Filmography
| Year | Film | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Blue Spring | Toshiaki Toyoda | (青い春 Aoi haru) Based on Taiyō Matsumoto's manga, sets in a run-down all-boys school where violence and apathy rule the roost. |
| 2001 | GO | Yukisada Isao | Based on Kazuki Kaneshiro's coming-of-age novel, GO. |
| 2002 | Justice | Yukisada Isao | (short film) |
| 2003 | Josee, the Tiger and the Fish | Isshin Inudo | (ジョゼと虎と魚たち Joze to Tora to Sakanatachi) Based on Seiko Tanabe's novel. |
| 2004 | Heaven's Bookstore | Tetsuo Shinohara | (天国の本屋～恋火 Tengoku no honya) Based on Atsushi Matsuhisa and Wataru Tanaka's novel. |
| 2004 | Loved Gun | Kensaku Watanabe | (ラブドガン Rabudo gan) |
| 2004 | 69 sixtynine | Sang-il Lee | Based on Ryu Murakami's semi-autobiographical novel, 69. |
| 2004 | Blood and Bones | Yoichi Sai | (血と骨 Chi to Hone) Based on Yan Sogiru's semi-autobiographical novel chronicling the rise and fall of a brutal Korean immigrant. |
| 2005 | Neighbour No. 13 | Yasuo Inoue | (隣人13号 Rinjin 13 Gou) Based on Santa Inoue's 3-volume dark psychological thriller manga. |
| 2005 | The Whispering of the Gods | Tatsushi Omori | (ゲルマニウムの夜 Gerumaniumu no Yoru (Germanium's Night)) Based on Mangetsu Hanamura's novel. Rou (Arai) returns to his childhood home, a monastery of a tight-knit Christian community, where he soon forces them to face its dark brutal past. |
| 2006 | Sway | Miwa Nishikawa | (ゆれる Yureru) A courtroom drama that revolves around fraternal rivalry that ends with the murder of a childhood friend. |
| 2007 | The Matsugane Potshot Affair | Nobuhiro Yamashita | (松ヶ根乱射事件 Matsugane Ransha Jiken) Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa's crime novel. |
| 2008 | A Crowd of Three | Tatsushi Omori | (ケンタとジュンとカヨちゃんの国 Kenta to Jun to Kayo-chan no Kuni (Kenta, Jun And Kayo-chan's Country)) |
| 2008 | My Darling of the Mountains | Katsuhito Ishii | (Yama no Anata ~Tokuichi no Koi~ (Beyond the Mountains: Tokuichi in Love)) A remake of Hiroshi Shimizu’s 1938 film Anma to Onna (The Masseurs and a Woman). |
| 2009 | The Blood of Rebirth | Toshiaki Toyoda | (Yomigaeri no Chi) |
| 2009 | The Crab Cannery Ship | Hiroyuki Tanaka | (Kanikōsen) Based on Takiji Kobayashi's 1929 politically satirical novella about rebellious workers on a crab cannery ship. |
| 2009 | The Wonderful World of Captain Kuhio | Daihachi Yoshida | (Kuhio Taisa (Captain Kuhio)) Based on Kazumasa Yoshida’s 2006 biographical novel Kekkon Sagishi Kuhio Taisa (Marriage Swindler: Captain Kuhio). |
| 2009 | 224466 | Tadanobu Asano | Part of R246 Story, a film anthology that revolves around Japan's 76-mile highway, Route 246. Other R246 Story short films: CLUB246 (Ilmari), Jiroru: Densetsu no Yo-na-o-shi (Shido Nakamura), Bento Fufu (Yusuke Santamaria), Arifureta Kisho (Genki Sudo), Dead Noise (Verbal). |
| 2009 | Villon's Wife | Kichitaro Negishi | (ヴィヨンの妻 Viyon no Tsuma) Based on Osamu Dazai's 1947 semi-autobiographical short story. |
| 2009 | Mt. Tsurugidake | Daisaku Kimura | (劒岳 点の記 Tsurugidake Ten no Ki) Based on Jirō Nitta's historical novel. |
| 2010 | Douki (TV movie) | Yu Irie | (同期 Synchronization) Detective Ryouta Udagawa (Ryuhei Matsuda) searches for his rival colleague Kazuhiko Soga (Hirofumi Arai) who went missing after a murder. |
