Internet Go Filmography
Television
1) The Go Masters (Mikan no taikyoku), color, 123 min
Year: 1983
Directed by: Ji-shun Duah, Junya Sato
Cast:
Produced by: Masahiro Sato, Zhi-min Wang
Original music by: Hikaru Hayashi, Ding-xian Jiang
Cinematography by: Shohei Ando, De-an Luo
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: A "Gone with the wind" all about Go, a must!
2) Heaven knows Mr.Allison (it. La carne e l'anima)
Year: 1957
Directed by: John Huston
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum
Produced by: Buddy Adler, Eugene Frenke
Original music by: Georges Auric
Cinematography by: Oswald Morris
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In a short scene, two japanese soldiers play Go
3) Dangerous moves
Year: 1984
Directed by: Richard Dembo
Cast: Michel Piccoli, Liv Ulmann,
Produced by: Arthur Cohn
Original music by: Gabriel Yared
Cinematography by: Raoul Coutard
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: M. Piccoli plays a Chess master, and to rest
sometimes he playes Go with his wife.
4) Pi
Year: 1998
Directed by: Darren Aronofask
Cast: Pamela Heart, Sean Guillette, Mark Margolis
Produced by: Tyler Brodie
Original music by: Clint Mansell
Cinematography by: Matthew Libatique
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: The main character plays Go, and a bit of Go
philosophy:
Max: "As the Go game progresses, the possibilities
become smaller, the game takes an pattern. ... Perhaps,
even if we are not sophisticated enough to realise it,
there is a pattern underlying every Go game."
Sol: "Max, that's insanity... You're losing it!"
5) Tokyo Rififi (it. Rififi a Tokyo)
Year: 1962
Directed by: Jacques Deray
Cast: Cast Keiko Kishi, Charles Vanel, Michel Vitold, Masao Oda, Eiji Okada
Produced by: Jacques Bar
Original music by: Georges Delure
Cinematography by: Tadashi Aramaki
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In a brief scene we see the inside of a Tokyo Go
Club; full of smoke and of Go players.
6) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (it. Tartarughe Ninja III)
Year: 1993
Directed by: Stuart Gillard
Cast: Elias Koteas, Paige Turco, Stuart Wilson (II), Vivian Wu
Produced by: David Chan
Original music by: John Du Perez
Cinematography by: David Gurfinkel
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: The master of the turtles in a short scene plays go.
7) Heathers
Year: 1989
Directed by: Michael Lehmann
Cast: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk
Produced by: Denise Di Novi
Original music by: David Newman
Cinematography by: Francis Kenny
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: I am told that in a scene you can see a Goban.
8) Wild Palms
Year: 1993
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: James Belushi, Dana Delany, Robert Loggia
Produced by: Michael rauch
Original music by: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cinematography by: Phedon Papamichael
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: A go board can be seen
9) Five fingers of death
Year: 19??
Directed by:
Cast:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source:
Comment: Hong Kong film
10) Ninja, guerrieri di fuoco
Year: 19??
Directed by:
Cast:
Produced by:
Original music by:
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Source:
Comment: Hong Kong film
At one point of this gruesome film one of the main
characters speaks with a Kung Fu master who is studing a game on the go board.
11) You Seng (Temptation of a Monk)
Year: 1993
Directed by: Clara Law
Cast:Joan Chen, Michael Lee, Lisa Lu
Produced by: Teddy Robin Kwan
Original music by: Tats Lau
Cinematography by: Andrew Lesnie
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: There are three 3 go scenes, one involving
throwing a board
12) Kwaidan
Year: 1964
Directed by: Masaki Kobayashi
Cast:Michiyo Aratama, Keiko Kishi, Rentaro Mikuni
Produced by: Shigeru Wakatsuki
Original music by: Toru Takemitsu
Cinematography by: Yoshio Miyajima
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In one of the scenes the wife of the main character plays Go,
loses and storms out with the words "What a stupid game".
This is to illustrate the mean behaviour of the wife :)
13) Pillow Book
Year: 1996
Directed by: Peter Greenaway
Cast:Vivian Wu, Yoshi Oida, Ken Ogata
Produced by: Terry Glinwood
Original music by: Michael Nyman
Cinematography by: Sacha Vierny
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: One person drinks himself to death and dares to
put a whisky glass and some pills on a Go board!
14) Sanjuro
Year: 1962
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Cast:Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi
Produced by: Ryuzo Kikushima
Original music by: Masaru Satô
Cinematography by: Fukuzo Koizumi, Takao Saitô
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In a long sequence the main character rests on
a goban while others are rushing in and out.
15) Bakushu
Year: 1951
Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu
Cast:Chikage Awajima, Setsuko Hara
Produced by:
Original music by: Senji Ito
Cinematography by: Yuharu Atsuta
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: Yasujiro Ozu's typical (meaning outstanding)
family drama, known in the us as "early summer". The
one go scene is the head of the household, a doctor,
playing go with a friend, talking and smoking, on a
sunday in, of course, early summer.
16) ?
Year: 19??
Directed by:
Cast:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source:
Comment: Movie of Kung Fu by King Hu
The characters were playing a game in the woods when
they were attacked.
They used the board and the stones to mark the
positions of the enemies and coordinate the attack.
17) ?
Year: 19??
Directed by:
Cast:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://www.momii.com/zatoichi/
Comment: One scene: Zatoichi is giving a massage to
someone while a magistrate (?) and an oyabun are
playing go in the other room. The proverbial comment
is made (not quoted) -- a go player's concentration is
such that they will miss their own parents funeral
when playing go. Maybe someone else can provide the
correct saying from the movie or from elsewhere (I've
heard Japanese people refer to it before). A little
later ... after a little sword play the Go board is
found to be destroyed.
