The best Tetsu Watanabe’s crime movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Tetsu Watanabe’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Tetsu Watanabe.
Fireworks
7.7/10
Detective Nishi is relieved from a stakeout to visit his sick wife in hospital. He is informed that she is terminally ill, and is advised to take her home. During his visit, a suspect shoots one detective dead and leaves Nishi's partner, Horibe, paralyzed. Nishi leaves the police force to spend time with his wife at home, and must find a way to pay off his debts to the yakuza.
Cold Fish
7.1/10
Shamoto runs a small tropical fish shop. When his daughter Mitsuko is caught shoplifting at a grocery store a man named Murata steps in to settle things between the girl and the store manager. Murata also runs a tropical fish shop and he and Shamoto soon become friendly. However Murata hides many dark secrets behind his friendly face.
Sonatine
7.5/10
A Japanese mobster attempts to even the score when he realizes he and his lackeys have been pawns in a lethal game.
Enter the Fat Dragon
5.7/10
After being dumped by his fiancé, heartbroken Hong Kong police officer Fallon Zhu gains 200+ pounds. His superiors demote him to the job of escorting convicts to Japan. When a convict in his custody mysteriously dies, he must team up with citizen Thor to solve the mystery.
Himizu
7/10
Set after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, all 14-year-old Sumida Yuichi wants to become is a regular boy and live a decent life. His environment though repeatedly drags him into the mud. He runs his parent's rental boat business, which is located next to a nondescript lake. His mother frequently comes home with different men and soon she leaves him entirely. His father only comes around looking for money. Chazawa Keiko is a classmate of Sumida Yuichi. She harbors a severe crush on Yuichi. Keiko's home life isn't much better than Yuichi's. Her mother builds a gallows with a noose in place for Keiko to take her own life. Her mother believes her life would be better off without Keiko.
Under these circumstances, Keiko pays a visit to Yuichi's home. A group of people are lingering nearby who live in makeshift tents on the property. Keiko tries to befriend Yuichi, but she is berated and even physically assaulted. She doesn't get deterred though and sticks around.
Swallowtail Butterfly
7.5/10
Swallowtail Butterfly takes place in an alternate Japan, in a ghetto where immigrants from all over the world have come to live and make their fortune. The city is called Yentown, and it is much like Tokyo. Sixteen-year-old Ageha, a young girl whose mother has just died, is passed on from person to person until a prostitute named Glico finally takes pity on her. Under Glico's care, Ageha has many experiences with the other poverty-stricken immigrants in Yentown. Eventually, due to a sudden twist in fate, the immigrants are given a chance to realize their dreams. But in doing so, they destroy their solidarity, and have to face their problems separately.
Kamikaze Taxi
7.6/10
A young foot soldier in the yakuza seeks revenge when his prostitute girlfriend dies after a session with a high-ranking Japanese politician with a taste for torture. He sets out on a 'kamikaze' mission to kill his bosses and the politician; along the way, he acquires the aid of a taxi driver who has recently returned to Japan after living in South America for several decades and is struggling to cope with poverty and the prejudices of native-born Japanese.
Alone in the Night
6.3/10
An undercover narcotics officer is killed, and after his funeral some yakuza break into his apartment and rape his wife, Nami, while looking for the drugs they claim he stole from them. Afterwards Nami attempts to commit suicide, but after being rescued by a mysterious yakuza she decides to infiltrate the gang and get revenge.
Ley Lines
6.9/10
The story follows a trio of Japanese youths of Chinese descent who escape their semi-rural upbringing and relocate to Shinjuku, Tokyo, where they befriend a troubled Shanghai prostitute and fall foul of a local crime syndicate. Like many of Miike's works, the film examines the underbelly of respectable Japanese society and the problems of assimilation faced by non-ethnically Japanese people in Japan.
Conflict II
When Tendokai's headquarters are attacked, underboss Washio Kazuma orders his trusted lieutenant to investigate a possible mole inside the family.
Conflict
Tendokai's Washio Kazuma, the underboss of Japan's largest crime syndicate, goes on the warpath when his blood brother and family turn up dead.
Minbo: the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion
7.4/10
A grand old Japanese hotel is trying to get a prestigious contract as the site of a summit meeting of important foreign officials. Unfortunately, this hotel is quite popular with the Yakuza (Japanese gangsters) and is a favorite target of theirs for extortion. They employ a variety of schemes to con the hotel out of 'hush-money.' The hotel needs to rid itself of the Yakuza and finally begins to fight back by hiring Mahiru Inoue, a lawyer who is an expert at dealing with these criminals on their own terms. This film by Juzo Itami combines action with farce, as an all-out war ensues.
You'll Die Six Hours Later
7.3/10
"You will die six hours later." Keishi, a youth who proclaims himself a seer, suddenly says this to Mio, who is walking along the streets of Shibuya. At first, Mio scoffs at it as nonsense but ever since her acquaintance was murdered a few days ago, she realises that she has also become a victim of a stalker. Half believing it, she decides to hang around with Keishi. Later, with the help of Sawaki, a detective she knows, the stalker is identified. She thinks the case is closed but a totally unexpected person attacks her...
Kagerô 2
An entertainment drama depicting the conflict of yakuza, centering on the female torso and her sister's feud.
Yakuza Ladies Revisited: Love is Hell
5.7/10
The seventh movie of the series “Yakuza Ladies” focuses on a wife of a small Osaka family. She risks her life to protect her husband’s family and its members against much larger, more established organizations.
Detective Ballerino
In the past, Kurumi Usushima (Yuto Nakajima) wanted to become a ballerino, but he is now a detective. Kurumi Usushima and his senior detective, Takao Washio (Masahiro Takashima), solve a case by using the hypnosis technique past life regression.
KIZU
Direct to video crime film.
