Chiaki Kuriyama Movies
Possessing what may perhaps be the most chilling gaze in recent memory, Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama burst onto the international film scene with her aggressive yet oddly sympathetic portrayal of a young girl forced to participate in a state-sponsored fight to the death with her classmates in director Kinji Fukasaku's controversial Battle Royale. A native of Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Japan, who formed a successful career as a model early on, it was around the age of 11 that the classically trained dancer and gymnast began her segue into film and television. Following her feature debut in the 1995 thriller School Mystery, Kuriyama sent chills down audience's spines with her role as a Ringu-inspired ghost in the popular 1999 horror film Shikoku -- her otherworldly eyes peering from the world of the dead into the realm of the living to heart-stopping effect. A strong follow-up in the form of the following year's Ju-on (aka The Grudge -- soon to be remade in America with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi producing) cemented Kuriyama as an actress to watch for, and the subsequent Battle Royale found her propelled to superstardom in her native Japan. In addition to her feature work, a fleeting appearance in the successful television miniseries Multiple Personality Detective Psycho preceded a more hearty role in the supernatural flavored television series Rokubanme no Sayoko - a role which gained her a considerable amount of attention from fans and critics. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Kuriyama's popularity outgrew the boundaries of Japan, and after seeing her impressive performance in Battle Royale, American director Quentin Tarantino immediately cast her as the villainous Go Go Yubari in his grindhouse revenge epic Kill Bill (even going so far as to re-enact a wrenching key moment from Battle Royale in the film). Her "Go Go ball"-wielding baddie made quite an impression on stateside audiences as well, and one could only speculate that international audiences would soon be seeing quite a bit more of the fearsomely attractive young actress. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide- 2009
This fantasy action-comedy from Japan focuses on a group of college students who get mixed up in the world of Horumu - a fighting competition where people call upon spirits to do battle for them. Supernatural combat might not be the best fit for freshman Akira Abe, but when he falls in love with classmate Kyoko, joining the school's Horumu team, the Kyoto University Azure Dragons, is the best way he can think of to get close to her. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Takayuki Yamada, Sei Ashina, (more)
This sci-fi tinged, full-length anime feature opens on a peaceful future, where Earth has left the violent conflicts of war in the past. Human nature still craves the clash of battle, however, so private companies now stage "war as entertainment," creating fictional wars for ordinary people to read about in the paper. These companies call exclusively on the services of young people known as Kildren. One such Kildren - a young man named Yuichi - has been newly assigned to a base in the fictional war, but with no memory of his past and a mysterious woman named Suito watching his every move, Yuichi is about to find that this made-up war isn't as harmless as it seems. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rinko Kikuchi, Ryo Kase, (more)
A violent and outrageous revenge comedy with a thoughtful undercurrent, director Lee Sang-il's Scrap Heaven opens with three characters united by fate on the same city bus: toilet cleaner Tetsu (Jô Odagiri); police department administrative assistant Kasuya (Ryo Kase), who wants to work his way up into homicide; and pharmaceutical company employee Saki (Chiaki Kuriyama). The three strangers have ostensibly no connection to one another, save a shared presence on the bus one fateful night -- the night that a political secretary goes completely psychotic and decides to take the three passengers, at random, as hostages. He strong-arms the three into violent and sadistic mind games, including lethal versions of Rock, Paper, Scissors and Russian roulette. The perpetrator inflicts Kasuya with deep-seated psychological scars and shoots Tetsu, pushing the man to the brink of death. The gunman then turns the weapon on himself. Months later, Kasuya meets up with Tetsu once again, and saves him from a potentially lethal act of violence. The two men subsequently join forces and devise a wild plan to set up a revenge-for-hire business, designed to "right wrongs" for victimized persons. In the mean time, Saki is pouring all of her time and energy into the construction of a liquid bomb -- a project that threatens to invite further destruction. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryo Kase, Jô Odagiri, (more)
A group of grotesque supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore enlist the aid of a young boy recently bestowed with the title of Kirin Rider in defeating a powerful dark overlord who preys on humans and monsters alike in this kid-friendly fantasy from Takashi Miike. As a series of bizarre supernatural incidents plague the Japanese countryside and scores of children go missing, a mysterious series of mechanical monster attacks led by a dark mistress (Chiaki Kuriyama) sends the country into a panicked frenzy. In the midst of the otherworldly chaos, a young boy named Takashi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) is named Kirin Rider at a rural shrine festival and sent into the hills to claim his sword from the Great Goblin as local legend dictates. Arriving at his destination to find that the mountain is populated by a variety of ghoulish inhabitants visible only to his eye, Takashi pledges to save his new Yokai friends and put an end to the apocalyptic plot set into motion by an evil entity determined to destroy mankind. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The effects of schizophrenia reverberate through three generations of educated Indian women when a woman is diagnosed with the psychotic disorder and those around her, including her westernized daughter, struggle to maintain normal lives.
