Kōki Mitani

Kōki Mitani
participated in the Opening Event of the Tokyo International Film Festival (October 17, 2014)
Born (1961-07-08) July 8, 1961
Setagaya, Tokyo
Nationality Japanese
Occupation Playwright, 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. Especially he was interested in the puppetries "Shin Hakkenden" (新八犬伝) and Sangokushi (三国志), jidaigekis such as Tenka Gomen (天下御免) and Tenka Dōdō (天下堂々), and Taiga Dramas like Ōgon no hibi (黄金の日々).

He also liked and still likes the works featuring famous detectives includes the Sherlock Holmes series[2] and adored Holmes as a detective.[3] He has whole volume of novels including pastiches, DVDs related to Sherlock Holmes and read all the novels again before adapting it to a puppetry whose setting is laid 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 the film was never unfinished.[2]

Besides he watched many foreign films such as the ones directed by Billy Wilder, 12 Angry Men and The Wages of Fear on TV. He says that he was influenced by them but recent Hollywood comedy films are not as funny as those in the golden age and Japanese comedy becomes better.[1] He is a big fan of Columbo also.

Career

His works are basically comedies full of wit and humour and with parody. He usually writes a script visualising the actors and actresses close to the characters.

He writes a weekly column for the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper,[1] in which he often discusses his favorite films, his writing process, and the actors and actresses that he has worked with.

Feature films and TV dramas

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

Theatre works

Puppetries

Frequent collaborators

ActorFuruhata 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 (70) NoNoNoNoNoNo
Fumiyo Kohinata (64) NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Kōji Yakusho (62) NoNoNoNo
Keiko Toda (61) NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Kōichi Satō (57) NoNoNoNoNoNoNo　No
Masahiko Nishimura (57) NoNoNo
Yoshimasa Kondo (57) NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Kiichi Nakai (57) NoNoNoNoNo
Kenji Anan (56) NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Toshiaki Karasawa (55) NoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Susumu Terajima (54) NoNoNoNoNo
Zen Kajihara (52) NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Kyōka Suzuki (50) NoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Eri Fukatsu (45) NoNo
Yo Oizumi (45) NoNoNo
Masato Sakai (45) NoNo
Koji Yamamoto (41) NoNoNoNoNoNo
Shingo Katori (41) NoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Yūko Takeuchi (38) NoNo
Satoshi Tsumabuki (37) NoNo
Haruka Ayase (33) NoNo

Honours

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Tanaka, Nobuko, "Japan's Mr. Comedy", Japan Times, June 2, 2012, p. 7
  2. 1 2 『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.
  3. ↑ 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.
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