Sonatine(1993)
A ferocious man sleeps here.
Murakawa, an aging Tokyo yakuza tiring of gangster life, is sent by his boss to Okinawa along with a few of his henchmen to help end a gang war, supposedly as mediators between two warring clans. He finds that the dispute between the clans is insignificant and whilst wondering why he was sent to Okinawa at all, his group is attacked in an ambush. The survivors flee and make a decision to lay low at the beach while they await further instructions.
Movie: Sonatine
Top 10 Billed Cast
Aniki Murakawa
Miyuki
Uechi
Ryoji
Ken
Katagiri
Kitajima
Takahashi
The Hit Man
Kitajima Gang Member
Video Trailer Sonatine
Video: Sonatine - Trailer
Sonatine - Trailer
Nihilism and violence in Sonatine | BFI video essay
Sonatine (1993) clip - on BFI Blu-ray from 29 June 2020 | BFI
All 3 videos
Sonatine - Trailer - Trailer
Nihilism and violence in Sonatine | BFI video essay - Featurette
Sonatine (1993) clip - on BFI Blu-ray from 29 June 2020 | BFI - Clip
Recommendations Movies
Fireworks(ja)
Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paralyzed from a brutal gangster attack, Nishi borrows from a yakuza loan shark and then robs a bank to clear his debt.
Boiling Point(ja)
Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.
The Facts of Murder(it)
A police inspector comes into contact with people of all types and dispositions during a grueling murder investigation.
Destinazione Piovarolo(it)
Antonio La Quaglia becomes the railroader in Piovarolo during 1922 meanwhile the fascism is raising. Later he marries a jewish woman. He has career ambitions but can not reach them.
Two Men in Manhattan(fr)
Two French journalists become embroiled in a criminal plot in New York City involving a disappeared United Nations diplomat.
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun(ja)
A war widow determined to clear the name of her disgraced husband, who was court-martialed for desertion and executed. Official records have been destroyed, and the ministry that distributes benefits continues to deny her a pension. Twenty-six years after the war, she seeks out four survivors of her husband's garrison. Each tells a dramatically different story about her husband's conduct, but she is determined to learn the truth.
The Ceremony(ja)
Oshima’s magisterial epic, centering on the ambivalent surviving heir of the Sakurada clan, uses ritual and the microcosm of the traditional family to trace the rise and fall of militaristic Japan across several decades.
Fellini: A Director’s Notebook(it)
Fellini discusses his views of making motion pictures and his unorthodox procedures. He seeks inspiration in various out of the way places. During this film viewers go with him to the Colisseum at night, on a subway ride past Roman ruins, to the Appian Way, to a slaughterhouse, and on a visit to Marcello Mastroianni's house. Fellini also is seen in his own office interviewing a series of unusual characters seeking work or his help.
A Quiet Place to Kill(it)
A race-car driver who's down on her luck is invited by her ex-husband's wife to stay at their plush villa. The two women form a bond, and it's not long before their mutual dislike for the husband culminates into a plan to kill him. As it turns out, though, they're not alone in plotting murder
Maruyama, the Middle Schooler(ja)
Katsuya Maruyama is a middle school student boy full of obscene thoughts. He then meets Tatsuo Shimoi, a single father who moves into the same apartment complex. Tatsuo Shimoi is a bit of an enigma: he doesn't get along with the housewives in the apartment complex and doesn't appear to work. Through his encounter with the mysterious single father, Katsuya grows as a person.
Ushijima the Loan Shark(ja)
Mirai Suzuki (Yuko Oshima) becomes responsible for her mother's debt which is owed to loan shark Kaoru Ushijima (Takayuki Yamada). To begin paying off her mother's debt, Mirai begins working at a dating cafe. Meanwhile, Jun (Kento Hayashi) is the ambitious and greedy company president for an event group. To borrow money, Jun visits Kaukau Finance owned by Kaoru Ushijima.
Violent Cop(ja)
A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.
Cookie's Fortune(en)
Conflict arises in the small town of Holly Springs when an old woman's death causes a variety of reactions among family and friends.
Caged(fr)
Somewhere in Eastern Europe. Carole is a young nurse with a humanitarian aid group that has reached the end of its mission. But just then, the young woman and her two colleagues are kidnapped by strangers for mysterious reasons. Held captive, cared for and kept alive in an oppressive and sinister setting, the three prisoners soon discover with horror what their kidnappers truly have in store for them.
Platform(zh)
China’s rapid changes from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, as seen through the lives of four performers in a theater troupe.
Dolls(ja)
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.
A Moment of Romance(cn)
After a young Triad member takes an upper-class girl hostage during his escape from a jewelry heist, the two find themselves falling in love, in spite of the repercussions caused by their forbidden relationship.
Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive(en)
Standup comedian Aziz Ansari ("Parks and Recreation") headlines his third standup special, where he shares his uniquely hilarious perspective on fears of adulthood, babies, marriage, and more. Ansari's look at life on the cusp of 30 years old is smart, unfiltered, and hysterical.
