
Directing
Sion Sono
Born
1961-12-18 (64)
Place of birth
Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan
Known for
Directing
Credits
79 titles
Sion Sono (園 子温 Sono Shion, born December 18, 1961) is a Japanese filmmaker, author and poet. Best known on the festival circuit for the film Love Exposure (2008), he has been called "the most subversive filmmaker working in Japanese cinema today".
Known for
5.0In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber is sprung from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor, whose adopted granddaughter Bernice has gone missing. The Governor offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within five days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman—and his own path to redemption.
Prisoners of the Ghostland
2021
4.9Madly explores love in all its permutations in six short films from a vibrant group of filmmakers representing Japan, Argentina, the UK, the US, India, and Australia. All forms of love are on display in this anthology. And all manners of feelings expressed from jubilance to depression are done so strongly.
Madly
2016
7.9The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while operating for the sake of sin as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing - which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian - dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.
Love Exposure
2008
4.7In Notsu, Oita Prefecture, there are many people with supernatural powers. High school student Yoshio Kamogawa (Shota Sometani) is one of them and can read other people's minds. Yoshio uses his powers for trivial reasons.
Minna! ESPer Dayo!
2013
6.6Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Antiporno
2017
6.5In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro, joins forces with heavy-hitting gangster Buppa of Buppa Town. With Buppa's support, Merra aims to initiate a gang war between the Wu-Ronz and the Musashino Saru, and in a confrontation between the two attempts to kill Kai of the Musashino Saru. The inadvertent murder of Kai's friend Tera (a Musashino Saru member beloved by all Tribes since before their formation) leads to the joining of forces between all of the Tribes in an all-out war against Merra and Buppa.
Tokyo Tribe
2014
Film credits
2010s · 12 titles
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
7.3Near the end of the 20th century on Tokyo's Chuo train line, just before Hong Kong's return to Chinese control, masses of people go on a rampage, and love runs wild.
BAD FILM
2012
NRThe Dream Man invited Ami to his party.
ami. exe・2nd atom
2018
4.0Wanderings of the young Ami in the streets of Kabukicho, Tokyo.
ami. exe
2017
5.4High school student Yoshio Kamogawa suddenly gained the power to read other people’s minds. One day, he receives mail from Sae Asami in Tokyo asking for his help. He goes to Tokyo and infiltrates Asami’s high school. He then becomes involved in gang fight as he tries to save her.
All Esper Dayo! Special Edition - Esper, Go to City
2015
NRA documentary showcasing the making of Sion Sono's Himizu
Making of Himizu
2012
6.4Directed by Arata Oshima, son of rebel filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, who had praised Sono's early work before his passing, this documentary gives insight into the man, the poet, the painter, the scriptwriter, the husband and the boy who will eventually grow up to be the Sion Sono. Lineage, history and the past meeting the present are themes in this film in which Oshima connects the dots in Sono's creative life by taking the camera to the site of his upbringing and following the production of his most recent film The Whispering Star.
The Sion Sono
2016
NRDocumentary on Sion Sono's Tokyo Tribe.
Making of Tokyo Tribe
2015
7.0Making of documentary for Sion Sono's magnum opus "Love Exposure".
Making of Love Exposure
2010
5.0The Making of Antiporno
Making of Antiporno
2016
70 minute documentary on Sion Sono's film "The Land of Hope".
Making of Land of Hope
2013
NRInterview with the director that includes scenes from gang war in tokyo.
Tokyo Gagaga
2012
2000s · 13 titles
6.0In a futuristic Tokyo where police have been privatized and bitter self-mutilation is so casual that advertising is often specially geared to the 'cutter' demographic, Ruka is on a mission to avenge her father's assassination. Ruka is a cop from a squad whose goal is to destroy homicidal mutant humans known as 'engineers', that possess the ability to transform any injury to a weapon in and of itself.
Tokyo Gore Police
2008
3.8A blind masseur kidnaps young women and kills them and then make sculptures of them, while a mysterious dwarf spreading severed body parts around. Detective Akechi Kogorô investigating crimes.
Blind Beast vs Killer Dwarf
2001
6.8A freelance writer is given a bizarre assignment by the sexy editor of "Black Book Monthly": find a bug with the power to bring humans back from the dead, in order to report on the afterlife. With his trusty companion Endo in tow, he sets off on a quest for the elusive insect and along the way meets the mysterious Sayoko, a former dominatrix and habitual wrist-cutter who delights in rubbing wasabi into her wounds.
The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia
2007
3.0Nana (Jun Natsukawa) and her colleague Mei (Moe Yoshizawa) spend time in a virtual world with a man and sell their love memories. The next Nana customer is Mitsuru (ERIKU). Nana begins to fall in love with Mitsuru even though she knows she is virtual. But her litigation is a virtual world. Mitsuru in the real world was just a man.
Virtual Love
2004
4.2About a pottery workshop run by Ms. Namie. Her students want to become as skilled as her, and she teach them that the key to good pottery is love.
Teachers of Sexual Play: Modelling Vessels with the Female Body
2000
5.0An off-beat comedy about 3 'damejin' (useless persons), who don't work and spend their lives doing nothing. They actually don't want to work. When they hear 'in India one can live without working' they take it seriously. They begin to raise the money to go to India by doing anything but working, such as ripping off stamps from others' letters to sell, robbery at the bank which itself went bankrupt, etc.
Damejin
2006
NRA documentary on Teruo Ishii, the Japanese "King of Cult".
Teruo Ishii Fan Club
2006
NRThe Making of Strange Circus
Strange Days: The Making of Strange Circus
2005
NRThe Making of Hazard
Making of Hazard
2005
NRA behind-the-scenes look at Sion Sono’s 2005 film Noriko’s Dinner Table.
The Making of Noriko’s Dinner Table
2008
NRAn interview with Sion Sono on his movie Hazard
HAZARDOUS: An interview with Sion Sono
2005
NRA unique youth group drama set in a deserted local city in the 1980s, depicting the fate of a mysterious girl, Himiko, and the men surrounding her. Himiko, a girl who once left town, returns as a beautiful adult woman. Mukawa, a member of the baseball team who is practicing hard with the aim of participating in Koshien, meets Himiko by chance and is captivated by her.
Himiko-san
2007
NRBehind-the-scenes featuring gravure idol Jun Natsukawa in Sion Sono's Virtual Love.
Jun Natsukawa - Virtual Love Behind-the-Scenes
2004
1990s · 5 titles
5.0A documentary that explores the life styles of various otakus in Japan. Various interviews are given to selected otakus who express how interesting it is to be an otaku as oppose to not being one at all. Along with various shots of various Japanese city landscapes and the inside of an average otaku home from rooms filled with videos, models, and the latest in technology.
Otaku - Children of the Virtual Empire
1994
2.0Hitomi ran down to a local city with her affair partner Suzuki. Daisuke, a regular customer of the soba shop where she got to work, fell in love with a bedridden wife, Sayoko, who looked a lot like her when she was young, and eventually regained her feelings of love for her wife. The relationship between Daisuke's son and his wife, Koichi, and Sanae has recently become jerky, and Sanae has finally left home. On the other hand, Hitomi is shocked to find out that Suzuki has a photo of his wife and children.
Horny Couple: Wants to Sip
1999
9.0Draws an ambiguous youth pattern of young men and women living in a corner of the city. The script / director is Eiichi Uchida, a scenario writer for "Eien no 1/2", and this is his debut as a director. Gen Takahashi is in charge of shooting. (8 mm)
I Hate You... Not
1991
6.0Shiro and Keita didn’t manage to enter university and are stuck in their hometown delivering newspapers. Shiro persists on finishing a film they started, but Keita is not very enthusiastic.
Bicycle Sighs
1990
NR8mm film by Sho Fujiwara. A black-and-white cinemasco movie starring Sion Sono. It's a work that has an underground and nostalgic odor. It gets shorter with each screening. BUN-CHAN SEX!
Heaven's Trumpet
1994
1980s · 7 titles
NRWhen Otomo Katsuhiro saw his manga Good Weather credited as the “original novel” he burst out laughing. There’s not an iota of his book anywhere in the film. Made in the same year as Sono Sion’s A Man’s Flower Road, Hirano Katsuyuki’s Happiness Avenue (where Sono plays a role) is madder and more abandoned, in both filmmaking and content. Lovelorn Masahiro goes on an odyssey to find fulfilment of his heart’s desire, and the sea he traverses are Tokyo’s open sewages.
Happiness Avenue
1986
4.2A story of the restrictions of family life, the desire to break free, restlessness, helplessness and the fear of becoming an adult.
A Man's Flower Road
1987
3.3A young man dressed as a samurai walks along a road lined with flowering cherry trees. Then, no longer in costume, he talks with the camerawoman who is filming him, he writes a date and an hour (May 1, 1985, 10 a.m.) on a blackboard and then bursts out in rage at the fact that his girlfriend, Hiromi, has been missing for three days. A few moments of their love story are retraced, before returning to the gloomy desperation of the young man, who walks into the darkness of a night illuminated by neon signs and goes into a long monologue of love, directed at the girl.
Love
1986
4.0A world-class marathon becomes the catalyst of clashes between the guests of a women’s and a men’s dormitory. Armed with toy machineguns and pistols, the young people challenge each other in a breathless race through the city streets. For one of the girls, the battle ends on the beach, where she watches an amazing event take place.
Decisive Match! Girls Dorm Against Boys Dorm
1988
Accompanied by the insistent shrilling of an alarm clock and by two love songs, a young man struggles to wake up.
Love Song
1984
4.3Sono's first film, 30 minutes long and shot on 8mm. A free-wheeling intimate cinematic journal in which the artist contemplates his life as he approaches his birthday.
I Am Sono Sion!
1985
NRThe only AV work directed by Sion Sono. Komachi and Reimi start getting wet in search for a man.
Reflect on That Boys
1989
Series credits
4.7In Notsu, Oita Prefecture, there are many people with supernatural powers. High school student Yoshio Kamogawa (Shota Sometani) is one of them and can read other people's minds. Yoshio uses his powers for trivial reasons.
Minna! ESPer Dayo!
2013
NRIn November, 2019, the planning and production of the live action version of the national hero manga "Kinnikuman", directed by Sono Sion, was in progress. "Kinnikuman" was said to be impossible to adapt but it's now said that it will be a great project. Maeda Gordon, while training at the gym, is contacted by the producer of "Kinnikuman", asking him to appear in the movie. However, there's a hidden past attached to this film and the actor begins looking into the mystery.
Kinnikuman: The Lost Legend
2021
Behind the camera
5.0In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber is sprung from jail by wealthy warlord The Governor, whose adopted granddaughter Bernice has gone missing. The Governor offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct within five days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman—and his own path to redemption.
Prisoners of the Ghostland
2021
4.9Madly explores love in all its permutations in six short films from a vibrant group of filmmakers representing Japan, Argentina, the UK, the US, India, and Australia. All forms of love are on display in this anthology. And all manners of feelings expressed from jubilance to depression are done so strongly.
Madly
2016
4.9Madly explores love in all its permutations in six short films from a vibrant group of filmmakers representing Japan, Argentina, the UK, the US, India, and Australia. All forms of love are on display in this anthology. And all manners of feelings expressed from jubilance to depression are done so strongly.
Madly
2016
7.9The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while operating for the sake of sin as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing - which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian - dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.
Love Exposure
2008
7.9The story of a teenage boy called Yu, who falls for Yoko, a girl he runs into while operating for the sake of sin as an upskirt photographer in an offshoot of the porn industry. His attempts to woo her are complicated by a spot of cross-dressing - which convinces Yoko that she is lesbian - dalliances with kung-fu and crime, and a constant struggle with the guilt that's a legacy of his Catholic upbringing.
Love Exposure
2008
6.6Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Antiporno
2017
6.6Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Antiporno
2017
6.6Kyôko, a traumatized young Japanese girl, finds herself struggling with her self-confidence in her adult life. Growing up in a family without her mother and her sister, she constantly questions the rationale of sex and the notion of liberty in modern Japanese society.
Antiporno
2017
6.5In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro, joins forces with heavy-hitting gangster Buppa of Buppa Town. With Buppa's support, Merra aims to initiate a gang war between the Wu-Ronz and the Musashino Saru, and in a confrontation between the two attempts to kill Kai of the Musashino Saru. The inadvertent murder of Kai's friend Tera (a Musashino Saru member beloved by all Tribes since before their formation) leads to the joining of forces between all of the Tribes in an all-out war against Merra and Buppa.
Tokyo Tribe
2014
6.5In an alternate Japan, territorial street gangs form opposing factions collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes. Merra, leader of the Wu-Ronz tribe of Bukuro, joins forces with heavy-hitting gangster Buppa of Buppa Town. With Buppa's support, Merra aims to initiate a gang war between the Wu-Ronz and the Musashino Saru, and in a confrontation between the two attempts to kill Kai of the Musashino Saru. The inadvertent murder of Kai's friend Tera (a Musashino Saru member beloved by all Tribes since before their formation) leads to the joining of forces between all of the Tribes in an all-out war against Merra and Buppa.
Tokyo Tribe
2014
6.3A con man and a would-be filmmaking crew force themselves into the lives of two grief-scarred young women. But nothing is as it seems.
The Forest of Love
2019
6.3A con man and a would-be filmmaking crew force themselves into the lives of two grief-scarred young women. But nothing is as it seems.
The Forest of Love
2019
6.9While police investigate a woman found dead in a derelict love hotel, a romance novelist's wife lives a life that seems simply a daily repetition without romance. To escape the loveless monotony, she follows her desires and becomes a nude model. Soon, she meets a mentor and begins selling her body to strangers, while at home, she hides behind the façade of the doting wife.
Guilty of Romance
2011
6.9While police investigate a woman found dead in a derelict love hotel, a romance novelist's wife lives a life that seems simply a daily repetition without romance. To escape the loveless monotony, she follows her desires and becomes a nude model. Soon, she meets a mentor and begins selling her body to strangers, while at home, she hides behind the façade of the doting wife.
Guilty of Romance
2011
6.4As the sole survivor of a horrendous and rather mysterious accident, teenage Mitsuko's day is off to a bad start. An unstoppable force of nature, a doomed field trip, and a strange case of amnesia easily coexist in a bizarre parallel universe, where a desperate Mitsuko is always on the run from something inexplicable, intangible, and utterly deadly. However, amid piles of fresh corpses, mounds of scorching bullet shells, and rivulets of fragrant adolescent blood, Mitsuko must fight to stay alive, before her already messed-up day becomes even stranger. But one question still remains: who or what is the enemy?
Tag
2015
6.4As the sole survivor of a horrendous and rather mysterious accident, teenage Mitsuko's day is off to a bad start. An unstoppable force of nature, a doomed field trip, and a strange case of amnesia easily coexist in a bizarre parallel universe, where a desperate Mitsuko is always on the run from something inexplicable, intangible, and utterly deadly. However, amid piles of fresh corpses, mounds of scorching bullet shells, and rivulets of fragrant adolescent blood, Mitsuko must fight to stay alive, before her already messed-up day becomes even stranger. But one question still remains: who or what is the enemy?
Tag
2015
6.9When fish shop owner Shamoto's teenage daughter Mitsuko is caught stealing, a generous middle-aged man named Murata helps resolve the situation. The man and his wife offer to have Mitsuko work at their opposing fish store. Shamoto soon discovers that something far more sinister lives behind Murata's friendly demeanor.
Cold Fish
2011
6.9When fish shop owner Shamoto's teenage daughter Mitsuko is caught stealing, a generous middle-aged man named Murata helps resolve the situation. The man and his wife offer to have Mitsuko work at their opposing fish store. Shamoto soon discovers that something far more sinister lives behind Murata's friendly demeanor.
Cold Fish
2011
7.1A former special forces operative struggling to contain the destructive impulses of his past goes on a rampage against a squad of ruthless assassins.
RE:BORN
2016
5.5Shy high schooler Yoshirō and his friends mysteriously develop psychic powers, leading to chaotic and often erotic comedic situations as the virginal ESP teens try to understand their new gifts.
