SABU

Sabu サブ Sabu born November 18 1964 is the pseudonym of Japanese actor and director Hiroyuki Tanaka Born in Wakayama Prefecture Sabu studied at an Osaka fashion school before deciding to go to Tokyo to become a professional musician It was suggested he try acting and in 1986 he made his film debut in Sorobanzuku He earned his first starring role in the 1991 World Apartment Horror a liveaction film directed by Katsuhiro Ōtomo of Akira fame Working from a script he wrote himself he made his directorial debut with the 1996 Dangan Runner a film that set his early style of quirky actioncomedies propelled by characters who hurtle headlong though squirming narratives steered more by the forces of incidence and coincidence than the actions of the protagonists themselves Shinichi Tsutsumi played the lead in Sabus first five films Blessing Bell starring Susumu Terajima who has played minor roles in nearly all of Sabus films was a turn away from his kinetic parodic and black comedy narratives and earned the NETPAC Award at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival Later films featured the Jpop band V6 In 2009 he directed The Crab Cannery Ship a modern adaptation of a classic of Japanese proletarian literature written by Takiji Kobayashi He has continued to work as an actor such as in Takashi Miikes Ichi the Killer 2001 His film Chasukes Journey was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival