Ryo Ishibashi Movies

A man discovers one of his literary heroes may be just as dark and twisted as his work in this thriller from director Barbet Schroeder. Alex Fayard (Benoit Magimel) is a French novelist who has earned an international reputation for his crime fiction. Fayard travels to Kyoto to help promote the publication of his latest novel in Japan, and he tells Ken Honda (Gen Shimaoka), Fayard's editor at his Japanese publishing house, that he'd like to meet Shundei Oe, a celebrated but enigmatic Japanese author who does not do interviews and has never been photographed. While Oe's works are full of moral ambiguity and dark undercurrents, Fayard is a man who believes that good can and must ultimately triumph. Honda takes Fayard out for a night on the town, and they visit a geisha house where Taomo (Lika Minamoto) is performing. Fayard is struck by Taomo's beauty but intrigued by a long scar running down her back, and she tells him (in perfect French) that it was inflicted upon her by a sadistic former lover. Taomo also confides that the same man is trying to work his way back into her life; Fayard offers to help her, and discovers that the cruel man who hurt Taomo is in close contact with Oe. Inju, La Bete dans L'ombre (aka Inju: The Beast in the Shadow) was based on a novel by Japanese author Edogawa Rampo. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An FBI agent whose partner and family were killed by a notorious assassin sets out for revenge as the elusive triggerman sparks a sprawling gang war between the triads and the yakuza in the feature debut from prolific music video director Phillip Atwell. FBI sgent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) is a man driven by vengeance. After his partner, Tom Lone (Terry Chen), and his family fell to bullets fired by infamous hitman Rogue (Jet Li), Crawford makes it his life mission to ferret out the slippery killer. Complications arise when it begins to appear as if Rogue has a mission of his own to carry out, and as triad boss Chang (John Lone) prepares for all-out war against yakuza boss Shiro (Ryo Ishibashi), Crawford and Rogue also come face to face as the secrets of the past emerge in a hail of gunfire. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The traditional horror anthology makes a triumphant comeback in this collection of four frightfully horrific tales from directors Monte Hellman, Ken Russell, Sean S. Cunningham, John Gaeta, and Joe Dante. When seven strangers accept a mysterious invitation to tour a Hollywood studio lot, they become trapped in a room and discover that their only hope for escape is to reveal the most terrifying tale they know. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This American remake of director Takashi Shimizu's popular Japanese movie franchise The Grudge puts Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Sarah Michelle Gellar back into the line of supernatural fire. When Karen (Gellar), an American student working with a Japanese health center for college credit, comes across a mysterious curse, she quickly finds herself embroiled in a fight for her own sanity, and, ultimately, her very survival. Known as a "grudge," the curse was born inside of a house after its inhabitants died while consumed by rage -- according to legend, the curse touches all who come into contact with it, and will torment those unlucky individuals until they, too, become part of the grudge . Each time the curse finds a new victim, it is, in a sense, reborn, and will continue on its path unless Karen can free herself from its control over her. This version of The Grudge is also directed by Shimizu, and features Jason Behr, Clea DuVall, Kadee Strickland, William Mapother, and Bill Pullman in supporting roles. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

