is a Japanese film, directed by Yōichi Sai and starring

Takeshi Kitano , also known as in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. During hi ...

. It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel ''Chi to Hone'' by

Zainichi Korean () are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since t ...

author Yan Sogiru (Yang Seok-il). The film opened in Japan on November 6, 2004. It was released on DVD in Japan on April 6, 2005 and South Korea on May 16, 2005.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

distributed it in Australia, while Tartan Video was originally slated to release it in North America. These plans, however, were cancelled due to the company's closure and Kino Entertainment instead took the rights. It was released on DVD in North America on November 11, 2008. The soundtrack was composed by veteran composer Taro Iwashiro and was later released on iTunes. The film was nominated for 12 Japanese Academy Awards and won four, including Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay. It was Japan's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the

78th Academy Awards The 78th Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, P ...

, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Plot

In 1923, the young Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island (

Korea under Japanese rule From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

), to

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

(Japan). There, he lives in what is now the Ikuno Korea Town. Through the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of

kamaboko is a type of Curing (chemistry), cured , a processed seafood product common in Japanese cuisine. It was initially made in the year 1115. Production and uses is made by forming various Purée, pureed deboned whitefish (fisheries term), whit ...

(processed seafood products) in his poor Korean-Japanese community, where he exploits his employees. He makes a fortune, abuses and destroys the lives of his wife and family, has many mistresses and children and shows no respect to anyone. Later he closes the factory, lending out the money with high interest and becomes a

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at Usury, extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of debt collection, collection, and generally operates criminal, outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, ...

. His hateful behavior remains unchanged to his last breath, alone in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. The film is told from the perspective of Masao, his legitimate son by his abused and degraded wife, who knows nothing about his father other than to fear him.

Cast

- Shunpei Kim (김순페이/キム・シュンペイ) * Hirofumi Arai - Masao Kim (김마사오/キム・マサオ) * Tomoko Tabata - Hanako Kim (김하나코/キム・ハナコ) * Joe Odagiri - Takeshi Park (박타케시/パク・タケシ) * Kyōka Suzuki - Yong-hee Lee (이용희/イ・ヨンヒ) * Yutaka Matsushige - Nobuyoshi Ko (高信義) * Mari Hamada - Sadako Toritani (鳥谷定子) *

Yūko Nakamura is a Japanese actress, born on 7 January 1975 in Fukui, Japan. She won the award for best actress at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2001 for the film ''Firefly (Hotaru)'' and the award for best supporting actress ...

- Kiyoko Yamanashi (山梨清子) *

Kazuki Kitamura is a Japanese film and television actor who won the award for best supporting actor at the 21st Yokohama Film Festival for ''Minazuki (film), Minazuki'', ''Kyohansha'' and ''Kanzen-naru shiiku'' as well as the CUT ABOVE Award for Excellence in Fi ...

- Yoshio Motoyami (元闇義夫) * Susumu Terajima - Hee-bom Park (박희봄/パク・ヒボム) * Atsushi Itō - Yong-il (영일/ヨンイル) / Young Joon-pyong (영준평/ヨン・ジュンピョン)

References

External links

*
Official site (in Japanese)

2004 films Films directed by Yōichi Sai Films scored by Taro Iwashiro Films about domestic violence 2000s Korean-language films 2000s Japanese-language films 2004 drama films Japanese drama films 2000s Japanese films 2004 multilingual films Japanese multilingual films Films about Zainichi Korean people {{2000s-Japan-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links