Makoto Shimazaki

Directing

Makoto Shimazaki

Tokyo, Japan

Born in Tokyo, Shimazaki attended Rikkyo University where he studied under Shigehiko Hasumi, made 8mm films, and appeared in the then amateur works of other Rikkyo graduates such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After graduating, he worked at the film company Cine Saison and starting writing about film and doing long interviews of directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Takeshi Kitano for magazines. While working as a projectionist for the Athénée Français Cultural Center in Tokyo, he saved up enough money to make his first 35mm film, Okaeri, for which he won the Wolfgang Staudte Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1995. His next feature film, Not Forgotten, was screened at the Three Continents Film Festival, where its stars, Tomio Aoki, Tatsuya Mihashi, and Minoru Oki, shared the best actor award. Having developed a close relationship with Takeshi Kitano, Shinozaki has made a documentary on the filming of Kikujiro as well as a TV movie based on Kitano's autobiographical novel Asakusa Kid. He has also produced the Cop Festival series featuring short films by directors such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, Akihiko Shiota, and Hirokazu Koreeda. Continuing to write on film, he has published a history of horror cinema with Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Deka Matsuri poster
NR

12-part omnibus made under the rules: "the main character is a detective" "at least one gag per minute" "the length must not exceed 10 minutes"

Deka Matsuri

2003

Walking With The Dog poster
9.0

Dumped by a bored pet owner, a mixed-breed mutt ends up with three time loser Yasuyuki, who's loveless, homeless and jobless. Yasuyuki finds solace in the dog, whom he calls Tamura, and uses it to mend fences with his ex, who's distracted by her mother's debilitating illness. A trip to a hospital reveals Tamura's ability to comfort dying patients, leading to dog and master attending the real-life Japanese Therapy Dogs training school.

Walking With The Dog

2004

Tokyo Island poster
5.0

Men and one woman have drifted to an uninhabited island. The only woman will try to survive by taking advantage of her own sexual attractiveness.

Tokyo Island

2010

Masters of Killing poster
NR

A secretive assassin collective is formed with a single purpose: to eradicate absolute evil from the world. Their final target, however, turns out to be their own leader. As loyalties collapse, a brutal showdown erupts—killer against killer in a fight to the death.

Masters of Killing

2006

The Soup of Heaven poster
NR

Follows the life of an Office Lady who gets through her tedious work days by dreaming of a legendary soup and soup chef she's heard of. She decides to go in search of it.

The Soup of Heaven

2008

Kai-Ki: Tales of Terror from Tokyo poster
4.2

Tsukimono - Ayumi Kirishima is a college student who has just completed her second interview with a prospective employer. Ayumi then takes a bus to get to class and comes across a creepy barefooted woman. When the woman startes shaking and hiccuping, Ayumi asks the woman if she is OK. The woman responds with a cryptic remark that hastens Ayumi's departure off the bus. Later that day, the creepy woman appears in front of a window in Ayumi's classroom. All the students become startled by her appearance... Nozomi - The memory of high school student Megumi Fujisawa's 11th birthday still haunts her to this day. On her 11th birthday, Megumi's younger sister Nozomi was found dead. Her younger sister drowned in a lake surrounded by the woods. Since her death, whenever Megumi's birthday approaches she experiences illusions and refuses to go to school. Those illusions attacks Megumi and becomes more fierce.

Kai-Ki: Tales of Terror from Tokyo

2010

Tales of Terror: 100 Stories poster
3.0

TV anthology movie

Tales of Terror: 100 Stories

2010

Tales of Terror: 100 Stories poster
3.0

TV anthology movie

Tales of Terror: 100 Stories

2010

No artwork available
4.3

Three WWII veterans, reunited by family circumstances, quickly find their life savings threatened by a private corporation; they band together to fight back.

Not Forgotten

2000

No artwork available
4.3

Three WWII veterans, reunited by family circumstances, quickly find their life savings threatened by a private corporation; they band together to fight back.

Not Forgotten

2000

Since Then poster
NR

On March 11th 2011, a massive earthquake strikes eastern Japan. Shoko (TAKEKOU Aya), who works at a shoe store in Tokyo, is unable to contact her boyfriend Masashi (ISOBE Yasuhiro) who lives in the worst-hit region. As aftershocks continue, she finally gets through to his brother who tells her that Masashi has become mentally unstable. Despite her desire to go to his side, she is urged to break up with him for her own sake. As Shoko struggles to come to terms with her feelings for Masashi, he suddenly appears before her...