| 2010 | Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano | Hisayasu Satō | (名前のない女たち Namae no Nai Onnatachi (Nameless Women)) Based on Atsuhiko Nakamura's memoir on how she was roped into working in Japan's porn industry. |
| 2010 | A Yakuza's Daughter Never Cries | Sergei Bodrov | (Doch yakudzy Yakuza Girl) |
| 2010 | Confessions | Tetsuya Nakashima | (告白 Kokuhaku) Based on Kanae Minato's 2008 novel. |
| 2010 | All Around Us | Ryōsuke Hashiguchi | (ぐるりのこと Gururi no Koto (What's All Round Us)) |
| 2010 | BOX: The Hakamada Case - What's Life? | Banmei Takahashi | (BOX 袴田事件 命とは BOX: Hakamada jiken - inochi towa) Based on the Hakamada Incident, a real-life event that inspires former magistrate Norimichi Kumamoto's nationwide campaign to save a man who was sentenced to Japan's Death Row for committing the 1966 family massacre in Hakamada. |
| 2011 | That's The Way!! A Film Starring Fujio Akatsuka | Hideaki Sato | (これでいいのだ!! 映画★赤塚不二夫 Korede iinoda!! Eiga★Akatsuka Fujio) Based on the life of manga artist Fujio Akatsuka. |
| 2011 | Slapstick Brothers | Hiroshi Shinagawa | (漫才ギャング Manzai gyangu (Manzai Gang)) |
| 2011 | Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai | Takashi Miike | (一命 Ichimei (one life)) A 3D remake of Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 film Harakiri. |
| 2011 | Seiji: House 475 | Yûsuke Iseya | (セイジ 陸の魚 Seiji: Riku no Sakana) Based on Tomoki Tsujiuchi's novel, Seiji. In 2012, House 475 was retitled and re-released as Seiji: Riku no Uo (Seiji: Fish on Land). |
| 2011 | Love Strikes! | Hitoshi Ohne | (モテキ Moteki) Based on Mitsuro Kubo's romantic comedy manga. Set a year after the ending of the 2010 TV series Moteki with Mirai Moriyama reviving his leading role as Yukiyo Fujimoto. Arai appears as Yuichi Shimada, Fujimoto's long-suffering friend. |
| 2011 | The Eclipse's Shadow | Shiro Tokiwa | (short film) Three couples meet during the afternoon of a total solar eclipse. |
| 2012 | Space Brothers | Yoshitaka Mori | Based on Chūya Koyama's 2008 drama-comedy manga Uchu Kyodai. |
| 2012 | House of Quilt | (キルトの家 Quilt no ie) Two-part NHK TV drama. Broadcast in January, 2012. After an earthquake, a young couple moves to a residential complex in Tokyo where they meet residents and learn about life from them. | |
| 2012 | Helter Skelter | Mika Ninagawa | (ヘルタースケルター Heruta Sukeruta) Based on Kyoko Okazaki's manga that revolves around a superstar who's gone under several instances of plastic surgery, which slowly unravels her life and her mind. |
| 2012 | Ushijima the Loan Shark | Masatoshi Yamaguchi | (闇金ウシジマくん Yamikin Ushijima-kun) Based on Shohei Manabe's manga series. |
| 2012 | Outrage Beyond | Takeshi Kitano | (アウトレイジ ビヨンド Autoreiji Biyondo) A sequel to Kitano's 2010 film, Outrage. |
| 2012 | Blazing Famiglia | Kazuyoshi Kumakiri | (莫逆家族 Bakugeki Kazoku (Bakugyaku Family)) Based on Hiroshi Tanaka's 11-volume manga series. |
| 2012 | The Samurai That Night | Masaaki Akahori | (その夜の侍 Sono Yoru no Samurai) Based on director Akahori's stage play. |
| 2012 | Hitori Shizuka | TBA | TBA |
Read more about this topic: Hirofumi Arai