Jun Kunimura makes us pay attention to men who say little. We value the authority and restraint he brings to supporting roles, though the international films that made him widely recognisable have not always given him much to do.
Fi1m perspective
In The Boy and the Heron (2023), Jun Kunimura voices a Parakeet King with an enormous opinion of himself. His subjects are human-sized birds in aprons, carrying knives and forks. It is an apt part for an actor frequently cast as bosses, bureaucrats and other men accustomed to being obeyed. Here, a familiar casting choice helps the joke without needing the actor's face.
His first starring role was in Gaki Teikoku (1981), before work in Hong Kong productions and his first American film, Black Rain (1989). In John Woo's Hard Boiled (1992), he plays a machine gunman in the teahouse. Our enthusiasm for that film comes from Woo's precise staging, reckless humour and the chemistry between the leads. It is worth distinguishing the pleasure of finding Kunimura in a good film from the pleasure of seeing him given substantial work.
Takashi Miike's Audition (1999) gives him a key supporting part as Yasuhisa Yoshikawa; Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) made him more widely known as Boss Tanaka. Hollywood has often given him supporting parts or cameos. For a better sense of what he can do with little dialogue, there is the Stranger in The Wailing (2016). Expression and physical presence do much of the work there. We value that restraint, though repeated casting as officials, gangsters and mysterious outsiders risks making the type more familiar than the individual performance.
Hayao Miyazaki surrounds the Parakeet King with more creatures and explanations than the film can comfortably hold. That overcrowding is the caveat in our warm recommendation for The Boy and the Heron, not a complaint about Kunimura. His part is well chosen, even when the speeches slow the film down. For a fuller introduction to the actor, start with The Wailing.
Biography
Jun Kunimura (also credited as Kunimura Jun) is a Japanese actor. Born Yoshihiro Yonemura on 16 November 1955 in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, he has appeared in films and television in Japan, the United States, Hong Kong and South Korea since the late 1970s.
He is known for roles including Boss Tanaka in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Yasuhisa Yoshikawa in Audition (2000), the Stranger in The Wailing (2016) — for which he received Best Supporting Actor and Popular Star awards at the Blue Dragon Film Awards — Masao Zaizen in Shin Godzilla (2016), and The Parakeet King (voice) in The Boy and the Heron (2023). He has also worked with directors including Quentin Tarantino, Takashi Miike and Na Hong-jin.
