Ryutaro Ninomiya

Directing

Ryutaro Ninomiya

Born 1986-08-18 · Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Actor and director.

Acting credits

A Family poster
7.4

Taken in by the yakuza at a young age, Kenji swears allegiance to his old-school boss, pledging to adhere to the family code amid ever-changing times.

A Family

2021

Underdog: Part One poster
7.2

Tells the story of three bottom-dog boxers who gets used as punching bags. Pro boxer Suenaga Akira fell off the path to greatness but still tries to crawl his way to the top. Omura Ryuta is a youngster who grew up in foster care. Miyagi Shun, a TV celebrity with famous parents, takes a shot at boxing as part of a TV show. Three underdogs with very different back stories put their pride on the line as they exchange blows.

Underdog: Part One

2020

Pure Japanese poster
7.4

Action actor Tateishi Daisuke who struggles with loneliness after suffering a traumatic experience due to an accident during filming. One day, he comes across a senior high school girl Ayumi who is being harassed consistently by Chinese brokers and the local yakuza. He decides to protect her from them. However, after this incident, he comes to develop a mindset of seeing violence as a way to gain the affirmation and approval of others thus gradually loses himself and behaves in an extreme manner.

Pure Japanese

2022

Incomplete Chairs poster
6.3

Shinsuke Kujo is a chair craftsman who lures people into his apartment and murders them to use the body parts for constructing a chair. Kato, a representative of a chair company, finds his website on social media and suggests a meeting. She's quickly enamored with him both professionally and personally, unaware of his true nature as a serial killer.

Incomplete Chairs

2025

Mountain Woman poster
7.0

Late 18th century, Tohoku. An outcast girl, Rin lives in a village suffering from famine. She draws strength from Mt. Hayachine, where the spirits of humans ascend after passing.

Mountain Woman

2023

The Good Father poster
4.8

Five years ago, Hana’s family was shattered by a tragic car accident. Her mother has been in a coma ever since, her father walks with a limp, and her younger sister Luna suffered severe burns that left her wearing a mask. Hana has no physical injuries, but carries the heavy burden of survivor’s guilt and hasn't been to school since. Hana befriends Jun, a boy who is searching for answers about his mother’s mental collapse into silence. As Jun finds more similar cases, he begins to suspect that Hana's father – a psychotherapist – is somehow connected. One day, Hana’s father brings home a woman he says is their mother, awakened from her coma. Luna accepts her without question, but Hana is convinced that the woman is not her mother – her appearance is too different. Who is she, and why would she pretend to be their mother?

The Good Father

2022

Moriyamachu Driving School poster
6.0

Kiyotaka Sato (Shuhei Nomura) is a university student. He is sociable, but he looks like he doesn't have interest in those around him. During his summer vacation, Kiyotaka Sato plans to get his driver's license to impress schoolmate Matsuda (Yukino Kishii). At this time, a yakuza boss (Ken Mitsuishi) orders Todoroki (Kento Kaku) to get his driver’s license. Todoroki doesn't show his feelings outwardly. Later, Todoroki drives a car without a driver’s license and he hits Kiyotaka Sato. To cover up the accident, Kiyotaka Sato is placed in a car and taken to away. He arrives at an unofficial driving school. The driving school is run by the Uehara family. There, Kiyotaka Sato and Todoroki learn that they graduated from the same high school. They spend their summer at the driving school.

Moriyamachu Driving School

2016

Black Ox poster
7.5

The life of a man, transitioning from a hunter-gatherer existence in the mountains to a life in the farm. One day, he comes across an ox, which somehow, he succeeds in leading back to his home. He lives with the animal, which becomes his companion in a life of changing seasons.

Black Ox

2024

Underdog: Part Two poster
7.0

Suenaga finds his life on the verge of collapsing as violence consumes those around him. However, he finds a worthy opponent in Omura, an up-and-coming wunderkind who is trying to escape his violent past. The men's fight for redemption culminates in a climatic match brimming with raw, testosterone-fueled emotions. Upholding the Rocky Balboa spirit of learning to get hit and keep moving forward, Underdog is a tough, uncompromising epic that deserves a spot in the pantheon of great boxing films.

