Katsuhito Ishii was an early avatar of Japanese quirk, making films that celebrated the wilder, goofier side of the local pop culture while flouting the conventions of commercial cinema, including at least a veneer of sanity.
After a successful stint directing TV advertisements, Ishii made his feature debut in 1998 with the frantic, stylish chase movie "Samehada Otoko to Momojiri Onna (Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl)." Screened at the Hawaii International Film Festival, it inspired HIFF guest Quentin Tarantino to schmooze with Ishii at a Honolulu coffee shop — and later engage him to supervise animated sequences for "Kill Bill: Vol. 1."
This endorsement from the then-reigning king of cool helped launch Ishii abroad: His live-action followups, "Cha no Aji (The Taste of Tea)" in 2004 and "Naisu no Mori: The First Contact (Funky Forest: The First Contact)" in 2005, screened widely abroad. In 2008 he directed a shot-by-shot remake of the 1938 Hiroshi Shizimu classic "Anma to Onna (The Masseurs and a Woman)," retitling it "Yama no Anata — Tokuichi no Koi (My Darling of the Mountains)."