Kōki Mitani

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Kōki Mitani
Koki Mitani 20141017 2.jpg
participated in the Opening Event of the Tokyo International Film Festival (October 17, 2014)
Born (1961-07-08) July 8, 1961 (age 60)
Setagaya, Tokyo
NationalityJapanese
OccupationPlaywright, screenwriter, actor, film director

Kōki Mitani (三谷 幸喜, Mitani Kōki, born July 8, 1961) is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after Taihō Kōki, the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon University.

In an attempt to add his own character to his movies, as a director he takes most of his scenes with a one-scene=one-shot system, moving the camera around as opposed to cutting. He claims this comes from his experience in theatre, where there are no cuts. Mitani does not use a computer.[1]

Early life[]

Mitani liked watching TV dramas and puppetries of NHK in his childhood. He was especially interested in works of puppetry such as "Shin Hakkenden" (新八犬伝) and Sangokushi (三国志), jidaigeki dramas such as (天下御免) and (天下堂々), and Taiga dramas such as Kaze to Kumo to Niji to.[2]

Throughout his life, he has expressed interest in works starring famous detectives, sich as the Sherlock Holmes series[3][4] He has collected numerous novel volumes, pastiches, and DVDs related to Sherlock Holmes, and in 2014 adapted the story into a puppetry set in a boarding school. In his high school days, he planned to produce a film featuring a detective, loosely based on And Then There Were None, and went on location to Enoshima, Kanagawa with his friends, though this film was never finished.[3]

Mitani has also stated that he enjoys foreign cinema, and is a fan of the films 12 Angry Men, The Wages of Fear, Columbo, and the director Billy Wilder. He has mentioned how he believes Hollywood comedy films are not as funny as those in the Golden Age and as Japanese comedy improves.[1]

Career[]

Mitani's work has primarily comprised witty comedies which are often parodies. In production, he usually writes scripts visualizing actors and actresses as close to the characters. Mitani is the author of a weekly column in the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper[1] in which he often discusses his favorite films, his writing process, and the actors and actresses with whom he has worked.

Feature films and TV dramas[]

(Note: Many of Mitani's films began as successful plays.)

Theatre works[]

Puppetries[]

  • The Three Musketeers
  • Sherlock Holmes

Frequent collaborators[]

Actor Furuhata Ninzaburō (1994–2006) Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997) Aikotoba wa Yūki (2000) Minna no Ie (2001) Shinsengumi! (2004)  The Uchōten Hotel (2006) The Magic Hour (2008) Wagaya no Rekishi (2010) A Ghost of a Chance (2011) The Kiyosu Conference (2013) Galaxy Turnpike (2015) Sanada Maru (2016) Kioku ni Gozaimasen (2019)
Toshiyuki Nishida (73) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Fumiyo Kohinata (67) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Kōji Yakusho (65) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Keiko Toda (63) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Kōichi Satō (60) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N   ☒N
Masahiko Nishimura (60) ☒N ☒N ☒N
Yoshimasa Kondo (60) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Kiichi Nakai (59) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Kenji Anan (59) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Toshiaki Karasawa (58) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Susumu Terajima (57) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Zen Kajihara (55) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Kyōka Suzuki (53) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Eri Fukatsu (48) ☒N ☒N
Yo Oizumi (48) ☒N ☒N ☒N
Masato Sakai (47) ☒N ☒N
Koji Yamamoto (44) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Shingo Katori (44) ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N ☒N
Yūko Takeuchi (41) ☒N ☒N
Satoshi Tsumabuki (40) ☒N ☒N
Haruka Ayase (36) ☒N ☒N

Honours[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Tanaka, Nobuko, "Japan's Mr. Comedy", Japan Times, June 2, 2012, p. 7
  2. ^ 三谷幸喜のありふれた生活14 いくさ上手 松村邦洋との大河フリーク対談 P.248 朝日新聞出版 ISBN 4022514000 ISBN 978-4022514004
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b 『ユリイカ』、青土社、2014年8月増刊、148–154頁
    Eureka August 2014 Extra Edition", Tokyo: Seidosha, 2014, pp.148–154.
  4. ^ 岡崎信治郎・藤田健一編『シャーロックホームズ冒険ファンブック』、小学館、2014年、21頁。
    Shinjirō Okazaki and Kenichi Fujita (ed.) Sharokku Hōmuzu bōken fan bukku(Guidebook of "Sherlock Holmes"), Tokyo, Shogakukan, 2014, p.21.

External links[]

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