Daisuke Tengan

Writing

Daisuke Tengan

Born 1959-12-14 · Tokyo, Japan

He is the first son of director Shohei Imamura. He graduated from Ryuku University. In 1984 he joined Shinchosha but left in 1991 to pursue a creative career. His directing debut was in 1990.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

13 Assassins poster
7.3

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

13 Assassins

2010

Audition poster
7.1

Seven years after the death of his wife, widower Shigeharu seeks advice on how to find a new wife from a colleague. Taking advantage of their position as a film company, they stage an audition. Interviewing a series of women, Shigeharu is enchanted by the quiet Asami. But soon things take a twisted turn as Asami isn’t what she seems to be.

Audition

2000

The Eel poster
6.9

A businessman kills his adulterous wife and is sent to prison. After his release, he opens a barbershop and meets new people, talking to almost no one except for an eel he befriended while in prison.

The Eel

1997

Dr. Akagi poster
6.4

At the end of WWII, Japanese doctor Akagi searches for the cure for hepatitis in the prisoner-of-war camp.

Dr. Akagi

1998

September 11 poster
6.4

Eleven directors from eleven countries each contribute an eleven-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001: A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what's happened; city kids in Burkina Faso think they've spotted Osama bin Laden; a deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who left that morning for work at the World Trade Center; a Chilean remembers Allende; events recall other deaths; a mother endures more than her son's death. Tones vary, as do the locales. Most concern coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.

September 11

2002

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge poster
6.6

A down-and-out businessman travels to a seaside town, where he meets a woman with unusual sexual powers.

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge

2001

The Trap poster
6.8

When a hooded stranger appears in private eye 'Mike' Hama's office with the cryptic challenge "I want you to look for me," Hama is drawn into a string of bizarre serial murders that have Yokohama's police baffled and the city terrified.

The Trap

1996

Blood poster
4.8

Kasaki the hitman needs to set scores with his target Ri after the syndicate hunts him and blackmails his childhood friend to kill him.

Blood

1998

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo poster
NR

A corrupt gambler in the Metropolitan Police Force finds himself thrown into a tangled case after an enigmatic FBI agent arrives in Tokyo to investigate the disappearance of a politician’s daughter.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo

2026

The Most Terrible Time in My Life poster
7.5

Maiku Hama is a private detective working in Yokohama. Hama comes to the aid of a Taiwanese waiter named Yang and agrees to track down his missing brother. Through a series of double-crosses Hama gets embroiled in a gang war and a revenge plot between the two brothers

The Most Terrible Time in My Life

1994

The Most Beautiful Night In The World poster
5.6

Betrayed and disgraced, big-city reporter Kazuya Mizuno is banished to a desk at Kaname's boring little town newspaper. But Kaname isn't as boring as it seems on the surface. Not with characters around like Shimeko, a girl genius with a childlike lack of propriety, and her ace fisherman/folk-singer dad. Or the overbearing and unpleasant local Shinto priest, a former Christian cultist. Or Endo, Kazuya's new colleague, a bitter drunk after his son's suicide. Or Kin, a former terrorist, now a hermit on his boat engaging in secret "research." Or perhaps most importantly Teruko, the hypnotically beautiful bar owner, the focus of all manner of innuendo and intrigue. Something mysterious, even mystical, is going on Kaname, and hapless Kazuya is about to be thrown into the middle of it.

The Most Beautiful Night In The World

2008

The Most Beautiful Night In The World poster
5.6

Betrayed and disgraced, big-city reporter Kazuya Mizuno is banished to a desk at Kaname's boring little town newspaper. But Kaname isn't as boring as it seems on the surface. Not with characters around like Shimeko, a girl genius with a childlike lack of propriety, and her ace fisherman/folk-singer dad. Or the overbearing and unpleasant local Shinto priest, a former Christian cultist. Or Endo, Kazuya's new colleague, a bitter drunk after his son's suicide. Or Kin, a former terrorist, now a hermit on his boat engaging in secret "research." Or perhaps most importantly Teruko, the hypnotically beautiful bar owner, the focus of all manner of innuendo and intrigue. Something mysterious, even mystical, is going on Kaname, and hapless Kazuya is about to be thrown into the middle of it.