Since Then

2013

Since Then poster
NR

On March 11th 2011, a massive earthquake strikes eastern Japan. Shoko (TAKEKOU Aya), who works at a shoe store in Tokyo, is unable to contact her boyfriend Masashi (ISOBE Yasuhiro) who lives in the worst-hit region. As aftershocks continue, she finally gets through to his brother who tells her that Masashi has become mentally unstable. Despite her desire to go to his side, she is urged to break up with him for her own sake. As Shoko struggles to come to terms with her feelings for Masashi, he suddenly appears before her...

Since Then

2013

Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro Kaiki Tsukimono poster
5.0

The 2010 theatrical two-part series of the immensely popular ghost story franchise. Starring the top idol of Hello! Project, Erina Mano, who takes on a genuine horror challenge. A female college student encounters a strangely eerie woman on a bus, and the mystery deepens as this peculiar figure infiltrates the university.

Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro Kaiki Tsukimono

2010

Welcome Home poster
6.7

Yuriko, once a concert pianist, now practices home-making while husband Takashi stays out late with co-workers, leaving her to decay into severe mental illness.

Welcome Home

1995

Welcome Home poster
6.7

Yuriko, once a concert pianist, now practices home-making while husband Takashi stays out late with co-workers, leaving her to decay into severe mental illness.

Welcome Home

1995

Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro Kaiki Nozomi poster
5.0

The 2010 theatrical two-part series of the immensely popular ghost story franchise. Starring Hello! Project's No. 1 idol, Erina Mano, who takes on a genuine horror challenge. The terror unfolds as it preys on a high school girl who has closed her heart due to her sister's death.

Kaidan Shin Mimibukuro Kaiki Nozomi

2010

No artwork available
6.8

Documents the events surrounding the making of 'Kikujiro no natsu'.

Jam Session (The Official Bootleg of Kikujiro)

1999

Sharing poster
5.4

Memories can be blocked, but they can also be invented. Psychology professor Eiko works with people who were traumatized by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. But the topic affects her more personally than she wants to admit. Narrative structures begin to intertwine, reality becomes ambiguous. Like a surgeon, SHINOZAKI dissects the human mind in this complex yet moving film.

Sharing

2014

Sharing poster
5.4

Memories can be blocked, but they can also be invented. Psychology professor Eiko works with people who were traumatized by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. But the topic affects her more personally than she wants to admit. Narrative structures begin to intertwine, reality becomes ambiguous. Like a surgeon, SHINOZAKI dissects the human mind in this complex yet moving film.

Sharing

2014

Asakusa Kid poster
10.0

After dropping out of college, "Takeshi" jumps into the Asakusa France Theater and begins his training as a comedian. His teacher, Senzaburo Fukami, Masayoshi Inoue, who also trains at the French Theater and aspires to be a writer, and other good-natured dancers... This heartwarming and moving drama set in Asakusa vividly depicts the process of "Takeshi's" self-discovery through interaction with his delightful friends.

Asakusa Kid

2002

突貫ジジイ 第5話 ある実験 poster
NR

In this compact, off-kilter vignette, a lone researcher conducts a small-scale “experiment” whose procedures slide quietly from the scientific to the absurd. Confined to a minimal setting, his deadpan actions and seemingly methodical gestures generate a cool, understated comedic tension. Kiyoshi Kurosawa appears as the white-coated experimenter, and his impassive presence anchors the short’s blend of observational humor and controlled unpredictability.

突貫ジジイ 第5話 ある実験

2003

0093: Masao Kusakari On Her Majesty's Secret Service poster
NR

A James Bond Parody

0093: Masao Kusakari On Her Majesty's Secret Service

2007

HAJIKERU poster
NR

Highschool graduate Natsumi lives in a provincial town with her estranged mother, working an unfulfilled job at a supermarket among gossips of conservative townspeople. The latest gossip revolves around Keiko, an attractive young woman recently relocated from Tokyo. Natsumi is drawn to Keiko and the two strikes up a friendship, finding relief in each other from the repressive community. Through Keiko, Natsumi discovers her own voice and agency, eventually fighting back against the prejudices and injustices society heaps upon women.

HAJIKERU

2022

Wish We Were Here poster
NR

A story of two friends who grew up in the same housing complex in Tokyo but drifted apart after 3/11/2011.

Wish We Were Here

2018