CriMeDB: Bunta Sugawara
Author's note: this is my send-up of IMDB's "Meet So-n-So Actor" feature they use on their front page regularly. I will use CriMeDB - pronounced Cry-em-dee-bee - as a way to introduce you to my favorite little-known stars of crime noir cinema from time to time.
Meet Bunta Sugawara. He is the star of the classic Japanese crime series Battles Without Honor or Humanity (you know, the namesake of that cool song from Kill Bill Vol. 1?), as well as other gritty Yakuza eigas such as Street Gangster and Graveyard of Honor. He is also, as you can see, a total badass. Sugawara was a revolutionary actor in that he led the charge for a new wave in the yakuza-sponsored films that filled Japanese cinema during the 50's and 60's (portraying them as almost honor-bound folk heros) - a new wave of gritty, bloody, brutal, and very honest looks at the savage insular world of the Japanese underground.
Sugawara is a powerhouse actor, and as Shozo in the 5-film Yakuza Papersseries, we follow his spiritual and ethical decay as he sinks from idealistic gangster and loyal comrade to nihilistic thug careening toward self-destruction. He's the Clint Eastwood of his generation, and along with director Kinji Fukasaku, paved the way for a new generation of fantastic tough guy actors and directors such as "Beat" Takashi and Takashi Mike. If you ever have a chance to get a hold of the Yakuza Papers (Battles without Honor or Humanity, Deadly Battle in Hiroshima, Proxy War, Police Tactics and Final Episode), particularly the 2004 DVD set, do it. You shan't regret it.
Author's note: this is my send-up of IMDB's "Meet So-n-So Actor" feature they use on their front page regularly. I will use CriMeDB - pronounced Cry-em-dee-bee - as a way to introduce you to my favorite little-known stars of crime noir cinema from time to time.
Meet Bunta Sugawara. He is the star of the classic Japanese crime series Battles Without Honor or Humanity (you know, the namesake of that cool song from Kill Bill Vol. 1?), as well as other gritty Yakuza eigas such as Street Gangster and Graveyard of Honor. He is also, as you can see, a total badass. Sugawara was a revolutionary actor in that he led the charge for a new wave in the yakuza-sponsored films that filled Japanese cinema during the 50's and 60's (portraying them as almost honor-bound folk heros) - a new wave of gritty, bloody, brutal, and very honest looks at the savage insular world of the Japanese underground.
Sugawara is a powerhouse actor, and as Shozo in the 5-film Yakuza Papersseries, we follow his spiritual and ethical decay as he sinks from idealistic gangster and loyal comrade to nihilistic thug careening toward self-destruction. He's the Clint Eastwood of his generation, and along with director Kinji Fukasaku, paved the way for a new generation of fantastic tough guy actors and directors such as "Beat" Takashi and Takashi Mike. If you ever have a chance to get a hold of the Yakuza Papers (Battles without Honor or Humanity, Deadly Battle in Hiroshima, Proxy War, Police Tactics and Final Episode), particularly the 2004 DVD set, do it. You shan't regret it.
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