Koji Yakusho Filmography

Walking My Life

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Miki Imai, Shun Shioya, Nao Minamizawa, Haruka Igawa

Synopsis: A bout of terminal cancer alters the course of a man's life in completely unexpected ways in Walking My Life (AKA Zo No Senaka), Japanese director Satoshi Isaka's thoughtful domestic drama. At age 48, Yukihiro Fujiyama (Koji Yakusho) has virtually everything a man could want - a respectable job as Read More

Silk

Actors: Michael Pitt, Keira Knightley, Koji Yakusho, Alfred Molina, Miki Nakatani

Synopsis: Francois Girard's adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novel Silk stars Michael Pitt as a young Frenchman who travels to Japan at the request of a wealthy silkworm magnate who asks him to smuggle back some new worms. The mission succeeds, and this allows the man to live in great comfort with his Read More

I Just Didn't Do It

Actors: Ryo Kase, Asaka Seto, Koji Yakusho, Koji Yamamoto, Masako Motai

Babel

Actors: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Koji Yakusho

Synopsis: The tragic aftermath of human carelessness travels around the world in this multi-narrative drama from filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett) are a couple from the United States who have traveled to Morocco in Northern Africa on a vacation after the Read More

Retribution

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Manami Konishi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Jô Odagiri

Synopsis: Japanese horror producer Taka Ichise -- the force behind Ringu and Ju-on: The Grudge -- and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the director of Pulse, team up for the supernatural horror picture Retribution (aka Sakebi), starring Koji Yakusho, Riona Hazuki, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Manami Konishi, Ryo Kase, Hiroyuki Hirayama Read More

Suite Dreams

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Takako Matsu, Koichi Sato, Shingo Katori, Ryoko Shinohara

Synopsis: Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald director Koki Mitani continues to hone his screwball skills with this crowd-pleasing comedy about a hapless hotel accommodations manager juggling multiple responsibilities in preparation for the forthcoming New Year's Eve celebrations set to take place in the lavish Read More

Memoirs of a Geisha

Actors: Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Koji Yakusho, Youki Kudoh

Synopsis: This film, based on the novel by Arthur Golden, unfolds from the perspective of Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi), a girl who, at the age of nine, is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto in the early 1930s. Here, she learns that becoming a geisha can be the single path to wealth and independence for a woman. The head Read More

Pulse

Actors: Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki, Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo

Synopsis: As one of the most cutting-edge Japanese filmmakers, Kiyoshi Kurosawa once again wraps a lowbrow, much-maligned genre -- in this case horror flicks (which were the rage in Japan at the time of this release) -- around some decidedly highbrow philosophical concepts. At the film's outset, Michi (Kumiko Aso Read More

Lakeside Murder Case

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hiroko Yakushima, Akira Emoto, Etsushi Toyokawa

Warai No Daigaku

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Goro Inagaki

Synopsis: A member of a struggling comedy troupe attempts to get his material past government censors -- and inadvertently ends up getting help from one of their sternest members -- in this period comedy, set in pre-WWII Japan. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide Read More

Doppelganger

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hiromi Nagasaku, Nagasaku Hiromi, Yusuke Santamaria, Masahiro Toda, Hiromi Sato

Synopsis: Yuka (Hiromi Nagasaku) is an attractive young woman whose brother has recently died under mysterious circumstances. Shortly before his untimely death, Yuka got her first glimpse of his double, who has since moved into their apartment and taken his place. Hayasaki (Koji Yakusho) is a brilliant but Read More

Yudan Taiteki

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Akira Emoto, Yui Natsukawa, Eiji Okuda, Masahiko Tsugawa

Synopsis: Jin (Koji Yakusho of Shall We Dance?), a straight-laced but unfocused cop, works in the robbery division. A widower for two years, Jin does his best to be there for his young daughter, Misaki (Rio Sugano), while remaining dedicated to his work. One day, Misaki is in the park and a kindly older man Read More

Warm Water Under A Red Bridge

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho

Synopsis: In 1998, Japanese auteur Shohei Imamura announced his retirement with his wild and wooly war drama Kanzo Sensei. His announcement clearly proved to be premature, as exhibited by this bizarre romantic drama about the power of really good sex, based on a book by Henmi Yo. Koji Yakusho -- who starred Read More

Totsunyu Seyo! Asama Sanso Jiken

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Ryudo Uzaki, Yuki Amami, Masatoh Eve, Makoto Fujita

Synopsis: Following up on his smash-hit Kinyu Fushuku Retto Jubake about corporate corruption, Masato Harada directs this big-budget police drama about the infamous ten-day police siege of a band of radicals in the hills near Karuizawa in 1972. Adapted from the memoirs of top cop and soon-to-be Cabinet Read More

Cure

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Tsuyoshi Ujiki, Anna Nakagawa, Masato Hagiwara

Synopsis: Oddball Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed this haunting police thriller about murder, mind control, and the power of charisma. Police Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) is tracking a series of bizarre murders, all committed in exactly the same manner: a giant X is slashed in the flesh of Read More