As Azumi 2 gets underway, remaining assassins Azumi and Nagara set out in pursuit of their final target - the notorious Masayuki Sanada. But Sanada is fully prepared for the confrontation; he's hired the dreaded Koga Ninja Clan to dispense with Azumi, and they won't stop until their mission has been completed. The Koga Ninja Clan aren't the only foes that Azumi has to worry about either, because Kiyomasa's failed retainer Kanbei is out for blood as well. With enemies closing in from all sides, things are beginning to look decidedly grim for the assassin forced to choose between love and duty. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aya Ueto, Shun Oguri, (more)
Chiaki Kuriyama, Hyde, and Hiroki Narimiya bring Ai Yazawa's best-selling manga to the screen in a touching tale of undying love written and directed for the screen by Ken Nikai. Mizuki (Kuriyama) is about to turn 19, though the tragedies of the past year hardly seem worth celebrating. Still reeling from her mother's recent suicide, jilted by an unfaithful boyfriend, and betrayed by her closest friend, Mizuki is left all alone in an unforgiving world in which even her stepfamily seems coolly distant. Now the only thing left to do is leave it all behind and start life anew, and upon arriving at a dilapidated estate which seemed to beckon her from afar, Mizuki makes the acquaintance of mysterious and melancholy musician Adam (Hyde). His familiar melodies stirring something strangely irresistible within Mizuki, Adam soon sets the troubled young girl on a determined path to solve a mystery two decades in the making before the waning moon goes dark. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Perhaps the most highly anticipated film of 2003, Kill Bill Vol. 1 marked the return of renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino after a six-year hiatus. Re-teaming the director with Uma Thurman for the first time since 1994's Pulp Fiction, the film was originally the first half of what was to be a three-hour-plus movie before being split into two films. Thurman stars as The Bride, one-fifth of a team of assassins called DiVAS. When The Bride opts to leave the outfit for a life of marital bliss, it doesn't sit well with her boss, Bill (David Carradine), so he has her former cohorts, played by Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and Michael Madsen, show up at the nuptials, leaving behind a blood bath. Miraculously, The Bride survives a bullet to the head and, four years later, she sets out for revenge against her four assassins and their employer. The story is concluded in Kill Bill Vol. 2, released six months later. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, (more)
- 2001
In a future where society is on the verge of collapse, the government takes drastic action against the problem of rebellious teenagers in this violent sci-fi opus from Japan. In the year 2002, Japan's economy has taken a dramatic turn for the worse, and massive unemployment and inflation have thrown most adults into a state of chaos; the nation's youth culture responds with unprecedented violence, delinquency, and truancy. Desperate to restore order, the Japanese parliament responds by creating the Millennial Reform School Act, in which groups of junior high students are selected at random, sent to an isolated island, and forced to play a rigorous war game, in which all but one of their number are killed. Kitano (Beat Takeshi) is an embittered school instructor who guides the 44 students of the Zentsuji Middle School's Class B through the deadly game known as "Battle Royale," as they struggle to survive against the elements and each other. Battle Royale proved to be both successful and highly controversial in Japan, where it set box-office records and prompted political leaders to call for stricter controls on violence in Japanese entertainment; the film was initially rated R-15 (no one under 15 admitted), unusual for violent films in Japan, though director Kinji Fukasaku later prepared a re-edited version that earned a more lenient classification. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, (more)
In this supernatural thriller from Japan, Hinako (Yui Natsukawa) is a young woman with a successful career as a fashion designer who pays a visit to the village on the island of Shikoku where she grew up. Hinako learns that her best friend from childhood, Sayori (Chiaki Kuriyama), the daughter of the village's spiritual leader, died in a mysterious drowning accident. She also discovers that another childhood friend, Fumiya (Michitaka Tsutsui), is still living on the island, and as they renew their friendship Hinako finds herself sexually attracted to Fumiya. They're both startled when Sayori's spirit begins appearing to them, and they begin researching Shikoku folklore; they discover that the island is believed to be the gateway to another world, and Sayori's mother is trying to open the path so her daughter can return to this realm. Shikoku marked a change of pace for director Shunichi Nagasaki, who previously made the romantic drama Some Kinda Love. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yui Natsukawa, Michitaka Tsutsui, (more)
