Tadanobu Asano
Tadanobu Asano, born Tadanobu Sato (born November 27, 1973) is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Thor
2011
Mongol
2007
Mortal Kombat II
The fan favorite champions—now joined by Johnny Cage himself—are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.
Broken Rage
A seemingly unremarkable man called “Mouse” is caught by the police. In exchange for his freedom, he goes undercover, infiltrates a drug ring, and arranges a fake deal, but an unexpected turn of events occurs.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster to fight Gorr the God Butcher, who intends to make the gods extinct.
Tang ren jie tan an 3
Tang Ren and Qin Feng travel to Japan to investigate the death of a mafia head. As they suspect foul play, they engage in a battle of wits against foreign detectives.
Mortal Kombat
Washed-up MMA fighter Cole Young, unaware of his heritage, and hunted by Emperor Shang Tsung's best warrior, Sub-Zero, seeks out and trains with Earth's greatest champions as he prepares to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.
Kate
A ruthless criminal operative has less than 24 hours to exact revenge on her enemies and in the process forms an unexpected bond with the daughter of one of her past victims.
Minamata
War photographer W. Eugene Smith travels back to Japan where he documents the devastating effect of mercury poisoning in coastal communities.
Midway
The story of the Battle of Midway, and the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome massive odds.
Thor: Ragnarok
Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok, the prophecy of destruction to his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization, at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela.
Silence
Two Jesuit priests, Sebastião Rodrigues and Francis Garrpe, travel to seventeenth century Japan which has, under the Tokugawa shogunate, banned Catholicism and almost all foreign contact.
Fuchi ni tatsu
Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio’s family life…
Kishibe no tabi
Mizuki’s husband Yusuke went missing for 3 years. He suddenly comes back home one day and asks Mizuki to go on a trip with him. Their trip consists of visiting the people that helped Yusuke on his previous travel. While travelling together, Misuki sees, touches and feels what Yusuke did for those 3 years.
Kiseijuu: Kanketsuhen
Alien pods come to Earth and, naturally, start taking over Human Hosts. One such pod only manages to take over one human's, Shin Izumi, right arm. Together they grow and co-exist, all the while the other aliens are making meals of other humans; Shin feels he must put a stop to it all, but his alien, Migi, doesn't see why.
Watashi no otoko
After losing everything in a tsunami, 10-year-old Hana is taken in by 26-year-old distant relative Jungo Kusarino.
Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal & a Whore
Somewhere in Manila, a crime boss rules with an iron fist. To his most loyal henchman he gives the task of guarding his woman. Before long, she falls in love with the henchman, and the star-crossed lovers decide to leave town. Fighting ensues. It is while on the run that they finally get to know each other for the first time.
Majo no takkyûbin
A young girl named Kiki (Fuka Koshiba) must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. She leaves on her broom, but first says goodbye to her friends and family. Kiki then begins her new life with her trusted cat Jiji.
Kiseijû
Alien pods come to Earth and, naturally, start taking over Human Hosts. One such pod only manages to take over one human's, Shin Izumi, right arm. Together they grow and co-exist, all the while the other aliens are making meals of other humans; Shin feels he must put a stop to it all, but his alien, Migi, doesn't see why.
Thor: The Dark World
When the Dark Elves attempt to plunge the universe into darkness, Thor must embark on a perilous and personal journey that will reunite him with doctor Jane Foster.
47 Ronin
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the warriors embark upon a quest that challenges them with a series of trials that would destroy ordinary warriors.
Battleship
A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals.
Thor
Against his father Odin's will, The Mighty Thor - a powerful but arrogant warrior god - recklessly reignites an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
Redline
A story about the most popular racing event in the galaxy, the Redline, and the various racers who compete in it.
Kâbê
Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father, Shigeru, is arrested and accused of being a Communist.
Sad Vacation
Kenji, abandoned by his mother, scrapes out a meager existence doing odd jobs including driving bar hostesses and their customers home. Besides this he takes care of the sister of an old friend in jail and a young illegal immigrant. Eventually his life reaches a turning point.
Mongol
The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan who was a slave before going on to conquer half the world including Russia in 1206.
Invisible Waves
After inadvertently killing his girlfriend, a man (Asano) flees Macau for Thailand in an attempt to cope with his guilt, and avoid possible arrest. But the relocation doesn't prevent his problems from following him, as his new friends could be potential enemies.
Hana yori mo naho
In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father.
Umoregi
Three high school girls living out in the country build stories out from their local environment, mountainous and bordered by an unkempt buried forest.
Tôkyô zonbi
Two Japanese friends accidentally kill their boss and dump his remains in Black Fuji, a mountain/landfill hybrid. This leads to poor results when the chemicals of the landfill mix with the corpse (and many other corpses) to give rise to a zombie infestation in Tokyo.