Eureka

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Ken Mitsuishi

Synopsis: One of the leading voices in the new Japanese cinema, Shinji Aoyama directs this saga about memory, grief, and redemption. Shot in stark black and white, the film opens with the sudden and inexplicably bloody hijacking of a bus in rural Kyushu. The crazed gunman (Riju Go) shoots two passengers in Read More

Dora-Heita

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Yuko Asano, Bunta Sugawara, Tsurutaro Kataoka

Synopsis: As the Japanese studios were declining in 1969, four legendary directors from that country's "golden age" of cinema -- Kon Ichikawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Keisuke Kinoshita, and of course Akira Kurosawa -- banded together to start their own production company. The financial and critical failure of the Read More

Seance

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Jun Fubuki, Ittoku Kishibe

Synopsis: The Sixth Sense and A Simple Plan by way of Martin Heidegger, this genre-bending thriller is directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Katsuhiko (Koji Yakusho) is a mild-mannered sound-technician who is married to Junco (Jun Fubuki). While at first glance Junco seems to be an average hausfrau, she possesses Read More

Kinyu Fushuku Retto Jubake

Actors: Jun Fubuki, Hirotaro Honda, Renji Ishibashi

Synopsis: Following up on his critically acclaimed Bounce Ko Gals (1998), director Masato Harada spins this slickly-produced, compelling salary man drama that was a surprise smash hit in Japan. Tapping into the economic malaise and the growing outrage against endless tawdry financial scandals of Japan in Read More

Charisma

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Ren Osugi, Yoriko Doguchi, Jun Fubuki

Synopsis: Idiosyncratic auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed this bizarre allegorical tale about a tree named Charisma. Goro Yabuike (Koji Yakusho) is a burned-out hostage negotiator called to rescue an MP from a gun-toting lunatic demanding that "rule of the world" be restored. In a moment of indecision, he Read More

The Eel

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu

Synopsis: Veteran filmmaker and perennial iconoclast Shohei Imamura directs this darkly comic tale about love, redemption, and a man's beloved pet eel. The film opens with Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho), a seemingly normal salaryman, learning that his wife might be having an affair. When he catches the Read More

License To Live

Actors: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Koji Yakusho, Shun Sugata, Lily, Kumiko Aso

Synopsis: In a departure from his acclaimed horror films Cure (1997) and Charisma (1998), Kiyoshi Kurosawa's License to Live is a gentle family melodrama that doubles as a meditation on personal identity. The film focuses on Yutaka (Hidetoshi Nishijima), the victim of an ugly car accident who suddenly Read More

Bounce Ko Gals

Actors: Hitomi Sato, Yasue Sato, Yukiko Okamoto, Jun Murakami, Shin Yazawa

Synopsis: Ripped straight from the headlines of 1990s Japan, this film directed by Masato Harada explores the ticklish issue of enjo kosai -- a much-hyped phenomenon in which Tokyo schoolgirls (kogyaru) go on paid dates with lecherous middle-aged men. Set in the ultra-fashionable neighborhood of Read More

Sleeping Man

Actors: Ahn Sung-ki, Christine Hakim

Synopsis: Kohei Oguri directs this sumptuously photographed free-formed tale about a beautiful corner of Japan. Consisting of a number of enigmatic, interwoven story lines, the film's title comes from Takuji (Ahn Sung-ki), who returns to his rural hometown after journeying about the world. After an accident Read More

Lost Paradise

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Hitomi Kuroki, Akira Terao, Toshio Shiba, Tomoko Hoshino

Synopsis: Veteran director Yoshimitsu Morita spins this romantic melodrama that was originally written by Junichi Watanabe and serialized in the Nihon Keizai Shinbum, Japan's answer to the Wall Street Journal. Kuki (Koji Yakusho) is a former magazine editor wunderkind whose star has dimmed as he slides into Read More

Kamikaze Taxi

Synopsis: Masato Harada tackles the racism experienced by South American-born, ethnically Japanese returnees in this two-fisted crime drama and road movie. The film centers on Tatsuo (Kazuya Takahashi) -- a low-level, short-tempered gangster moving up in the pimping business. Yet, when he sends out his one Read More

Shall We Dance?

Actors: Koji Yakusho, Tamiyo Kusakari, Naoto Takenaka, Eriko Watanabe, Hideko Hara, Akira Emoto

Synopsis: Reminiscent of the Australian hit Strictly Ballroom (1992), this romantic comedy from Japan was a hit in its country of origin, despite (or perhaps because of) its tacit criticisms of the restrictive aspects of Japanese culture. Shohei Sugiyama (Koji Yakusho) is a typically strait-laced Japanese Read More

Tampopo

Actors: Ken Watanabe, Nobuko Miyamoto, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Koji Yakusho, Rikiya Yasuoka

Synopsis: The sophomore directorial effort from ill-fated Japanese filmmaker Juzo Itami, Tampopo is an off-beat comedy featuring several intersecting stories all related to food. Tsutomu Yamazaki plays Goro, a truck driver who helps a young widow named Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) improve her noodle Read More