, known professionally as , is a Japanese actor and film director.

Career

Born in

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

, Sabu studied at an

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 ...

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

school before deciding to go to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

to become a professional musician. It was suggested he try acting and in 1986 he made his film debut in ''

Sorobanzuku is a 1986 Japanese film directed by Yoshimitsu Morita. Awards 8th Yokohama Film Festival *Won: Best Screenplay - Yoshimitsu Morita *Won: Best Actress - Narumi Yasuda is a Japanese actress. She won the award for best actress at the 8th Yokoham ...

''. 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 is a 1996 Japanese comedy film directed by Sabu about a salaryman, a drug addict and a yakuza member go on a breathless three man chase through the streets of Tokyo, each for their own different reason and fighting own demons. Plot Beginning ...

'', 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 is a Japanese stage and screen actor. Internationally, he is best known for his roles as Koichi Takagi in the ''Monday'' films, Tetsuya Ishigami in the '' Suspect X'' films, and Jo Sawashiro in '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon.'' In Japan, he is best kn ...

played the lead in Sabu's first five films. ''

Blessing Bell In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will. Etymology and Germanic paganism The modern English language term ''bless'' likely d ...

'', starring

Susumu Terajima is a Japanese actor. Though he has played a wide range of characters, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of ''yakuza'' figures, most notably in the films of Takeshi Kitano. Terajima made his acting debut in 1986's '' A Homansu''. He ...

(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 The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. Later films featured the

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

band V6. In 2009, he directed ''

The Crab Cannery Ship ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

'', a modern adaptation of a classic of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

proletarian literature Proletarian literature refers here to the literature created by left-wing writers mainly for the class-conscious proletariat. Though the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' states that because it "is essentially an intended device of revolution", it is t ...

written by

Takiji Kobayashi was a Japanese writer of proletarian literature. He is best known for his short novel '' Kanikōsen'', or ''Crab Cannery Ship'', published in 1929. It tells the story of the hard life of cannery workers, fishermen and seamen on board a cannery ...

. He has continued to work as an actor, such as in

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over 100 feature film, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films span a variety of different genres, ranging from violent and surrealism, b ...

's '' Ichi the Killer'' (2001). His film ''

Chasuke's Journey is a 2015 Japanese comedy film directed by Sabu. It was screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * Ken'ichi Matsuyama as Chasuke * Ito Ohno as Yuri * Ren Ôsugi as Taneda * Yūsuke Iseya as ...

'' was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the

65th Berlin International Film Festival The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the president of the jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...

Selected filmography

Director

* ''

'' (1996) * '' Postman Blues'' (1997) * '' Unlucky Monkey'' (1998) * ''

Monday Monday is the day of the week that takes place between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week. Names The names of the day of the week were co ...

'' (2000) * ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" * ...

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2002) * '' A1012K'' (2003 - short film) * ''

Hard Luck Hero is a 2003 Japanese film written and directed by Japanese people, Japanese film director Sabu (director), Sabu to showcase the Japanese boy band V6 (band), V6. The film involves usual Sabu elements such as high-speed car chases and yakuza. Plot ...

'' (2003) * ''

Hold-Up Down Hold Up, hold up, or Hold-Up may refer to: Film * ''Hold-Up'' (1974 film), an Italian film * ''Hold-Up'' (1985 film), Franco-Canadian crime comedy * ''Hold-Up'' (2000 film), Austrian film * ''Hold-Up!'' (2012 film) (Spanish ''¡Atraco!''), Spa ...

'' (2005) * ''

Dead Run A point of sail is a sailing craft's direction of travel under sail in relation to the true wind direction over the surface. The principal points of sail roughly correspond to 45° segments of a circle, starting with 0° directly into the wind. ...

'' ( Shisso) (2005) * ''

'' ( Kanikōsen, 2009) * '' Troubleman'' (2010) TV Series * '' Usagi Drop'' (2011) * '' Miss ZOMBIE'' (2013) * ''

'' (2015) * ''Happiness'' (2016) * '' Mr. Long'' (2017) * ''Jam'' (2018) * ''Dancing Mary'' (2020) * ''My Blood & Bones in a Flowing Galaxy'' (2021)

Actor

* ''

'' (1986) * '' World Apartment Horror'' (1991) * '' Zeiram 2'' (1994) * '' 800 Two Lap Runners'' (1994) * ''

'' (1996) * '' Katte ni Shiyagare!! Gyakuten Keikaku'' (1996) * '' Ghost Actress'' (1996) * '' Postman Blues'' (1997) * '' Ichi the Killer'' (2001) * ''

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish is a 1984 Japanese short story by author Seiko Tanabe. It was first published in the June 1984 issue of ''Monthly Kadokawa''. It was later included alongside various stories in the short story collection of the same name, which was published o ...

'' (2003) * ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'' (2016)

References

External links

*
Sabu's Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabu Living people 1964 births People from Wakayama (city) Actors from Wakayama Prefecture Japanese male film actors Japanese film directors Yakuza film directors