The Most Beautiful Night In The World

2008

Aiki poster
4.8

When a promising young boxer is crippled in a car accident, he falls into a life of dissipation and depression. No boxing ring or martial arts club will take him on -- that is, until an aiki jujitsu master helps the young man develop techniques uniquely tailored to a wheelchair. What starts off as a sad film revs up into an exciting and fun series of epiphanies in which the young man realizes his situation isn't as hopeless as it seems.

Aiki

2002

Aiki poster
4.8

When a promising young boxer is crippled in a car accident, he falls into a life of dissipation and depression. No boxing ring or martial arts club will take him on -- that is, until an aiki jujitsu master helps the young man develop techniques uniquely tailored to a wheelchair. What starts off as a sad film revs up into an exciting and fun series of epiphanies in which the young man realizes his situation isn't as hopeless as it seems.

Aiki

2002

The Stairway to the Distant Past poster
7.2

Broke, with his vintage Nash convertible repossessed, private eye Mike Hama is reduced to combing the mean streets of the Yokohama waterfront on a borrowed bicycle. But when Lily, a beautiful stripper from out of Hama's past, returns to town, the fuse is lit on a criminal powder keg set to blow the lid off the Yokohama underworld.

The Stairway to the Distant Past

1995

Dendera poster
9.3

Fifty elderly women are abandoned to die on a snow covered mountain, but instead wor together to build their own village named "Dendera." Some of the women wants to live their remaining days in peace, but others seek revenge against the villagers and their own families who left them to die.

Dendera

2011

Dendera poster
9.3

Fifty elderly women are abandoned to die on a snow covered mountain, but instead wor together to build their own village named "Dendera." Some of the women wants to live their remaining days in peace, but others seek revenge against the villagers and their own families who left them to die.

Dendera

2011

Waiting in the Dark poster
8.4

A precarious loner sneaks into a blind woman's home and begins living there without her noticing. Meanwhile, the woman mourns her recently deceased father and struggles to remain connected to the world.

Waiting in the Dark

2006

Waiting in the Dark poster
8.4

A precarious loner sneaks into a blind woman's home and begins living there without her noticing. Meanwhile, the woman mourns her recently deceased father and struggles to remain connected to the world.

Waiting in the Dark

2006

Asian Beat: I Love Nippon poster
9.3

Commentary: The first work in the "Asian Beat" series, in which young directors from six Asian countries, including Japan, compete to create the same protagonist (Masatoshi Nagase). The main character "TOKIO" becomes involved in various incidents when he meets Banana, a Filipino girl who is a terrorist and holds top-secret information that will shake Japan. This work depicts the appearance of TOKIO and his escape from Japan.

Asian Beat: I Love Nippon

1991

Asian Beat: I Love Nippon poster
9.3

Commentary: The first work in the "Asian Beat" series, in which young directors from six Asian countries, including Japan, compete to create the same protagonist (Masatoshi Nagase). The main character "TOKIO" becomes involved in various incidents when he meets Banana, a Filipino girl who is a terrorist and holds top-secret information that will shake Japan. This work depicts the appearance of TOKIO and his escape from Japan.

Asian Beat: I Love Nippon

1991

Meet Me at Angie’s Bar poster
7.5

Meet Me at Angie’s Bar

Meet Me at Angie’s Bar

2025

Detective Office 5 poster
NR

In a small nook of Kawasaki Private investigator 591 and adultry specialist investigator 522 embark on separate investigations that leads them both to the same beautifician.

Detective Office 5

2005

My Sister And Izuna poster
9.0

An idyllic and quiet horror movie in the age of the occult. Tadashi lives alone with his younger sister Kyoko, who has returned to Japan after a divorce. The older brother tries desperately to get rid of it, but in fact, the two siblings have an incestuous relationship, and Kyoko is possessed by Izuna, who is used by Kyoko's ex-husband who resents the relationship. The screen is black and white and eerie. Izuna smiles fearlessly at her. A brother and sister who cannot settle their warped love. With elaborate art reminiscent of Japanese houses and customs of the 1950s, the film brilliantly depicts a mature mystery world with a nostalgic flavour.

My Sister And Izuna

1990