Ranpo jigoku
Four different directors adapt the work of Edogawa Rampo - with varying results - in this engaging, sometimes repulsive foray into the world of horror, mystery, and dark eroticism.
Naisu no mori: The First Contact
An outrageous collection of surreal, short attention span non-sequiturs largely revolving around Guitar Brother, his randy older sibling, and the pair's portly Caucasian brother.
Vital
A young man awakens in the hospital after an accident wipes his memory. Fascinated by a textbook full of drawings of dissections, Hiroshi is drawn to medical school. There he catches the eye of a fellow student, but it's another who becomes his obsession: the dead woman on the cadaver table.
Survive Style 5+
Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one another eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.
Cha no aji
The life of an eccentric family living in the Tochigi prefecture.
Zatôichi
A member of the camera crew who assists the camera operator. This person is responsible for the maintenance and care of the camera, as well as preparing dope sheets. In smaller camera crews, they may also perform the duties of clapper-loader and/or a focus puller.
Ruang rak noi nid mahasan
An obsessive-compulsive Japanese librarian living in Bangkok spends most of his days contemplating suicide in his apartment. His life changes when he witnesses the death of a young girl and becomes acquainted with her elder sister.
Kôhî jikô
In a distinctly contemporary Tokyo that looks backwards to the city’s disappearing past, Yoko is a writer investigating the life of a modernist composer of the 1930s. She is pregnant by a man she does not want to marry and has found a kindred spirit in a used bookstore owner who aids her research.
Akarui mirai
Two friends who work in the same oshibori laundry are lost in the drudgery of everyday life. They hang out together, barely functioning and barely communicating. Their middle-aged boss makes a desparate attempt to connect with them with disasterous consequences. Their future is far from bright.
Mizu no onna
Ryo personifies water, since whenever something important happens in her life, it rains. She inherits a bathhouse and meets a pyromaniac named Yusaku. Their confrontation leads to an inevitable union, just like elements of nature blend together.
Koroshiya 1
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
Kaza-hana
A government employee meets a hostess of a "pink club," and together they set out on a journey.
Gojô reisenki: Gojoe
Benkei, a master fighter and killer, vows never to take another life after his conversion to Buddhism. His faith in pacifism, however, is shaken and ultimately broken by the attacks from a trio of fighters known only as the demons. Taking up his sword once more, he sets out to end their murderous terror.
Electric Dragon 80000 V
A violent, guitar-playing, electrically charged boxer faces off against an electronic wizard half-merged with a metallic Buddha.
Distance
On the third anniversary of a cult's failed chemical attack on Tokyo and their subsequent mass suicide, family members of those affected gather at the cult's former base on the shores of a lake to observe the anniversary of their loved ones' deaths.
Sôseiji
A successful doctor, Yukio's picture perfect life is gradually wrecked, and taken over by his avenging twin brother, who bumps off his family members one by one and reclaims his lover who is now Yukio's wife.
Samehada otoko to momojiri onna
In dreamlike mountain scenery, Toshiko makes a daring escape from her sexually warped Uncle Sonezaki. Fortunately, she met Samehada as she runs for her life, which is also escaping from some slayers. What follows is a wild chase that leads the audience into a comically violent world.
Hakuchi
In a future where World War II never ended, Japan is decimated by nightly bombings. The only building left standing is known as the Media Station, a broadcasting center responsible for all of Japan's entertainment.
Gohatto
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano.
Rabu & poppu
Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends engage in a practice known as enjo kosai, or "compensated dating", where older men pay young girls for dates. Hiromi plunges deeper into this world to raise money for an expensive ring.
Yume no ginga
Tomiko falls in love with Niitaka, even though she also suspects him of being the Tokyo bus driver serial killer, who killed his female conductors after tiring of them.
Suwarōteiru
The struggles of a group of outcasts living in "Yentown", in an alternate-future Japan.
Pikunikku
Believing that the world will end that very day, three mental patients Coco, Tsumuji, and Satoru set out upon a journey. Walking upon the tops of the walls of the city, they seek to find a picnic spot with the best vantage point to view the final event.
Helpless
Yasuo is a gangster just released from jail. Believing his boss double-crossed him, enraged Yasuo is on his way to find the boss. But before setting out for the dangerous trip, Yasuo asks Kenji to take care of his mentally challenged sister, Yuri, and a mysterious black bag.
Maboroshi no hikari
A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant.
Seishun dendekedekedeke
It is 1965. High-school student Takeyoshi Fujiwara hears "Pipeline" by the Ventures, and is mesmerized by their unique sound. With three friends, he forms a band called "The Rocking Horsemen." A warm and comic glimpse into high-school and small-town life in Japan in the 60's.