The Day Takuya Kimura Becomes the “Second Mifune” as Seen in “Kyobo Requiem

Kimura fails to meet Kazama’s gaze head-on

Takuya Kimura (53) stars in “Kyobo Requiem,” which opened in theaters on February 20 and topped the weekend movie attendance rankings for the first time, and on March 1, a stage greeting was already held to thank the cast for making the film a big hit.

This film is the culmination of the “Kyobo” TV drama series. The first part, “Kyobo Reunion,” was exclusively distributed on Netflix this January, and the follow-up, “Kyobo Requiem,” was released in theaters.

Kimura plays Kazama, a police academy instructor with gray hair and a prosthetic right eye. He plays a cool-headed character who mercilessly expels those who are not qualified for the police academy. In the film version, Kazama’s cool-headedness is even more polished, and the power of the eyes shining from behind his glasses is so powerful that the staff said they were “thrilled” to see him through the monitor.

The climactic scene of the film. The climax of the film is the scene at the graduation ceremony.

Hirata Kazumichi (Hayashi Kento, 35), who had previously been fired from Kazama’s school, is on the stage, angry and snapping at the teacher. The intensity with which the Kazama instructor stared at him down coldly was extraordinary.

Hayashi himself felt pressure while playing the role, and when he confronted him during the filming of “Kyobo Reunion,” he confessed, “When I saw his eyes on me, I got scared and almost skipped a line. In this film as well, he is unable to meet Kazama’s gaze head on, and his gaze swims. That scene became a hidden masterpiece” (production company director).

In the movie “Legend & Butterfly” released in ‛23, Takuya Kimura passionately played the role of Nobunaga Oda. Osamu Kikuchi, who worked as a still photographer, looks back on that time,

During the filming of the movie, Mr. Kimura was possessed by the spirit of Nobunaga, and I felt many times that this man was a reincarnation of Nobunaga. I was very scared when the demon king Nobunaga stared at me through the camera” (official pamphlet).

(official pamphlet).

So far, Kimura has played more than 30 different occupations, from a prosecutor, a doctor, a hairdresser, to a prime minister.

There was a time when he was ridiculed as “Kimura Tak no matter what he does. However, in recent years, Mr. Kimura has been different in more ways than one. Not only in the role of Nobunaga, but also in “Kyobo Requiem,” it was as if Kimochika Kazama himself was there. No one can say that he is “Kimura Takuya no matter what he does” anymore.

What exactly happened to Takuya Kimura?

Who will be the next Toshiro Mifune?

Since the breakup of SMAP in 2004, Kimura has been a hero in many films, including “Grand Maison Tokyo” (TBS) in 2004, “10 Counts to the Future” (TBS) in 2005, and “Believe-Your Bridge” (TV Asahi) in 2006 and 2007. In the midst of the headwinds, he was frustrated by his own failures.

He has played the role of a hero who overcomes setbacks and rises again in the face of adverse circumstances. He was somewhat like an ascetic performing misogi (purification) after bearing the blame for the breakup of SMAP.

Perhaps by facing his roles more deeply, Mr. Kimura has learned to live with them. Perhaps that is why, when he played the role of Nobunaga Oda, the most genocidal man in Japanese history, he was able to bear the regret of those who died and the anger of those who were left behind with determination and a sense of “karma. director)

In the movie “Grand Maison Paris,” which was released in 1949, Kimura played the role of Natsuki Ohana, a chef who wins the world’s highest “three stars” in the real Paris. He made an interesting comment on the occasion.

What we are trying to make may be a fiction, but we were allowed to use non-fiction fluids. On set, fiction can be created as much as you want just by removing the “non” from non-fiction.

As seen in “Legend & Butterfly,” “Grand Maison Paris,” and the movie “TOKYO TAXI,” which was released last year, Takuya Kimura has entered his 50s and has stepped it up a notch as an actor. There is no doubt about it.

Kimura starred in the movie “Infinite Dweller,” which was released in ‛17. At that time, Jeremy Thomas, a world-renowned producer who worked on “Merry Christmas at the Battlefield” and “The Last Emperor,” said something to him.

Film fans around the world have been waiting to see who will be the next Toshiro Mifune. and they have been waiting for a long time. I think there is a good chance that Mr. Kimura could fill that role.

It will soon be 10 years since then. The time may be ripe for a “second Mifune.