At a yakuza gathering, Ozaki (Shô Aikawa of the Dead or Alive films) unsettles the boss (Renji Ishibashi) when he claims a small dog outside the restaurant is a "yakuza attack dog" and viciously smashes it to death. Minami (Hideki Sone) is assigned to drive the apparently unstable Ozaki to a remote location and kill him. Minami considers Ozaki a "brother," and feels ambivalent about this assignment. After several odd incidents on the road, Minami ends up in the small town of Nagoya, where things get even odder. Unable to get a signal on his cellular, Minami goes into a restaurant to use the phone, and Ozaki, whom he thought to be unconscious, promptly vanishes. When Minami finally contacts the boss, he's told to get in touch with the local Shiroyama crew. Minami doesn't know his way around, and the weird locals seem more interested in animated, interminable arguments about the weather than in helping him find his way. Eventually he runs into Nose (Shôhei Hino), who seems relatively sane, and offers to help him find Ozaki. Minami spends the night at an inn, where the innkeeper (Keiko Tomita) possesses a strange lactating power (which she's eager to demonstrate), and mistreats her mentally challenged employee (Harumi Sone). After another frustrating day searching for Ozaki, during which he encounters the decrepit Shiroyama crew, Minami finds a note from his "brother," and travels to the town dump to meet him, only to find Ozaki (now played by Kimika Yoshino) in a transformed state. Gozu was directed by the prolific Takashi Miike from a script by Sakichi Satô, who also wrote the script for Miike's Ichi the Killer. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Famed pink eiga turned indie impresario Zeze Takehisa directs this very odd romance yarn between a young lass with a heart of gold and a seeing-eye dog. Shiro is a white dog raised by a kind-hearted family and who is particularly close to their daughter, Haruka. After a few years, Shiro's training begins and he is matched with Gong (Ryo Ishibashi), a blind boxing trainer. One night after knocking back one too many beers, Gong gets hit and killed by a truck. Shiro survives but is so racked by guilt that the dog's health begins to decline. Gong's spirit appears and grants him one wish -- to be human and find the family that loved him as a pup. Suddenly, Shiro is transformed into a hunk cad in white (Etsushi Toyokawa). He learns that the family was killed in a plane crash with the exception of Haruka (Haruka Igawa), who now teaches kindergarten in a remote corner of Japan. Shiro's transition into being a human proves to be awkward: When he tracks down a very suspicious Haruka, she brands him a pervert for sniffing her bicycle seat. Soon however, Shiro manages to win Haruka's heart. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike creates this unnerving horror film about a widowed TV producer auditioning prospective wives. In his search, one candidate particularly stands out, a lovely ex-ballerina dressed in white. The widower cannot believe his good fortune, until he starts looking more closely at his potential bride-to-be: her autobiographical details don't quite check out, she has a number of ugly scars on her legs, and he learns that people in her life have a habit of disappearing. When he discovers a man trussed up in her living room with his tongue and feet lopped off, he concludes that she is perhaps not the woman of his dreams. Audition was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

A courageous but naive boy from one of Japan's smaller islands goes to seek his fortune in Tokyo and ends up involved in Yakuza violence. Yoichi's descent into crime begins after he is befriended by the more worldly Michio who helps his new friend find work in a night club run by the Yakuza. Unfortunately, the boy messes up and enrages the club owner. He simultaneously makes a favorable impression upon a crime boss who likes the rude boy's insolence and refusal to bow to the brutish club owner. The Yakuza hires both Yoichi and Michio as thugs and assigns them to collect gambling debts. The two get into trouble when they begin interfering with their drug-addicted boss's relationship with his moll. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Following his 1995 brush with death in the form of a motorcycle accident, actor/comedian/writer/director Takeshi Kitano spins this wistful -- if bleak -- tale about a pair of high school buddies and their inevitable slide into adulthood. Bumptious Masaru (Kenichi Kaneko) and his quiet sidekick, Shinji (Masanobu Ando), spend much of their time harassing teachers and shaking down students instead of going to school. At one point they dangle a large anatomically correct doll before the class window of a particularly maligned teacher. One day, one of their favorite marks brings along a more skilled street punk to thwart his tormentors. Their thrashing is so thorough that Masaru drags Shinji to a boxing gym. There they learn the ways of pugilism, but it turns out that only Shinji has a gift for the sport. As Shinji rises in boxing rank, Masaru drifts away from his friend and joins a yakuza gang. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

An American FBI agent infiltrates the notorious Japanese yakuza and is forced to choose between old loyalties and his new bond of blood in this lurid crime thriller starring Viggo Mortensen. The first American ever to be accepted into Japan's treacherous criminal underworld, FBI Agent Nick Davis (Mortensen) successfully infiltrates the American arm of the yakuza and quickly rises through the ranks due to his reputation as a skilled assassin. But when Agent Davis is subsequently adopted into the powerful Tendo crime family, his mission is complicated by Italian mob boss Dino Campanela (Michael Nouri) and unpredictable enforcer Vic (Nicky Katt). When crooked and uncompromising FBI task force head Agent Littleman (Robert Forster) sets his sights on Agent Davis, the stage is set for a showdown that will set the criminal underworld ablaze. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi