Person
SABU
Wakayama, Japan
Sabu (サブ, Sabu, born November 18, 1964) is the pseudonym of Japanese actor and director Hiroyuki Tanaka. Born in Wakayama Prefecture, Sabu studied at an Osaka fashion school befo…
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Sabu (サブ, Sabu, born November 18, 1964) is the pseudonym of Japanese actor and director Hiroyuki Tanaka. Born in Wakayama Prefecture, Sabu studied at an Osaka fashion school before deciding to go to Tokyo to become a professional musician. It was suggested he try acting and in 1986 he made his film debut in Sorobanzuku. He earned his first starring role in the 1991 World Apartment Horror, a live-action film directed by Katsuhiro Ōtomo of Akira fame. Working from a script he wrote himself, he made his directorial debut with the 1996 Dangan Runner, a film that set his early style of "quirky action-comedies propelled by characters who hurtle headlong though squirming narratives steered more by the forces of incidence and coincidence than the actions of the protagonists themselves." Shin'ichi Tsutsumi played the lead in Sabu's first five films. Blessing Bell, starring Susumu Terajima (who has played minor roles in nearly all of Sabu's films), was a turn away from his kinetic, parodic, and black comedy narratives, and earned the NETPAC Award at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival. Later films featured the J-pop band V6. In 2009, he directed The Crab Cannery Ship, a modern adaptation of a classic of Japanese proletarian literature written by Takiji Kobayashi. He has continued to work as an actor, such as in Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer (2001). His film Chasuke's Journey was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2026
Arrested Memory
Movie Director
-
2023
Under Your Bed
Movie Director
- 2021
-
2021
Jam: The Drama
TV show Director
-
2021
My Blood and Bones in a Flowing Galaxy
Movie Screenplay
-
2019
Dancing Mary
Movie Editor
-
2018
Jam
Movie Editor
-
2017
Mr. Long
Movie Director
-
2017
Happiness
Movie Director
-
2016
Silence
Movie Samurai #1
-
2015
Chasuke's Journey
Movie Screenplay
-
2013
Miss ZOMBIE
Movie Director
-
2013
Ichi the Killer - Making Of
Movie Self
-
2013
Ichi the Killer - Behind the Scenes
Movie Self
-
2011
Bunny Drop
Movie Director
-
2010
Trouble Man
TV show Director
More credits
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2009
Kanikôsen
Movie Director
-
2006
Sakuran
Movie Patron
-
2005
Dead Run
Movie Director
-
2005
Hold Up Down
Movie Director
-
2003
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish
Movie Patron
-
2003
A1012K
Movie Director
-
2003
Hard Luck Hero
Movie Director
-
2002
Blessing Bell
Movie Director
-
2002
Drive
Movie Director
-
2001
Ichi the Killer
Movie Kaneko
-
2000
Monday
Movie Screenplay
-
1998
Unlucky Monkey
Movie Bank Robber
-
1997
Postman Blues
Movie Kurokawa
-
1996
Dangan Runner
Movie Assassin
-
1996
Don't Look Up
Movie Sekikawa
-
1996
(Ura) Tôsatsu nanpa-dô
Movie
- 1996
- 1995
-
1995
Shinjuku Triad Society
Movie Shusuke Shimada
-
1994
Zëiram 2
Movie Fujikuro (as Sabu)
-
1994
Kiriko
Movie
-
1994
800 Two Lap Runners
Movie Kyoichi Nakazawa
- 1994
- 1993
