
Yōichi Sai
Directing
Biography
Yōichi Sai (born 6 July 1949 in Nagano Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese film director. His mother is Japanese, His father is zainichi Korean. His 2004 film Chi to hone won four Japanese Academy Awards, including two for Sai himself, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. He had previously received two nominations in the same categories for Tsuki wa dotchi ni dete iru. In 1999 he shot Buta no mukui (The Pig's Retribution), a film set in the lavish natural scenery of Okinawa, inspired by the 1996 Akutagawa Prize-winning eponymous novel by Eiki Matayoshi. The film won the Don Quixote prize at Locarno International Film Festival in 1999. He won the award for Best Screenplay at the 11th Yokohama Film Festival for A Sign Days. As an actor, he appeared in Nagisa Oshima's 1999 film Taboo. He is the current president of the Directors Guild of Japan.
Known For

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
In the Realm of the Senses

No description available.
Pro Hunter

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.
Taboo

In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.
Blood and Bones

A lower-middle-class policeman lives decadently, chasing cheap beer and girls at the same time he's running from loan sharks and his personal expectations.
The Mosquito on the Tenth Floor

No description available.
The Night of Martial Law

A Labrador retriever named Quill begins specialized training as a guide dog from an early age, then the canine is paired with a blind man who is initially reluctant to rely on his new partner.
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog

No description available.
CLUB DEJA-VU ONE NIGHT SHOW 松田優作・メモリアル・ライブ

A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.
Kamui

A man serving a sentence in a minimum-security prison. Life in the jail is rigid and organized, eventually leading all of the cell-mates to abandon their individuality.
Doing Time

In the year 199X, on the dark, shady streets of New Kabuki Town, the free-for-all between gangs of young delinquents and a corrupt police force is further complicated by the appearance of a mysterious girl named Asuka.
The Glorious Asuka Gang!

Assistant police inspector Aida is assigned to investigate the murder of a former gang member. When a justice ministry official is killed days later in a similar manner, he begins to suspect that something bigger is going on...
MARKS

The first movie of Tôru Murakawa’s “Game” trilogy, in which an assassin hired to recover a kidnap victim becomes embroiled in a vicious power struggle between two large corporations over a sizable government defence contract.
The Most Dangerous Game

The second movie of Tôru Murakawa's "Game" trilogy. After making a sensational hit, a hitman has gone into hiding for five years. When he comes back he bumps into two women that he has spared five years ago. Two rival yakuza bosses hire Narumi to kill the other. Will Narumi's sense of chivalry entrap him again?
The Killing Game

A man returns to his seaside roots to confront a yakuza boss. Along the way, he charms young men, softens a hard woman and busts a few heads.
Let Him Rest in Peace

A woman named Fujiki Asuka arrives as an acquaintance of a sister in law for a day under the bar master Tamura who had guided Yakuza's escaping as a shoji. Tamura who lives on the second floor of the store for the time being the son who wants to work here. A few days later, Tamura finds a handgun from Yuko's baggage and holds a suspicion.
The Lady in a Black Dress

A dream collaboration between five directors who represent the modern Japanese film industry! An omnibus work composed of five short films has been created. "The Short Films: We Were All Once Children." The theme that runs through the five short films is "children." The styles vary from period dramas to contemporary daily life scenes, but all of the works highlight the dreams of children, who are entrusted with Japan's future, as well as the issues facing the social system surrounding children. ©ABC Television
The Short Films: We Were All Once Children

While trying to search for her missing father, Atsuko Moriya meets a group of outcasts that help her. Having only an encrypted disk in her possession and while being chased by unknown people, Atsuko tries to solve the mystery of her family origins.
Someday, Someone Will Be Killed

Ethnically Korean Japanese filmmaker Yoichi Sai directs this madcap crime comedy. Nakayama (Goro Kishitani) is a suave police detective who doesn't play by the rules. He busts a drug ring, but not before sampling a few of the wares, and he closes down an underaged prostitution ring after enjoying the company of a school girl hooker. One of duties is to shake down sniveling Korean gangster Hideyoshi (Ren Osugi) for information. In spite of their positions on opposite sides of the law, the two discover that they share a fair amount in common. A disregard for the law and the love of a comely prostitute from China named Momo-chan (Makoto Togashi). Though Hideyoshi is running an illegal alien smuggling ring with her and has lusted for her from a far for quite a while, Nakayama manages to bed her first. When she does finally appear in Hideyoshi's bed, she's unfortunately a corpse.
Dog Race

A gang of thieves plot to rob a US military base in Okinawa, but rising tensions in the group threaten to put the plan in jeopardy.