Ryuhei Kitamura Movies
In a time when inflated budgets are often used to indicate the amount of bang you'll get for your multiplex buck, Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura surfaced as something of an oddity. His debut feature, Versus, stunned audiences worldwide with a dizzying, near-exhausting onslaught of cinematic bravura -- showcasing hyper-stylized, high-octane thrills and ultra-gory chills on a scant budget of 400,000 dollars. Many argued that such remarkable onscreen energy and creativity had not been achieved on such a small-budget since the early days of Sam Raimi, and genre-fans around the globe couldn't wait to see what the director could accomplish given a substantial budget and adequate resources.An Osaka native who relocated to Australia in his late teens to study at the School of Visual Arts, the aspiring director made quite an impression with his award-winning graduation film, entitled Exit. Returning to Japan shortly thereafter, Kitamura founded Napalm Films to back Heat After Dark, a 50-minute action film that served as the director's first theatrical release. The short action-horror effort Down to Hell was quick to follow. A high-energy, supernatural-flavored journey into the world of gangsters and the undead, the film served as the perfect primer for Kitamura's rapidly approaching feature debut. Appropriately, Versus was unleashed on Japanese filmgoers just days before Halloween 2000 at the Tokyo International Film Festival -- its nonstop barrage of action and energy left the jaws of stunned festival attendees planted squarely in their laps. Of course, it didn't take long for the word to travel, and after countless grey-market tapes flooded foreign shores, the film eventually received an official stateside DVD release thanks to genre specialists Media Blasters.
To say that expectation was high for Kitamura's follow up to Versus would likely be the biggest understatement of recent international genre cinema, and though general reaction to his subsequent futuristic prison film, Alive (2002), was notably mixed, fans were still curious what the high-energy visionary might cook up next. His subsequent samurai film, Aragami, echoed the early minutes of Versus with its tale of a wandering swordsman who must do battle with a fearsome demon, and that same year, Kitamura maintained his high profile by serving as producer for the outlandish Battlefield Baseball. 2003 also found the increasingly busy filmmaker stepping behind the camera to direct Azumi, a big-budget journey into 17th century feudal Japan concerning a master samurai who trains ten young orphans to become fearsome warlord-slaying assassins.
As rumors of a sequel to Versus continued to swirl through Internet chat rooms (no doubt spurned by Kitamura's admittance that he was preparing an "Ultimate Version" of the film containing new footage), fans rejoiced when it was announced that he would be helming Godzilla: Final Wars. Touted in advertisements as the "Godzilla 50th Anniversary Commemoration Production," the film promised not only a worldwide rampage by the fearsome cinematic lizard, but an all-out monster attack that was rumored to be the green meanie's final cinematic appearance for at least a decade. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A photographer propelled to explore his dark side begins tracking a subway serial killer whose brutal butchery makes for the most nightmarish images ever captured on camera in director Ryuhei Kitamura's adaptation of a short story by horror heavyweight Clive Barker. Leon Kaufman (Bradley Cooper) is just another struggling photographer in search of the perfect subject. Encouraged to explore the sinister side of humanity by a prominent art gallery proprietor (Brooke Shields) who is set to display his upcoming debut, Leon goes against the wishes of his girlfriend, Maya (Leslie Bibb), and begins stalking notorious serial killer Mahogany (Vinnie Jones) -- whose sadistic murder spree has been making headlines all across the country. As Leon's fascination with Mahogany gradually grows into obsession, his descent into the killer's putrid world of murder begins to corrupt his soul while simultaneously dragging his concerned girlfriend down a perverse path of darkness from which there is no return. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, (more)
Giant monsters are rampaging in cities across the globe, and as the Earth Defense Force struggles to find a way to defeat the malicious mutants, their only hope lies frozen in the Antarctic in Versus director Ryuhei Kitamura futuristic entry into the long-running kaiju series. In the near future, Earth is being decimated by monsters that have been mysteriously unleashed in every major city from New York to Sydney, and as the world population falls into a paralyzing state of panic, the Earth Defense Force must stage a daring initiative to save the human race. After a giant unidentified flying object suddenly appears and vaporizes the beasts in a matter of seconds, the relieved citizens of Earth are comforted to hear that the newly arrived alien race is seeking to make a peace treaty with humankind. All is not as it seems, however, and as the nefarious aliens reveal their true nature, it's up to Godzilla to take back the planet -- or die trying. ~ 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
- Starring:
- Aya Ueto, Kenji Kobashi, (more)
From Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamara (Versus, Azumi) comes this supernatural tale of grief and vengeance based on the popular manga by author Tsutomu Takahashi. When Detective Kanzaki Kohei's (Shosuke Tanihara) wife, Mina, is brutally murdered, his mourning soon gives way to rage and his search for the killer turns into an all-consuming obsession. Faced with the choice of ascending, languishing, or descending when she arrives at the Gate of Hatred in the afterlife, Mina is given 12 days to choose her ultimate fate. As Mina struggles to come to terms with her death, she follows both her husband and the serial killer, who is attempting to resurrect the Lord of Darkness by committing a series of horrific ritual murders. Will Mina accept death and move on toward reincarnation, become a ghost that will forever haunt the living, or sacrifice her soul for eternity by seeking vengeance on her killer? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Ryuhei Kitamura's Alive, based on a highly popular Japanese series of comic books, begins when convicted killer Tenshu, who murdered the people responsible for raping his girlfriend, survives his trip to the electric chair. Officials give him two choices -- either he takes another trip to the chair or he becomes a guinea pig for an experiment where he must battle aliens. He assumes that any fate is better than the electric chair, but he soon realizes how difficult his new existence will be. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 2002
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Ryuhei Kitamura, director of the cult action hits Versus and Alive, made this samurai movie about a legendary supernatural creature. In the middle of the night, two wounded samurai come upon a remote mountain temple. One of them dies. The other, after recovering from his wounds, meets the occupant of the temple, a brooding warrior who tells him that he is the legendary goblin Aragami, a god of war who eats human flesh and is invincible in battle. Wearied by his apparent immortality, he is searching for the one mortal who can defeat him, and hopes that his visitor is the one to do so and take on both his powers and the burden of eternal life. Aragami is one half of the "Duel Project," in which Kitamura and fellow director Yukihiko Tsutsumi agreed to each make a film involving a duel to the death. Tstutsumi's half of the bargain is entitled 2LDK. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Takao Osawa, Masaya Kato, (more)
Evil Dead 2 meets Street Fighter by way of The Matrix in this wild and woolly zombie/yakuza/samurai/kung fu/splatter flick directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. Throughout the world there are 666 portals to the other side; the 444th is Japan and is called the Forest of Resurrection, where good has battled evil for time immemorial. The film opens with prisoner KSC2-303 (Tak Sakaguchi) and his fellow cellmate escaping a maximum-security prison and ending up in the forest where they are supposedly to be picked up by a band of gangsters in a shiny Mercedes and taken to a safer place. Instead, the gangsters try to use them and a female hostage (Chieko Misaka) as pawns in a larger power struggle. A gunfight ensues killing KSC2-303's colleague and the mob boss, but just as the standoff is about to yield more violence, an odd thing happens -- the dead get up and attack the living. In the chaos, KSC2-303 and girl disappear into the forest with a band of slickly coifed yakuza in hot pursuit. High-kicks, machine guns, and rampant disembowelments ensue. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, (more)
