Sabu (2002) (TV)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Hiroshi Takeyama (screenplay)
Shûgorô Yamamoto (novel)

Release Date:

14 May 2002 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

Other People Don't Matter

Plot:

When a young man is sent to a prison workhouse for a crime he did not commit his friend on the outside must find evidence to clear his name.

Plot Keywords:

Jidai Geki | Based On Novel

Cast

Tatsuya Fujiwara	...	Eiji
Satoshi Tsumabuki	...	Sabu
Tomoko Tabata	...	Onobu
Kazue Fukiishi	...	Osue
Kenji Sawada	...	Okayasu
Naomasa Musaka	...	Matsuda
Tatsuo Yamada	...	Ryojiro Kojima
Yoshiki Arizono	...	Yohei
Keisuke Horibe
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ken'ichi Endô	...	Giichi
Mayuko Nishiyama	...	Osono
Ren Ohsugi	...	Heizo (as Ren Oosugi)
Hiroshi Tamaki	...	Kinta
Yôji Tanaka	...	Toku
Akira Yasuda

Directed by
Takashi Miike

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hiroshi Takeyama		screenplay
Shûgorô Yamamoto		novel

Original Music by
Kôji Endô

Cinematography by
Hideo Yamamoto

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masato Tanno	....	first assistant director

Production Companies

• Asahi National Broadcasting Company
• Nagoya Broadcasting Network (NBN)

Distributors

• Nagoya Broadcasting Network (NBN)

Other Companies

• Toei Kyoto Movie Studio  sound stages

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Toei-Kyoto Studios, Kyoto, Japan

Company:

Asahi National Broadcasting Company

Brings Attention to Miike's Underrated Skills

This is a really instructive example of the directorial skills that Takishi Miike exhibits in most of his films. His abilities are often lost on many viewers because they're too infatuated with cowheads, necrophilia, and bazookas. A coherent, dramatically-charged jidaigeki like this might challenge the patience and attention spans of some Miike-devotees. There are long stretches of this film that feature two characters facing one another and speaking. Being more plot-driven than action-driven, I can see how some might be bored to death, but it's this more cerebral pacing that highlights the kind of mastery that Miike is capable of. This movie should go a long way towards silencing critics who accuse him of being too dependant on yakuza mayhem and the usual clichés (bestiality, scat, necrophilia, homosexual rape, mutilation, etc.) That being said, this is a competent period film that stands on it's own. It is only slightly apparent to the viewer that it was made for television - it really has all the trappings of a regular film (casting & sets). All of the actors nail their performances and the "making of" featurette included on the R1 DVD shows the care and commitment that went into producing it.