Underdog: Part Two

2020

Kamata Prelude poster
8.0

A four-part film done in the unique style of each director, Matusbayashi Urara gives a portrayal of a struggling actress named Machiko who lives in Kamata. Machiko is the central axis of the movie as the film comically depicts what it means to be a "woman" and an "actress" in society through showing the patterns of life as conducted by her and the people that surround her.

Kamata Prelude

2020

Tsuchinoko: The Comedy poster
2.0

Shinji Imaoka, the director of “Waiting for you,” starred Ayane Suzukawa, a popular sexy idol, and a unique sensual drama depicting the struggle of a woman whose husband was kidnapped by a giant Tsuchinoko. The couple, Ichiro and Sonoko, are attacked by a human-sized Tsuchinoko in the mountains, and only Ichiro is taken away. Sonoko rescued by Tsuchinoko Hunter Kurikoma descends alone, but Ichiro's colleague Segawa cannot believe Sonoko's story. Eventually Sonoko goes to find the giant Tsuchinoko's den again to meet Ichiro.

Tsuchinoko: The Comedy

2017

Boys Hitting the Road poster
3.7

A bar in Shinjuku 2-chome. Toru is the manager of this bar, but one day, the owner, Ishii, suddenly passes away. The bar is to close, and Toru receives a list of regulars from Takano, the accountant, and decides to start a journey to collect retirement benefits. Together with Kenichi, the bar's number one, they borrow Ishii's old car and set off to northern Kanto. First up is Sato, a company president with a foot fetish. Although married, he can't stop playing around with men, and whenever he comes to Tokyo, he requests Kenichi. In order not to let the people around him know, he gives Kenichi more money than the tab. Next is Yamamoto, a city council member in the local assembly. A born sadist, he likes to tie Kenichi himself or have a young bondage artist tie him up, and then watch it happen. Kenichi continues on his journey, but he has another goal: to meet Shouji, a man he used to date...

Boys Hitting the Road

2017

Birth of Melos poster
NR

A new bold interpretation of the plot of the literary masterpiece "Running Melos", transferred to our days! A high-tension literary comedy from the popular actor Yuta Koseki and director Ryutaro Nakagawa!

Birth of Melos

2023

Katsu Fūtarō! ! poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Katsu Fūtarō! !

2019

Sweating the Small Stuff poster
5.2

Ryutaro Ninomiya, 27 years old, lives a fairly simple life. He works at an auto-repair shop, reads books and drinks a few beers. One day, he receives a phone call from Yusuke, his childhood friend whose mother, Ryuko, is dying from Hepatitis C. Despite knowing for a while that Ryuko was sick, Ryutaro hasn’t visited her, but today he decides to go.

Sweating the Small Stuff

2017

No artwork available
NR

Hyper-realistic, comic drama about a group of workers in a small Japanese vending-machine factory. The young men gossip in their grubby canteen about women and each other. In order to drive out the boredom, they play soccer on the colourless industrial site. The relationships do not entirely run smoothly: ‘senior’ employee Takahashi enjoys making his colleague Yoda feel every day that he is at the bottom of the ladder. Yoda barely reacts. In the meantime, Sakata, a cheerful kid, tries in vain to make friends with the taciturn Yoda. This ensemble film shows in a dryly comic way the everyday lives of these so very normal Japanese kids, who still have one foot in childhood, but need to make choices as adults. The director himself plays the lead of the charming Sakata, who closely observes his colleagues. As he does in the role of filmmaker: his clear gaze soon reveals how it all fits together.

The Charm of Others

2012

Behind the camera

Dreaming in Between poster
6.5

Facing an unacceptable reality, a teacher is trying to reclaim relationships with his family, students and former friends. Reassessing his past, he contemplates how to go on with his life.

