Ren Osugi

In Fireworks (1997), Ren Osugi's Horibe is a paralysed detective, and the performance has room for more than his disability. Osugi works quietly within Takeshi Kitano's patient storytelling. We were moved by Horibe because he remains someone to care about in a film whose sudden violence could easily overwhelm its gentler scenes. This is the Osugi we value most: a supporting actor who makes it matter that the film has stopped to spend time with someone besides its lead.

The collaboration with Kitano began with Sonatine (1993), the role that brought Osugi back to prominence, and continued through Brother (2000). That partnership gives us the clearest route into his work, although his usefulness extended well beyond one director. Kiyoshi Kurosawa cast him as police commandant Fujiwara in Cure (1997), while Takashi Miike used him in Audition (1999). Across crime, horror and drama, he remained principally a supporting player, making an impression without needing to become the whole subject.

Police officers, yakuza and government officials recur among his parts, including Prime Minister Seiji Ookouchi in Shin Godzilla (2016). Yet sternness was only one part of what he offered. He could move quickly into foolishness, allowing comedy into the sort of performance that might otherwise settle for looking important. We like that willingness to make authority look fallible, though a list of commanding roles alone would give a poor account of the feeling he brings to Horibe.

Fireworks also supplies a useful caveat to our enthusiasm: Kitano's treatment of the wife is thinner than it should be. The attention paid to Horibe makes that shortcoming more noticeable, and a fine supporting performance cannot put missing characterisation into a script. Start there nevertheless, with fair warning that the tenderness does not make the sudden violence any easier to watch.