by them without his knowledge.

His third film "Unlucky Monkey" followed in 1998, but it was less successful than his previous works.

In 2000 Sabu was at the Berlinale for the third time. His latest film “ Monday ” was presented in the “Forum” section and won two prizes.

In 2002 Sabu presented the film “Drive” at the Berlinale, which featured a number of well-known actors, especially in Japan. In that year "Blessing Bell" came out, which was shown in 2003 in Berlin. In 2004 "Hard Luck Hero" followed, a promotional film for a Japanese boy pop band called "V6".

"Shisso" was shown at the 2006 Berlinale in the "Panorama" section. Sabu adapted a novel by the author Kiyoshi Shigematsu for this. The film is surprisingly serious and sad for a Sabu film. Passages marked by humor, which often appeared in his earlier works, are almost completely absent. It was also criticized that too many things were inserted towards the end, which means that “Shisso” loses a lot of its “magic”.

Sabus "Kanikōsen" was shown at the Berlinale in 2010 and is the film adaptation of the classic working class of the same name by Takiji Kobayashi (1929), which, 80 years after it was published, in 2008, suddenly became a bestseller in the economic crisis-ridden Japan.

In addition to realizing his own ideas, Sabu also occasionally played a role in films, for example in "Ichi the Killer" by the director Takashi Miike .

Sabu often uses the same actors for his films, so Shin'ichi Tsutsumi played the lead role in the first five of the nine films that have been released so far. Ren Osugi, better known as the wheelchair-bound policeman in " Hana-Bi ", also starred in five films. Susumu Terajima even acted in seven films. Ren Osugi and Susumu Terajima in particular are very well-known actors in Japan.

Works

Director

  • Dangan Runner (1996)
  • Postman Blues (1997)
  • Unlucky Monkey (1998)
  • Monday (1999)
  • Drive (2002)
  • Blessing Bell (2002)
  • Hard Luck Hero (2003)
  • Hôrudo appu daun (2005)
  • Shisso (2005)
  • Kanikôsen (2009)
  • Usagi Drop (2011)
  • MISS ZOMBIE (2013)
  • Chasuke's Journey (2015)
  • Happiness (2016)
  • Mr. Long (2017)

actor

  • Sorobanzuku (1986)
  • World Apartment Horror (1991)
  • Zeiramu 2 (1994)
  • 800 Two Lap Runners (1994)
  • Dangan Runner (1996)
  • Katte ni shiyagare !! Gyakuten keikaku (1996)
  • Don't Look Up (1996)
  • Postman Blues (1997)
  • Ichi the Killer (2001)
  • Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2003)

Web links

Commons : Sabu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Kanikōsen
personal data
SURNAME Tanaka, Hiroyuki
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 田中 博 樹 (Japanese); Sabu (stage name); Tanaka, Hiroki (alternative spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese director and actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Wakayama Prefecture