Hideyuki Hirayama

Hideyuki Hirayama

Birth : 1950-09-18, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

History

Hideyuki Hirayama (平山秀幸) is a Japanese film director. His theatrical debut was the film Maria's Stomach in 1990. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for The Games Teachers Play in 1992. In 1995, School Ghost Stories was a big hit and made into popular series. Begging for Love in 1998 got many awards as International press award (FIPRESCI) in Montreal World Film Festival, Japan Academy Prize for Director of the Year, Mainichi Film Award for Best Director etc. In 2001, Hirayama won Best Director Choice for Turn at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. He also got several Japanese film awards for director, including the Best Director award for The Laughing Frog and Out at the 2003 Yokohama Film Festival.

Profile

Hideyuki Hirayama

Movies

Tsuyukusa
Director
Middle-aged Fumi lives a quiet seaside life, she spends her days working at a small local factory, spending time with her neighbor’s son, and attending her sober-lifestyle group. One night while driving home her car is struck by a small meteorite, the odds of which are 100 million to 1. Seeing this as a good omen, Fumi decides she should be open to new possibilities in her life, even perhaps romance…
Family of Strangers
Screenplay
Three patients of different backgrounds, illnesses and stages are being treated at a psychiatric clinic in Nagano Prefecture. Their cases range from the criminal to merely asocial. That should be that, but soon matters take a darker turn when a corpse turns up and a murder has occurred. The culprit fingered is one of the patients.
Family of Strangers
Director
Three patients of different backgrounds, illnesses and stages are being treated at a psychiatric clinic in Nagano Prefecture. Their cases range from the criminal to merely asocial. That should be that, but soon matters take a darker turn when a corpse turns up and a murder has occurred. The culprit fingered is one of the patients.
Oba: The Last Samurai
Director
In 1944, the American military lands on the shores of Saipan. Refusing to commit suicide with his superiors or be forced into camps for prisoners of war, Captain Oba Sakae leads a group of his men and other similarly minded local residents into the mountains. Even after hearing reports of the Japanese military's surrender, Oba dismisses the reports as propaganda and continues to launch guerilla attacks against the American soldiers, earning him the nickname "The Fox". Soon, even the American commander who's charged with the task of capturing Oba comes to admire his persistent enemy.
Forget Me Not
Director
A nostalgic human drama based on Dazai Osamu Prize winner Tsujiuchi Tomoki's novella. Set in a declining coal-mining town in 1950s Fukuoka, the story depicts a rambunctious but pure-hearted young boy in love with an older woman. Director Hirayama Hideyuki and writer Chong Wishing, both from Begging for Love (Ai o kou hito), join hands again to make this film. Michiyo (Koyuki) has left Tokyo for Fukuoka with her son Mamoru (Ikematsu Sosuke) after divorcing her husband. The story follows Mamoru's memories of his time spent with the notorious rebel Shinichi (Ishida Takuya), who stood up for him against bullies.
Sword of Desperation
Director
A talented but troubled Edo Period swordsman, Kanemi Sanzaemon. Three years earlier, Kanemi killed a woman, Renko, the corrupt mistress of the powerful daimyo Tabu Ukyou. Unexpectedly, Kanemi received a lenient sentence for his crime and is allowed to return to his clan after only one year of imprisonment. Following his return, Kanemi is faced with the death of his wife, Mutsue. Thereafter, Kanemi lives with and cares for his wife's niece, Satoo, who has secret affections for Kanemi and expresses them by helping change his bleak outlook on life. Meanwhile, Kanemi's develops his unique "bird-catching" sword technique which he will soon put to test in battle for the first time against the fearsome swordsman, Hayatonosho Obiya.
Three for the Road
Director
Talk, Talk, Talk
Director
The movie revolves around Mitsuba, who studies traditional art of rakugo. Rakugo is a form of comical story telling, sometimes referred to as sit-down comedy. Even though Mitsuba is mediocre at best, he ends up teaching three students.
The Woman Opposite
Director
Lady Joker
Director
A Japanese film by Hideyuki Hirayama, Lady Joker is a detective thriller with elements of social commentary on Japanese society that is based on the 1997 bestselling novel by Kaoru Takamura.
Samurai Resurrection
Director
Shiro Amasuka, dead leader of the Shimbara Revolt is resurrected from hell with the desire of overthrowing the shogunate for killing his companions. To do this , he resurrects an army of living dead swordsmen. Between him and his goal, only Yagyu Jubei stands...
Out
Director
When pregnant lunchbox factory worker Yayoi has finally taken all the abuse she can handle, she strangles her brutish husband and disposes of the body parts, piece by piece. She's soon joined by three down on their luck housewives who murder their own husbands and find various ways to hide the evidence.
The Laughing Frog
Director
A woman has a fine life with rewarding work, a nice house, and a serious boyfriend in the lowlands of Japan. In walks her long lost husband who years ago disappeared and abandoned her. The wife allows her lost husband to secretly live in her house. More specifically, he lives in the wife's closet. The closet has a peep hole, so he does nothing day and night but watch his wife live her life.
Turn
Director
Maki is a talented copper plate artist, however, just before her first gallery show, she gets struck by a truck. When she comes to she is at home. When she ventures outside, the city is deserted and she knows something is deeply wrong. Each day repeats; she wakes up at 2:15 in the afternoon. Gradually things start change, the phone rings, and she finds that she is not alone...
Haunted School 4
Director
Taking advantage of their summer holiday, Kō and his little sister Yae visit their cousin at Nozaki located at the sea-side. However, on the day they arrive, a typhoon hits the town for the first time in many years. At this time, their cousin tells them: When the storm hits, the spirits of those who perished at sea... will return.
Begging for Love
Director
During a quest to find a Taiwanese father's grave, disturbing memories of child abuse are aroused.
Haunted School 2
Director
Sequel to the 1995 film Haunted School aka Gakkou no Kaidan. Similar to the first, in that it's about a group of youngsters that get stuck in a haunted school and have to deal with an assortment of ghosts.
Haunted School
Director
A young girl wanders into a wing of her elementary school that has been abandoned for years and is rumored to be haunted. When she doesn't come back, a group of her classmates go looking for her, only to find that they, too, are trapped inside. They must somehow find their way to safety, and quickly, because the rumors of ghosts are turning out to be true.
Yoi ko to asobou
Director
Five junior high school students in the city enjoy stealing as a game to pass the time. One day, a mysterious masked man suddenly appears in front of them and attacks them.
Human Scramble: Rain
Director
Based on the comic written by Masao Yajima and illustrated by Kenshi Hirokane.
The Games Teachers Play
Director
The story of an unconventional teacher facing up to his unruly and apathetic class.
Maria's Stomach
Director
A carnivorous monster lives on the island of Sipang. A group of office ladies band together to fight it.
Door
Assistant Director
A housewife, Yasuko lives in an urban high-rise apartment with her husband Satoru and her son Takuto. Annoyed by spam calls and door-to-door salesmen, Yasuko slams the door on a salesman’s finger when he tries to squeeze a flyer through chained door. He leaves but the next day, her nightmare starts.
Beyond the Shining Sea
Assistant Director
Heartbroken Ukiko takes refuge with a relative after a devastating breakup. While away, she makes a dangerous match with the husband of her frigid cousin.
The Funeral
Assistant Director
When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three days in their home.