Brother(ja)
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Similar Movies
True Romance(en)
Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
Brother(ja)
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Seven Samurai(ja)
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Fly with the Gold(ja)
Kota hears about an impending 1.5 billion yen gold bar heist from his friend Kitagawa, a former college classmate, and decides to take part. The gold bar sits in the basement of the HQ of Sumita Bank. Helping Kota and Kitagawa are bank security employee Noda, a North Korean spy pretending to be a college student, Kitagawa's younger brother Haruki and a former elevator engineer. These 6 men are about to carry the boldest of schemes to bypass the bank's high-tech defense system.
Killer Sword(ja)
1884. The samurai days have come to an end. Capitalism and democracy flourished across Japan. But in Chichibu, an area just north of Tokyo, samurai spirits still lived. Out of the many schools that taught Japanese swordsmanship, the school of Ono and Kogen were most dominant. Every year, they each selected a master swordsman to fight a dedicatory match held at the Chichibu Shrine. Gengo (Hideki Takahashi) represented the school of Ono. His opponent Danhichiro of the Kogen school was feared by many as the "Devil".
Down in the Valley(en)
On a trip to the beach, a teenage girl named Tobe meets a charismatic stranger named Harlan, who dresses like a cowboy and claims to be a former ranch hand. The pair feel an instant attraction and begin a relationship, but her father, a lawman, is suspicious of her lover.
Gambling Den Desire(ja)
In a small town on the Kasumigaura coast in the early Showa period, the Masukawa clan from Tokyo is trying to take away the interests of the local Isetoku family. Setsuko, the adopted daughter of the Isetoku family, falls in love with Seijiro, a travelling raven she meets on a whim. However, Koide, a businessman connected to the Masukawa clan, wants Setsuko to become his mistress... Setsuko puts aside her love and her regrets and bets on the greatest female challenge of her life!
One Hour Photo(en)
Sy "the photo guy" Parrish has lovingly developed photos for the Yorkin family since their son was a baby. But as the Yorkins' lives become fuller, Sy's only seems lonelier, until he eventually believes he's part of their family. When "Uncle" Sy's picture-perfect fantasy collides with an ugly dose of reality, what happens next "has the spine-tingling elements of the best psychological thrillers!"
Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! IV: The Gamble(ja)
Having lost everything to horse racing, Yûji accidentally gets 10 million yen. But this sum belongs to a Yakuza.
Crying Freeman(en)
A lethal assassin for a secret Chinese organisation, who sheds tears of regret each time he kills, is seen swiftly and mercilessly executing three Yakuza gangsters by a beautiful artist. She is captivated by the grace of his kill and later falls in love with him. An intense power struggle for the leadership of the Yakuza Clans ensues as they seek vengeance for the death of their leader.
Sensei! It's Kuchisake-onna!(ja)
High school students Takeshi and F1 were working part-time to earn money by stealing mopeds and selling them to delinquents. One day, Ayaka, who has transferred to the school Takeshi attends, joins them, and the three of them decide to steal a moped. When he tries to steal a moped parked in his apartment, he is found by a woman wearing a mask who seems to be the owner. Takeshi and his friends escape on a motorcycle, but they are quickly overtaken by a running woman with unbelievable physical abilities. This masked woman was a slit-mouthed woman who ran 100m in 6 seconds with her mouth split all the way to her cheeks.
Exiled to Hell(ja)
It is the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926), and at the Hanazuki-tei theatre in Asakusa, the famous performance of storyteller Koiso Kikuji and performer Kataoka Koshin is reaching its climax when the Tawaraya family interferes... This is an entertaining action film bursting with righteousness and humanity, centred on men who try to live righteously against a corrupt boss who preys on the performers.
Outlaw: Black Dagger(ja)
A street war breaks loose between two rival gangs in the Kansai region of Japan. Goro is in the middle of action. Through a knife fight against Sueo, a high profile gangster from Busou-kai, Goro notices a familiar face approaching him from amidst the chaos - his girlfriend, Yuri. Goro had sent her to safety, but she had returned, aching to see him. Caught between Goro and his enemy knife, she reunites with her love - the price was her life.
The Orphanage(es)
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage, intent on reopening it. Before long, her son starts to communicate with a new invisible friend.
Police Officer(ja)
Itami, a young policeman, meets his high school friend, Tetsuo, a gangster, at a roadblock. As they rekindled their friendship, a complex relationship is established between them.
Trick: The Movie 2(ja)
Ueda employes Yamada to go a mysterious island in search of a girl (played by Maki Horikita) that disappeared 10 years ago. They discover the island is run by Kobako Sachiko, who can appear and disappear via boxes, among other strange powers.
Platinum Data(ja)
Set in the year 2017, the Japanese government attempts to secretly control the DNA of its people. Ryuhei Kagura is a top scientist in the field of DNA analysis. He works at the DNA analysis institution run by the National Police Agency. When the inventor of the DNA analysis system is murdered, Ryuhei Kagura's own DNA is found at the murder scene. Ryuhei Kagura becomes the prime suspect and then he becomes a fugitive. Veteran detective Reiji Asama goes in pursuit.
Strawberry Night(ja)
Reiko Himekawa (Yuko Takeuchi) is a female detective at the Metropolitan Police Department. Reiko doesn't come from an elite background, but she has risen fast through the ranks with hard work. Reiko than becomes involved in a murder case named "Strawberry Night" due to the mysterious use of those words surrounding the case ...
Zatoichi(ja)
Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.