Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
Sonatine
Takeshi Kitano's masterful and meditative gangster film, about a yakuza sent to the beautiful beaches of Okinawa where he has time to ruminate on his fate.
Crime 1993 94 mins
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Overview
Murakawa (‘Beat' Takeshi), an established and ruthless gangster, is sent to intervene in a gang war on the island of Okinawa. When the situation takes a turn for the worse, Murakawa and his men are forced to retreat into hiding, but it’s not long before their enemies track them down. A final and breathtaking showdown becomes inevitable.
Kitano's fourth feature was the first to make a splash at international film festivals, playing at Cannes (Un Certain Regard) in 1993, and is arguably the most successful of his early films in distilling his signature blend of deadpan violence and warped whimsy.
Contains strong violenceRelated
Crime
Rashomon Rashomon
Crime 1950 88 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.
The Prey The Prey
Action and Adventure 2018 93 mins Director: Jimmy Henderson
An innocent man sentenced to rot in a Cambodian jail is released for the sadistic pleasure of twisted trophy hunters and forced to fight – or die.
Polytechnique Polytechnique
Crime 2009 77 mins Director: Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve’s profound dramatisation of the tragic Montreal Massacre.
Drive Drive
Crime 2011 97 mins Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Ryan Gosling plays the stunt double leading another life as a getaway driver in Nicolas Winding Refn's timeless cult thriller.
Pusher Pusher
Crime 1996 105 mins Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
The debut film of both Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) and Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) is a ferociously gritty crime thriller about a drug dealer's dizzying descent into self-destruction.
Pusher II Pusher II
Crime 2004 96 mins Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Nicolas Winding Refn's sequel follows Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) on the path to redemption, as he balances a life of crime with the demands of a new family.
Japan 2021
Seven Samurai Seven Samurai
Drama 1954 207 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Farmers hire a band of samurai to defend them against marauding bandits in Kurosawa’s influential epic, a touchstone for action movies ever since.
Ran Ran
Drama 1985 154 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.
Rashomon Rashomon
Crime 1950 88 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Credited with bringing Japanese cinema to worldwide audiences, Akira Kurosawa’s breakthrough tells the story of a murder in the woods from four differing perspectives.
Tokyo Story Tokyo Story
Drama 1953 136 mins Director: Yasujiro Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujiro Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.
Late Autumn Late Autumn
Drama 1960 128 mins Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Comedy turns to pathos in Yasujiro Ozu's tale of a group of businessmen who conspire to match-make for a widow and her daughter.
Equinox Flower Equinox Flower
Comedy 1958 118 mins Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Ozu's deft comedy takes an ironic look at the decline of paternal authority.
Featuring Takeshi Kitano
Violent Cop Violent Cop
Crime 1989 103 mins Director: Takeshi Kitano
In his brutal directorial debut, ‘Beat' Takeshi Kitano plays a renegade cop who frequently resorts to violence and unethical methods to get results.
Battle Royale Battle Royale
Science Fiction 2000 114 mins Director: Kenji Fukasaku
Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale, Kinji Fukasaku's magnificently twisted shocker in which tearaway teens are given three days to kill or be killed.
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Boiling Point Boiling Point
Crime 1990 97 mins Director: Takeshi Kitano
A young baseball player becomes mixed up with a psychotic yakuza, in Takeshi Kitano's hilarious and twisted crime tale.
Violent Cop Violent Cop
Crime 1989 103 mins Director: Takeshi Kitano
In his brutal directorial debut, ‘Beat' Takeshi Kitano plays a renegade cop who frequently resorts to violence and unethical methods to get results.
New
Funeral Parade of Roses Funeral Parade of Roses
Drama 1970 106 mins Director: Toshio Matsumoto
Toshio Matsumoto's kaleidoscopic masterpiece is one of the most intoxicating films of the 60s.
Radiance Radiance
Drama 2017 102 mins Director: Naomi Kawase
A passionate writer of film versions for the visually impaired meets an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesight, in this luminous love story from Naomi Kawase (Sweet Bean).
Marketa Lazarová Marketa Lazarová
Period drama 1967 159 mins Director: Frantisek Vlácil
Voted the best Czech film ever made, František Vláčil’s groundbreaking 13th-century epic is a story of a fierce inter-clan rivalry and doomed love.
All My Good Countrymen All My Good Countrymen
Comedy 1968 115 mins Director: Vojtech Jasny
Vojtěch Jasný’s enduring masterpiece chronicles the saga of Czech villagers forced into collective farms by their new Communist rulers.
Cutting It Short Cutting It Short
Drama 1980 98 mins Director: Jirí Menzel
Warmly nostalgic look at small-town life from Oscar®-winning director Jiří Menzel (Closely Observed Trains).
Old Boys Old Boys
Comedy 2017 95 mins Director: Toby MacDonald
Charmingly idiosyncratic comedy reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, with Alex Lawther as a boarder who helps the school hero woo a French teacher's daughter despite being besotted with her himself.