Kazuki Kitamura Movies

Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike draws inspiration from the popular Playstation 2 title Yakuza for this unhinged tale of underworld violence in Tokyo starring Goro Kishitani and Kazuki Kitamura. It's summertime in Tokyo, and as the temperature rises, two undercover cops stake out a high-profile bank robbery while complaining about the air conditioning. When the masked gunmen make their way into the vault only to find that the Tojo gang's ten-million-yen deposit has mysteriously vanished, an already complicated situation gradually starts to spiral out of control. Meanwhile, in another part of town, psychotic yakuza Goro Majima (Kishitani) strikes out on his own to pay a visit to rival gang leader Kazuma Kiryu (Kitamura) and track down the missing mother of adorable youngster Haruka (Natsuo). It seems that Haruka's mother has some valuable information, and Majima is determined to find her at any cost. Now, as Majima makes his way through the neon-lit streets of Tokyo, Satoru (Shun Shioya) and his girlfriend, Yui (Saeko), embark on a bold robbery spree, and South Korean hitman Park (Yoo Gong) prepares to locate and terminate the thieves who absconded with the Toho gang's money. Later, after Majima and Kiryu engage in a series of fights all across the city, a confrontation at the top of Tokyo's Millennium Tower finds the true criminal mastermind finally stepping out of the shadows. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Orphaned as a little girl, Azumi (Aya Ueto) is raised in the forest with a group of ten children by their master (Yoshio Harada), who trains them to be peerless assassins. Azumi and Nachi (Shun Oguri) are the strongest of the fighters. When the group comes of age, the master gives them one final test. He tells them to team up with the person to whom they feel closest. Then he tells them to kill that person, explaining that an assassin never gets to choose whom to kill. The teens reluctantly fight to the death. Then the survivors are brought out of the woods to begin their work, assassinating the corrupt warlords who are preventing peace in the land. The assassins, particularly Azumi, perform their missions with flair, but complications arise. One of the teens (Takatoshi Kaneko) is poisoned by a ninja's blade, one (Kenji Kohashi) falls in love with a circus performer (Aya Okamoto), and Azumi begins to question her desire to live the violent life of an assassin. Meanwhile, one warlord (Naoto Takenaka) cleverly escapes their blades, and together with his bodyguard Kenbei (Kazuki Kitamura) and a "monkey-faced" ninja, Saru (Minoru Matsumoto), they find Bijomaru (Jô Odagiri from Bright Future), a violent madman, release him from prison, and unleash him upon the young team of assassins. Azumi, based on the manga by Yu Koyama, is the first of cult director Ryuhei Kitamura's (Versus) films to be made within the Japanese studio system. It was shown at the 2004 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Takashi Ishii directs this jet-black erotic thriller about a woman's past coming back to haunt her. Chihiro (played by model Harumi Inoue) is enjoying her life -- she likes her white-collar job and she loves her handsome co-worker boyfriend. Then one day, she sees an unusually attractive stranger poking through her mail. To her horror, she recognizes him as Hirokawa (Kazuki Kitamura), one of three thugs who gang-raped her years previous. Worse, he recognizes her and forces himself into her apartment. Acting like a long-lost lover, he tells her that he and the other two rapists -- including yakuza boss Baba (Naoto Takenaka), who just got out of prison -- are coming soon to relive the old times. He shows her photographs of the last rape, which he shows to her baffled boyfriend (Shunsuke Matsuoka), who makes a brief visit, and which he has stuffed in the mailboxes of all of her neighbors. The following day, he goes to her work and creates a scene that results in her getting canned. Chihiro's slow burn suddenly erupts into a fantastically violent catharsis. Preparing herself for the impending visit of the other rapists, she stuffs Hirokawa's body in the refrigerator. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

A stark drama awash in post-modern nihilism, Bootleg Film follows two friends who are driving to a funeral -- Tatsuo (Akira Emoto), a low-level criminal, and Seiji (Kippei Shiina), a police officer. The dearly departed was Ayako (Tamaki), a woman who at one time was married to Seiji and at another involved with Tatsuo. The circumstances of this journey has brought tensions between them to the surface, and they've been arguing when they encounter Yoji (Kazuki Kitamura) and Junko (Maika), a disaffected young couple who soon find out more about the two men than it's healthy for them to know. The second feature film from director Masahiro Kobayashi, Bootleg Film was shown as part of the "Un Certain Regard" series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide