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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Tadanobu Asano: King of Indie Films

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:28 / 21.05.07

That's him there. Recognize him?

No? C'mon, you know this guy.

Still nothing? How about

Yeah. Yeah, see? You know that guy. Apparently he's called the "King of Independent Films" in Japan, also "Japan's answer to Johnny Depp" (most likely due him having an early "teen idol" reputation before he went on to take some strange albeit memorable roles in a number of films, usually doing a great job). I thought "King of Indie Films" was a bit much, but further research revealed that the man has done a shitload of movies. Here's his wiki page and a fairly recent interview.

So yeah, sitting around bored one day I start to research this guy to see what he's about, and good god has he done a lot of movies for a guy that doesn't describe himself as an actor but he's also coming across as a fairly talented artist in general. He's in a band with director Sogo Ishii (Mach 1.67), enjoys poetry, calligraphy, and a whole host of other atistic endeavors, about which he seems from the interviews I've read to be pretty humble.

I enjoyed his performance in Ichi the Killer, and I keep thinking I've seen him in all kinds of movies but I can't seem to find any evidence of it. I don't recognize many titles on his IMDB page (there's some cheesy movie that I'm sure I've seen him in; it's got a forest, zombies, history repeating itself and Tadanobu with an afro. Can't remember the name). Anyway, the more I read about this guy the more I want to see some of his movies, most especially Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl.

Just look at that smile. That's a grin that makes me want to see the movie, which, from reviews, is apparently not very memorable. I'm not sure what I'm liking about this guy so much, but I want to see as many movies as living in the States and not having much capital to work with will allow. Suggestions from any barbelith Tadanobu fans, if any in fact exist, will be appreciated.

20:47 / 21.05.07

Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl is pretty good, but I don't think there's an official english trans. You can find it online at fairly decent quality, through the usual sources, if so inclined. It's kind fo a crime/on-the-run/sexy film with violence and odd humorous human moments.

Available in Eng. editions, at least in the States:

The Zatoichi he was in is a revival of the Zatoichi character, and being done and played by Beat Takeshi it kicks much ass, while being generally happier and more lively than most of his films. It's got blind swordsmen, revenge, a killer in drag and a dope who runs around mostly naked and embarrassing himself. It's also worth noting it was a general all-audiences film in Japan, but appears to be R-rated in the States.

And he was in Hideaki Neon Genesis Evangelion Anno's Love & Pop which I haven't seen since before it was officially US-released, but it had excellent cinematography, if nothing else, and yeah Tadanobu Asano's basically always that good.

Mysterious Transfer Student

20:56 / 21.05.07

Mr. Asano is the world's handsomest man. Science is only steps away from proving this.

Tuna's correct in saying he's appeared in more films you've probably seen than you think. Two off the top of my head are Last Life in the Universe, a curious Thai rendition of a North American-style 'quirky independent romantic comedy' with oddball guy meeting beautiful girl which would be no doubt sick-making in English, but feels like it works in an unfamiliar setting; and Vital, which is legendary madman Shinya Tsukamoto moving into the Dead Ringers phase of his career and has Asano as a medical student dissecting the body of his ex-lover.

In Vital he hardly speaks for the first act but just does this windy, hollow hmph thing in his throat that for reasons hard to articulate, unsettles the piss out of me. It's just one thing he can do that makes him more interesting than the average studly international indie leading man. So I'll watch anything at all with him involved.

21:00 / 21.05.07

there's some cheesy movie that I'm sure I've seen him in; it's got a forest, zombies, history repeating itself and Tadanobu with an afro.

This sounds like Ryuhei Kitamura's Versus, but that's not Tadanobu Asano, so maybe not. There is a guy with similar hairstyle and facial-hair arrangement, though.

I mistook him for Tadanobu Asano a couple years ago, in a film with Kitamura's girlfriend, whose name I've completely blanked (as well as the title of the film).

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

15:43 / 22.05.07

Mr. Asano is the world's handsomest man. Science is only steps away from proving this.

I'm harboring some pretty serious envy in regard to his moustache. And those eyebrows. I'll tell you this: I've got great eyebrows, eyebrows that handsome men the world over pine for, but I don't have shit on this guy.

The Zatoichi he was in is a revival of the Zatoichi character, and being done and played by Beat Takeshi it kicks much ass, while being generally happier and more lively than most of his films.

Yes, Zatoichi I've seen. Got me interested in Beat Takeshi, another strange guy. All in all an enjoyable film. The dance number at the end was unexpected but fun.

What's weird is Tadanobu Asano refuses to label himself as an actor, yet he's done a mountain of movies (over 50!) and he didn't even start doing movies until, what, early nineties? What's the deal?