
Banmei Takahashi
Directing
Biography
Director, screenwriter, and producer. Began his career in the world of pinku-eiga, directing and collaborating with established directors such as Mamoru Watanabe and Koji Wakamatsu. Along with the aforementioned directors, Takahashi helped to develop the talents of actors such as Ren Osugi and Shiro Shimomoto. He also worked as a writer on a couple episodes of the 'Lupin the 3rd' television series. With films such as 'Tattoo Ari' he also broke into more mainstream endeavors. Married to Keiko Takahashi (née Sekine).
Known For

Yasuko, a housewife, lives in an urban high-rise apartment with her husband Satoru and her son Takuto. Annoyed by spam calls and door-to-door salesmen, Yasuko slams the door on a salesman’s hand when he tries to squeeze a flyer through the apartment's chained front door. He leaves, but the next day, her nightmare starts.
Door

In the sequel to 1990's classic Neo Chinpira, Junko (Sho Aikawa) attempts to take out Kazama and then goes on the run. However, he quickly begins to feel homesick, and returns home to find that almost everything has changed. Noriko is now a bar mama with a lavish lifestyle, Yumeko is nowhere to be found, and his boss (Toru Minegishi) seems to have sinister plans involving Junko and his uncle (Jo Shishido).
Neo Chinpira 2: Zoom Goes the Bullet

Junko pretends to be a yakuza and gets more than he bargained for when he is tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member. If he turns the task down, he will face the consequences for betrayal.
Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet

Ai is a call girl that makes good money for what she does but there’s always at risk no matter how good the money is.
Door II: Tokyo Diary

The fear of rape suddenly befalls women who live peacefully in Shinjuku, as the perspective of the film alternates between the point of view of a rapist who calls himself a "shark" and the women who are raped.
Hatsujô

A look at the lives of two prostitutes in Tokyo: Rei, who works as an S&M dominatrix, and Ayumi, in the more straightforward profession of call girl. In addition to their working life, the film also looks at their private lives. Rei is acting in an amateur theatre company along with the receptionist from Ayumi's escort service, while Ayumi is living with her student-boyfriend as he struggles to finally get accepted to college.
A New Love in Tokyo

In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).
Zen

An ardent culture-vulture youth, previously charged for the murder of a woman when he was young, plans to hold hostage a local bank.
Tattoo

Shortly after moving to the suburbs, the Kobayashis start to come undone. Convinced a family curse is at the root of their erratic behavior, the man of the house takes it upon himself to course-correct before it takes the last of their sanity.
The Crazy Family

This documentary-style film recreates the infamous Asama Sanso Incident of 1972 wherein an extreme faction of the Students Allied Red Army holed themselves up in a mountainous cabin in the dead of winter. By the time the police finally caught up with them, it was discovered that they had murderously turned upon themselves in a bizarre extension of their radical philosophy. This event virtually marked the end of the Student Revolution.
Rain of Light

Michiko used to work as a live-in part-timer at an izakaya, but suddenly lost her job and her house at the same time due to COVID-19 pandemic. There are no new jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and diners and internet cafes are closed. Michiko is at her wits' end, but there in front of her is a bus stop that stands slightly brightly in the darkness, illuminated only by the streetlights.
No Place to Go

Directed by Banmei Takahashi of "New Love in Tokyo." A drama centered around identity, with a half Korean/Japanese man and a hermaphroditic woman.
Seraphim Night

A young and beautiful female instructor. While she has a physical relationship with a guard, she also serves as a spy for the warden. She disguises herself as a prisoner and sneaks into the cells, cleverly finding out the prisoners' secrets and reporting them to the warden. As a result, a thought criminal commits suicide, and a colleague who became involved in lesbian relations with a female prisoner is punished.
The Women's Prison Lesbian Hell

Documentary filmmaker Kenjiro Fujii takes a look at the history of a distinctly Japanese brand of softcore pornography in this extensive examination of the "pinku eiga" genre (ピンク映画 Pinku eiga or Pinkeiga). For more than 40 years, so-called "pink" films have served as both a key source of revenue for the Japanese film industry as well as a launching pad for the careers of such mainstream filmmakers as Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After providing a detailed history of the still-profitable and popular genre through interviews with a variety of behind-the-scenes players and clips from such classic pink films as Fish Bait Boobies, director Fujii shifts his focus to the production of an upcoming pink film to offer a glimpse into the creative and stylistic evolution of the genre.
Pink Ribbon

Shuji Tokita (Eiji Okuda) is a film director and a professor at a university. He goes through a difficult time trying to film his new movie. He believes his movies reflect his own personal expriences. A female high school student, Ritsuko (Yukino Murakami), appears in front of Shuji.
Red Ball

Kaori, the principal of Tanimoto Gakuen, a major player in the beauty industry, is aiming to expand into Shinjuku in order to make further progress. However, she is overtaken by the president of the Beauty Association and others. Then, a mysterious man, Segiyama, appears before her. He tells Kaori that he will take back the rights to the salon in Shinjuku in exchange for campaign expenses.
Ambition in The Mirror

Keiko was a high school teacher in a provincial city, but due to a certain incident, she quit school and moved to Tokyo, where she now teaches English at a prep school. The incident was a tragic incident in which she tried to save a student from being gang-raped by a thug, only to end up being tied up and tortured instead. Since then, she has become a perverted sex-obsessed person who gets pleasure from the pain of being tied up. The man who transformed her like this follows her around like a tick, and although she hates him, she cannot leave him...
Another Female Teacher: Tight Bondage

The fifth work of the "Kita-Shirakawa school movie" in which a student of Kyoto University of Art and Design, a professional film staff, and a cast team up to make a film. With a certain big disaster, people are struggling for love while holding their own circumstances, and as a result, they ask what it is to "live correctly" even in a vague and uneasy era. Ittoku Kishibe played Yanagida, the protagonist of the protagonist who created and exhibited objects that incorporate radioactive materials to create and display indiscriminate terrorism.
Living Rights
Three stories with horror and science fiction elements. 1st episode: "The Curse of Tutankhamen" (Tsutankâmen no noroï) by Kazuyuki Izutsu. With Naoto Takenaka. Two clans of Yakuza clash in a bar. 2nd episode: "They came back, tonight too" (Yatsura wa konya mo yattekita) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. With Renji Ishibashi. A polar writer is pursued by two mysterious mountebanks. 3rd episode: "I want to come back to this day" (Ano hi ni kaeritai) by Banmei Takahashi. With Toshiyuki Nagashima. A couple who robbed a bank decides to separate to escape the police.
Dangerous Stories

A black comedy about a former Rock'n'Roll singer, who becomes the mayor of Tokyo.