Kinji Fukasaku

Directing

Kinji Fukasaku

Born July 3, 1930 · Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Died January 12, 2003 · aged 72

Kinji Fukasaku (July 3, 1930 – January 12, 2003) was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer. He is best known in the west for directing the Japanese portion of the Hollywood film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Battle Royale (2000).

Known For

Battle RoyaleBattle Royale · 2000
Battle Royale
7.32000
MovieDramaThriller
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
Tora! Tora! Tora!Tora! Tora! Tora! · 1970
Tora! Tora! Tora!
7.21970
MovieWarHistory
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
Battle Royale II: RequiemBattle Royale II: Requiem · 2003
Battle Royale II: Requiem
5.02003
MovieActionThriller
It's three years after the events of the original Battle Royale, and Shuya Nanahara is now an internationally-known terrorist determined to bring down the government. His terrorist group, Wild Seven, stages an attack that levels several buildings in Tokyo on Christmas Day, killing 8000 people. In order for the government to study the benefits of "teamwork", the new students work in pairs, with their collars electronically linked so that if one of them is killed, the other dies as well. They must kill Nanahara in three days - or die.
Samurai ReincarnationSamurai Reincarnation · 1981
Samurai Reincarnation
5.91981
MovieActionFantasy
After surviving the slaughter of many Christians 350 years ago, a samurai denounces God for ignoring the pleas of believers. He sells his soul to Satan and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him in a murderous rampage.
VirusVirus · 1980
Virus
6.31980
MovieHorrorScience Fiction
Scientists in Antarctica desperately try to find a cure to a military virus that was released in a plane crash and has wiped out the rest of the world.
Proof of the ManProof of the Man · 1977
Proof of the Man
7.81977
MovieDramaCrime
When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.
Battles Without Honor and HumanityBattles Without Honor and Humanity · 1973
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
7.31973
MovieCrimeAction
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.
The Green SlimeThe Green Slime · 1968
The Green Slime
5.31968
MovieScience FictionHorror
A giant asteroid is heading toward Earth so some astronauts disembark from a nearby space station to blow it up. The mission is successful, and they return to the station unknowingly bringing back a gooey green substance that mutates into one-eyed tentacled monsters that feed off electricity. Soon the station is crawling with them, and people are being zapped left and right!

Filmography

Sort
Key HunterKey Hunter · 1968
Key Hunter
7.01968
SeriesDrama
Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".

Director

Professional KillersProfessional Killers · 1972
Professional Killers
8.01972
SeriesDramaCrime
A shikakenin was an under-the-cover trade that undertook killing in Edo. Hanemon of Otowa, an agency that introduced laborers and maids, was also one of these. Katsugoro Iseya was a timber dealer who had come in as a client. His target was the constructions magistrate Hanno, and the Tatsumiya who sipped on the benefits. Hanemon who had a stong code towards killing, where he would only kill those who do no good to be in the world, accepts this request. Baian Fujieda, a needle doctor would carry out the killing. However, the professional killer Baian fails to bring down Tatsumiya. Hanemon then looks to another shikakenin, the ronin Sanai Nishimura for the role. Although Sanai's ability with the sword is good, he lives poorly in a tenement, and accepts this commission on the condition that it is kept a secret from his wife and child. Here, they close in on Hanno and Tatsumiya again...

Director