18) ?
Year: 19??
Directed by:
Cast:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://www.momii.com/zatoichi/
Comment: Zatoichi is playing go.
19) ?
Year: 19??
Directed by:
Cast:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://www.momii.com/zatoichi/
Comment: Zato-ichi was a character in a number of
Japanese samurai films and he was called "the blind
swordsman". In one film, he is taken to speak to the
local lord, who is playing Go with his adviser. During
the conversation, the lord's chief swordsman
demonstrates his skill with the blade, always just
missing Zato-ichi by inches or perhaps millimetres.
Then Zato-ichi draws his own sword and makes a stroke
or two, but nothing appears to happen.
As he is getting up to go out he "accidentally" knocks
against the board with the butt end of the sheathed
sword. One leg of the goban then falls away and the
board tilts over, spilling all the stones onto the
floor.
20) Little Buddha (It. Il piccolo budda)
Year: 1993
Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Roucheng Ling, Bridget Fonda
Produced by: Jeremy Thomas
Original music by: Ryuchi Sakamoto
Cinematography by: Vittorio Storaro
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In one scene a Goban can be seen.
21) Brotherhood of the Rose
Year: 1989
Directed by: Marvin J. Chomsky
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Connie Selleca, David Cole
Produced by: Marvin J. Chomsky
Original music by: Laurence Rosenthal
Cinematography by: James Bartle
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: A thriller. In a short scene the main character (Robert Mitchum)
is sitting in front of a Go board with stones on it.
22) Sex and Zen
Year: 1992
Directed by: Michael Mak
Cast: Lawrence Ng
Produced by: Virginia Lok
Original music by: Chan Wing Leung
Cinematography by: Peter Ngor
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: A Go board can sometimes be seen.
Television
A) Navarro (it. Il commissario navarro)
Year: 1989
Directed by:
Cast: Roger Hanin, Sam Karmann
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In one episode a Go player kills all others to
win a tournament
B) JAG (it. JAG - Avvocati militari)
Year: 1995
Directed by:
Cast: David James Elliott, Catherine Bell, John M. Jackson
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: The main character plays with a South American
drug or arms dealer. However, they play "in" the
squares (sic).
C) La Femme Nikita
Year: 1997
Directed by: Various
Cast: Peta Wilson, Roy Dupuis
Produced by: Jay Firestone
Original music by: Sean Callery
Cinematography by: Danny Nowak
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In one episode it is explained how Go is very
popular among their super spy group. They show a Go
board that uses Triangular (Yuck) stone and the board
is a glass see through table with black lines painted
on it. Really weird.
D) Diagnosis Murder
Year: 1993
Directed by: Various
Cast: Dick van Dyke, Barry van dyke, Victoria Rowell
Produced by: Jacqueline Blain
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: Starring Dick van Dyke. In this episode [maybe
Jan 1999??] Dyke is entrusted to protect one of his
patients from an assasin [and Go player]. The good
doctor [Dyke] learns how to play Go so he can "get
into the mind" of this would-be assassin and save his
patient. After a few days of study...he finally plays
the Go master/assassin [who is caucasion, by the way]
and conceeds..." I'll never master this game, but I
have learned a few things about you by the way you
play it."
E) Ally McBeal
Year: 1997
Directed by: Various
Cast: Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith,
Produced by: Robert Breech
Original music by: Danny Lux
Cinematography by: Billy Dickson
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: There is a scene of two characters playing Go.
The cool thing was that it wasn't just a "background"
scene, the scene starts with a birds-eye view of the
game.
F) Marco Polo
Year: 1982
Directed by: Giuliano Montaldo
Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Mario Adorf, Anne Bancroft
Produced by: Vincenzo Labella
Original music by: Ennio Morricone
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/
Comment: In a scene in the imperial palace you see a go board
in the distance.
Films on / about Go
1) Go (Japanese embassy)
Year: 1960 (circa)
Directed by:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source:
Comment: An educational film about Go, quite old but
still worthwhile to see
2) Go basics (Ing foundation)
Year:
Directed by:
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Comment:
3) Go more than a game
Year:
Directed by:
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Source:
Comment: Made by Chip Taylor.
4) Le jeux de Go (The game of Go)
Year: 1990 (circa)
Directed by:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source:
Comment: t's made by Fred Donzet and lasts 14 minutes.
Anime
A) ?
Year:
Directed by:
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Original music by:
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Source:
Comment: In a scene one of the female characters speaks
with her instructor who is playing alone on what seems
as a traditional goban. But on the side there is an
electronic device, so perhaps the goban is a computer
and he is playing against it?
B) Dragon Ball
Year: 1985
Directed by: Akira Toriyama
Produced by:
Original music by: Shunsuke Kikuchi
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/Title?%22Dragonball%22+(1985)
Comment: Scenes with Go
C) Dr.Slump (Arale)
Year: 1997
Directed by: Akira Toriyama
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/Title?%22Doctor+Slump%22+(1997)
Comment: Scenes with Go
D) Ranma
Year: 1989
Directed by: Rumiko Takahashi
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source: http://us.imdb.com/Title?%22Ranma+1/2%22+(1989)
Comment: Scenes with Go
Advertising / Commercials
1) ?
Year: 199?
Directed by:
Produced by:
Original music by:
Cinematography by:
Source:
Comment: A Chinese spot of a liquor, in which after drinking the main
character plays a move to show "spirit".
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