Shinya TSUKAMOTO 塚本晋也
Killing
斬、
Nippon Cinema ª
The ronin Mokunoshin helps out on a farm while also training the owners’ son Ichisuke and falling in love with their daughter Yu. One day an older samurai appears in the village to recruit warriors for an impending civil war. With its narrative slowly descending into a feverish nightmare, KILLING deconstructs the samurai code and sharply criticizes the concept of glorified violence.
斬、
Zan,
Japan 2018
80 minutes
Director
Shinya TSUKAMOTO
Script
Shinya TSUKAMOTO
Cinematography
Shinya TSUKAMOTO
Music
Chu ISHIKAWA
Production
Kaijyu Theater
World sales
Nikkatsu
Cast
Sosuke IKEMATSU, Yu AOI, Shinya TSUKAMOTO, Ryusei MAEDA, Tatsuya NAKAMURA
About Shinya TSUKAMOTO
塚本晋也
Born in Tokyo in 1960, Shinya TSUKAMOTO started making 8mm short films as a teenager. After studying oil painting he worked for an ad agency and founded his own theater company, from which he recruited cast and crew for his feature debut TETSUO: THE IRON MAN (1989 / see p. 33). Films like TOKYO FIST (1995 / see p. 33), A SNAKE OF JUNE (2002), VITAL (2004 / NC ‘05) or KOTOKO (2011 / NC ’12) were celebrated on the international festival circuit. TSUKAMOTO received the Mainichi Film Award as best director and best actor for his remake of FIRES ON THE PLAIN (2014 / NC ‘15). KILLING enjoyed its 2018 world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. In 2019, he was awarded the Nippon Honor Award.