Dreaming in Between

2023

Dreaming in Between poster
6.5

Facing an unacceptable reality, a teacher is trying to reclaim relationships with his family, students and former friends. Reassessing his past, he contemplates how to go on with his life.

Dreaming in Between

2023

Minori, on the Brink poster
7.3

Minori is a pretty server in a ramen shop. She is fed up with people who care only about her appearance and themselves. She is always straight forward and angry at everyone. She is also angry at herself who cannot really change anything.

Minori, on the Brink

2019

Minori, on the Brink poster
7.3

Minori is a pretty server in a ramen shop. She is fed up with people who care only about her appearance and themselves. She is always straight forward and angry at everyone. She is also angry at herself who cannot really change anything.

Minori, on the Brink

2019

Wakamusha poster
8.0

Three young men live and work in a nearly-deserted Japanese city. The three wander the streets, ruminating on the pointlessness of life in the modern age, never quite living up to the deeds of a fallen friend, until one of them goes too far and permanently fractures their relationship.

Wakamusha

2024

Wakamusha poster
8.0

Three young men live and work in a nearly-deserted Japanese city. The three wander the streets, ruminating on the pointlessness of life in the modern age, never quite living up to the deeds of a fallen friend, until one of them goes too far and permanently fractures their relationship.

Wakamusha

2024

Sweating the Small Stuff poster
5.2

Ryutaro Ninomiya, 27 years old, lives a fairly simple life. He works at an auto-repair shop, reads books and drinks a few beers. One day, he receives a phone call from Yusuke, his childhood friend whose mother, Ryuko, is dying from Hepatitis C. Despite knowing for a while that Ryuko was sick, Ryutaro hasn’t visited her, but today he decides to go.

Sweating the Small Stuff

2017

Sweating the Small Stuff poster
5.2

Ryutaro Ninomiya, 27 years old, lives a fairly simple life. He works at an auto-repair shop, reads books and drinks a few beers. One day, he receives a phone call from Yusuke, his childhood friend whose mother, Ryuko, is dying from Hepatitis C. Despite knowing for a while that Ryuko was sick, Ryutaro hasn’t visited her, but today he decides to go.

Sweating the Small Stuff

2017

No artwork available
NR

Hyper-realistic, comic drama about a group of workers in a small Japanese vending-machine factory. The young men gossip in their grubby canteen about women and each other. In order to drive out the boredom, they play soccer on the colourless industrial site. The relationships do not entirely run smoothly: ‘senior’ employee Takahashi enjoys making his colleague Yoda feel every day that he is at the bottom of the ladder. Yoda barely reacts. In the meantime, Sakata, a cheerful kid, tries in vain to make friends with the taciturn Yoda. This ensemble film shows in a dryly comic way the everyday lives of these so very normal Japanese kids, who still have one foot in childhood, but need to make choices as adults. The director himself plays the lead of the charming Sakata, who closely observes his colleagues. As he does in the role of filmmaker: his clear gaze soon reveals how it all fits together.

The Charm of Others

2012

No artwork available
NR

Hyper-realistic, comic drama about a group of workers in a small Japanese vending-machine factory. The young men gossip in their grubby canteen about women and each other. In order to drive out the boredom, they play soccer on the colourless industrial site. The relationships do not entirely run smoothly: ‘senior’ employee Takahashi enjoys making his colleague Yoda feel every day that he is at the bottom of the ladder. Yoda barely reacts. In the meantime, Sakata, a cheerful kid, tries in vain to make friends with the taciturn Yoda. This ensemble film shows in a dryly comic way the everyday lives of these so very normal Japanese kids, who still have one foot in childhood, but need to make choices as adults. The director himself plays the lead of the charming Sakata, who closely observes his colleagues. As he does in the role of filmmaker: his clear gaze soon reveals how it all fits together.

The Charm of Others

2012