Sabu Movies

Previously adapted for the screen in 1953 by actor/director So Yamamura, author Takiji Kobayashi's classic 1929 novel gets a new lease on screen life in this manga-styled film from prolific actor/writer/director Sabu. When the young and downtrodden workers on a crab canning ship stage a daring revolt, their bold attempt in casting aside the shackles of conformity yields unanticipated results. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In Sabu's Drive, a group of bank robbers ends up in a panic when their driver, Mickey (Toshio Kakei), double-crosses them, taking off with all the loot and leaving them stranded. Meanwhile, Asakuru (Shinichi Tsutsumi of Sabu's Postman Blues) has just seen the doctor about his debilitating tension headaches. One of Asakuru's few pleasures is driving by the corner where a pretty young woman, Sakai (Kou Shibasaki of Battle Royale), takes her lunch break every afternoon. But on this day while he watches the girl, his reverie is interrupted by the bank robbers, who commandeer his car, ordering him to pursue Nishi. Unfortunately for them, Asakuru refuses to drive over the speed limit, let alone run a red light. The gang quickly grows frustrated and stops at a café to formulate a plan. But word is out about their "successful" robbery, and a meddlesome waiter recognizes them and threatens to blow the whistle. He runs into some bad luck, and soon the gang is on the move again, Asakuru in tow, and encountering some strange luck of their own. The angriest (Susumu Terajima of Ichi the Killer) has an edifying run-in with a punk rock band. The youngest member (Masanobu Ando, also from Battle Royale) rediscovers his aptitude for baseball, while Nishi (Ren Osugi of The Twilight Samurai) finds out there may be something more important to him than the cash. Meanwhile, Mickey has an epiphany of his own when his escape plans are thwarted by some angry spirits. Drive was shown at the 2004 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Maverick auteur Takashi Miike spins this unsettling, blood-soaked yakuza yarn adapted from Hideo Yamamoto's cult manga Koroshiya 1. When mob don Anjo mysteriously disappears, his protégé Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) vows to find the people responsible. Sporting a blond head of hair and a yawning, pierced slash for a mouth, Kakihara is no ordinary gangster and his methods are equally unorthodox; he impales one poor suspect's naked body on a series of meat hooks and then dumps hot oil on him. Meanwhile, a shadowy character known as Jijii (played by director Shinya Tsukamoto) deftly manipulates, for his own nefarious ends, Ichi (Nao Omori), an unbalanced but ruthless killing machine clad in a superhero suit. Pining for the sadistic abuse of his boss, Kakihara learns of Ichi from a Hong Kong hostess (Alien Sun) and sets out to find this fabled butcher, hoping he can inflict the pain that Kakihara craves. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival as a part of the Midnight Madness program. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Following up on his kinetic action-comedies Dangan Runner and Postman Blues, actor turned director Sabu spins this tale about a bank robbery gone laughably wrong. Yamazaki (played by Sabu regular Shinichi Tsutsumi) has spent days plotting a hit on a local bank, but when the time comes to do the deed, he finds some other guy sticking up the joint. Yamazaki promptly flees, but after a series of improbable accidents, the bank's money is literally dumped into his arms. As he flees, he accidentally runs into a comely beautician. Unfortunately, he was carrying a knife at the time; the woman kneels over dead as the bank's rent-a-cop bears down on Yamazaki. Meanwhile, a pair of mid-level thugs -- Kamada (Hiroshi Shimizu) and Matsuda (Akira Yamamoto) -- are looking to join a rival gang after their boss was recently jailed. Things appear to be going swimmingly for them until their bumptious colleague Kaneda (Ikko Suzuki) bursts in sporting the ski mask worn by Yamazaki. A freak act of fate renders Kaneda dead on the yakuza boss' floor, and Kamada and Matsuda in a situation that requires some serious explaining. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Keystone Cops meets Run Lola Run by way of Fight Club in this absurdist comedy-drama directed by up and coming Japanese filmmaker Sabu. Yasuda (Tomoro Taguchi) lives a life of perpetual humiliation: his meek, bumbling ways have made him the disgrace of the kitchen where he works and a failure in the eyes of his bouncy ex-girlfriend, who dumped him for a yuppie in an expensive suit. In a desperate attempt to retain some self-respect and dignity, the cook plots to rob a bank. Just before he strides through the bank's sliding glass doors, however, he realizes that he forgot one crucial thing -- a gauze face mask (often worn when one has a cold in Japan). He hurries to a nearby convenience store, only to find that it only stocks one in a child's size. Realizing that he also forgot his wallet, the increasingly panicky Yasuda pockets the mask, only to get caught in the act by a store clerk named Aikawa (Diamond Yukai) -- a crank-addicted rock singer whose career is rapidly going south. A tussle ensues, resulting in Yasuda winging the clerk in the arm. Completely terrified, the would-be bank robber drops his gun and flees the store, with Aikawa chasing after him looking for blood. Just as he is about to squeeze off a round at Yasuda's head, the clerk runs smack into Takeda (Shinichi Tsutsumi), a third-rate yazuka to whom Aikawa owes a stack of money and who inadvertently started a gang war through his own cowardice. Soon it becomes a three-man race through the streets of Tokyo, with the trio's collective sanity slowly starting to erode. Meanwhile, the dark clouds of gangland violence build around them until the film's dénouement. Dangan Runner was shown in the 2000 Shooting Gallery tour under the title Non-Stop. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide