Sabu

One fine day, in ISI or maybe in home in bbsr, I turned on the TV to see this new channel, UTV World Movies. I don't depend much on TV for movies, so had no idea about this channel, but this was a welcome surprise to see a japanese movie on TV. The movie, I later was to learn, was Hiroyuki Tanaka or as he is better known, Sabu's Monday. The story was about a sarariman, waking up in a hotel room on Monday, with no recollection of the weekend that had just passed. The story starts then absolutely rockets, with some absolutely spiffing music and awesome dance scenes, featuring a morose yakuza, his delectable girlfriend, and many more similarly zany characters. There are plenty of implied commentary on the contemporary japanese society, apparently. But the comedy is pretty universal.

Later, I watched Postman Blues, which also stars the director, and very recently (ie in the last hour, ahem) watched Drive. Both star Shinichi Tsutsumi, who also starred in Monday. If anything made Monday leave such a mark on me, it was his superlative acting. Besides he has given the most convincing potrayal of a mathematician, that I have seen, in Suspect X, one of the best battle of wits movie that I have seen, alongwith Death Note.

The tragi-comic aspects of his movies are just too special. For example, Drive features a scene in which the Tsutsumi uses a samurai sword to slice his aunt, done in a way, which forces you to laugh out. Similarly, Postman Blues is amazing cocktail of pessimism and optimism.


Sabu is also an actor and was in Ichi the killer, Takeshi Miike's gorefest. Miike regularly casts directors in his movies, as he says that they bring a very unique perspective, being intimately connected with movies, but are not professional actors. For more gems from Miike, do check out his interviews in youtube.

Let me end with this funny anecdote about Sabu. Apparently, after one of his movie showings, someone asked him, is it true that making movies in Japan is getting more difficult, due to lack of funds. Sabu cocked his head and said totally matter of factly, probably yeah, most people find it difficult to find money for movies, but I am amazing, so I don't have any problems!!

Photos are from top to bottom, poster of Monday, a scene from Postman Blues, and a poster of Suspect X.