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 live-action 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 action-comedies 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." Shin'ichi Tsutsumi played the lead in Sabu's first five films. Blessing Bell, starring Susumu Terajima (who has played minor roles in nearly all of Sabu's 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 J-pop 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 Miike's Ichi the Killer (2001). His film Chasuke's Journey was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Filmography

• 2026Arrested Memory — Director, Writer
• 2023Under Your Bed — Director
• Jam: The Drama — Editor, Director, Teleplay
• 2021My Blood and Bones in a Flowing Galaxy — Screenplay, Editor, Director
• 2021Redder Than Yesterday, Bluer Than Tomorrow: Cinema Fighters Project — Director
• 2019Dancing Mary — Editor, Director, Writer
• 2018Jam — Editor, Screenplay, Director
• 2017Happiness — Director, Screenplay
• 2017Mr. Long — Director, Screenplay
• 2016Silence — Samurai #1
• 2015Chasuke's Journey — Screenplay, Director
• 2013Miss ZOMBIE — Director, Writer
• 2011Bunny Drop — Director, Screenplay
• Trouble Man — Screenplay, Director, Creator
• 2009Kanikôsen — Director, Screenplay
• 2006Sakuran — Patron
• 2005Dead Run — Director, Screenplay
• 2005Hold Up Down — Director, Writer
• 2003A1012K — Director
• 2003Hard Luck Hero — Director, Screenplay
• 2003Josee, the Tiger and the Fish — Patron
• 2002Blessing Bell — Director, Writer
• 2002Drive — Director, Screenplay
• 2001Ichi the Killer — Kaneko
• 2000Monday — Screenplay, Director
• 1998Unlucky Monkey — Bank Robber, Writer, Director
• 1997Postman Blues — Kurokawa, Director, Writer
• 1996(Ura) Tôsatsu nanpa-dô
• 1996Dangan Runner — Assassin, Director, Screenplay
• 1996Don't Look Up — Sekikawa
• 1996Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself!! The Gamble
• 1995Costume Club Wars - Angel of Sumata
• 1995Shinjuku Triad Society — Shusuke Shimada
• 1994800 Two Lap Runners — Kyoichi Nakazawa
• 1994Kiriko
• 1994Warrior's Justice 2: Full Battle
• 1994Zëiram 2 — Fujikuro (as Sabu)
• 1993Kuma-chan
• 1993New Book of the Waru 3: Passion
• 1992A Legend of Turmoil
• 1992High-Speed ​​NSX: The Screaming Boogie
• 1991Savage City: Angel Whisper
• 1991World Apartment Horror — Ita

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 2013Ichi the Killer - Behind the Scenes — Self
• 2013Ichi the Killer - Making Of — Self