The Virgin Psychics
2015
5.5Shy high schooler Yoshirō and his friends mysteriously develop psychic powers, leading to chaotic and often erotic comedic situations as the virginal ESP teens try to understand their new gifts.
The Virgin Psychics
2015
5.0Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Venice 70: Future Reloaded
2013
7.1Two 14-year-olds from troubled, abusive homes come together sharing misery and pain. In the aftermath of an earthquake, the classmates learn how to survive while relying on one another for emotional and physical support.
Himizu
2012
7.1Two 14-year-olds from troubled, abusive homes come together sharing misery and pain. In the aftermath of an earthquake, the classmates learn how to survive while relying on one another for emotional and physical support.
Himizu
2012
6.5When the bizarre mass suicide of 54 high school girls throwing themselves in front of a subway train appears to instigate a string of suicides around the country, Detective Kuroda strives to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.
Suicide Club
2001
6.5When the bizarre mass suicide of 54 high school girls throwing themselves in front of a subway train appears to instigate a string of suicides around the country, Detective Kuroda strives to find the answer, which isn't as simple as he had hoped.
Suicide Club
2001
7.3In Japan, gonzo filmmakers hatch a three-pronged plan to save an actress's career, end a yakuza war and make a hit movie.
Why Don't You Play in Hell?
2013
7.3In Japan, gonzo filmmakers hatch a three-pronged plan to save an actress's career, end a yakuza war and make a hit movie.
Why Don't You Play in Hell?
2013
5.9An aspiring hairdresser becomes the infatuation of a tricophilic man who sells hair extensions to nearby salons. The source is the corpse of a girl whose corpse continues to grow beautiful, voluminous, black hair that comes alive, either driving the extension user insane or killing them.
Exte: Hair Extensions
2007
5.9An aspiring hairdresser becomes the infatuation of a tricophilic man who sells hair extensions to nearby salons. The source is the corpse of a girl whose corpse continues to grow beautiful, voluminous, black hair that comes alive, either driving the extension user insane or killing them.
Exte: Hair Extensions
2007
6.9A man, who once dreamed of becoming a punk rocker, is working as a low salaryman at a musical instrument parts company. He's secretly in love with his colleague. One day, he finds a little turtle on the rooftop, naming it Pikadon.
Love & Peace
2015
6.9A man, who once dreamed of becoming a punk rocker, is working as a low salaryman at a musical instrument parts company. He's secretly in love with his colleague. One day, he finds a little turtle on the rooftop, naming it Pikadon.
Love & Peace
2015
7.0A teenager named Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Toyokawa, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's family circle, which grows darker after the mass suicide of 54 high school girls.
Noriko's Dinner Table
2005
7.0A teenager named Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Toyokawa, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's family circle, which grows darker after the mass suicide of 54 high school girls.
Noriko's Dinner Table
2005
6.1An old couple, their only son, the son's wife, a young man and his lover live peacefully in a village. Then, a terrifying earthquake strikes that causes a nearby nuclear station to explode. The residents must evacuate, but the family lives on a farm, with only half of the area designated as an evacuation area.
The Land of Hope
2012
6.1An old couple, their only son, the son's wife, a young man and his lover live peacefully in a village. Then, a terrifying earthquake strikes that causes a nearby nuclear station to explode. The residents must evacuate, but the family lives on a farm, with only half of the area designated as an evacuation area.
The Land of Hope
2012
6.3A quiet killer is looking for a room. The real state agent, shy and expressionless, guides him through Tokyo, towards the ruins the decadent economy has left behind, in hopes of finding The Room.
The Room
1993
6.3A quiet killer is looking for a room. The real state agent, shy and expressionless, guides him through Tokyo, towards the ruins the decadent economy has left behind, in hopes of finding The Room.
The Room
1993
6.3A quiet killer is looking for a room. The real state agent, shy and expressionless, guides him through Tokyo, towards the ruins the decadent economy has left behind, in hopes of finding The Room.
The Room
1993
7.2The erotic novelist Taeko is writing a morbid story of a family destroyed by incest, murder and abuse. Her assistant, Yuji, sets on a mission to uncover the reality of this story, but the reality might be too much to bear.
Strange Circus
2005
