Kubi

Set in 1582, Kubi centres on the warlord Oda Nobunaga as he moves to bring a fragmented Japan under his control, fighting clan after clan while rival lords vie for power. His vassal Araki Murashige turns against him, and then vanishes. Nobunaga offers his succession to whoever brings back the traitor's head, and a contest of scheming, betrayal and violence follows among the men around him.

Takeshi Kitano directs, his fifteenth film as director in chronological order, following Outrage Coda and preceding Broken Rage, and he shares the screenplay with Takehiko Minato and produces with Satoshi Fukushima. Kitano also acts, playing Hashiba Hideyoshi; the large cast includes Hidetoshi Nishijima, Ryo Kase as Nobunaga, Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori and Shido Nakamura, with 56 credited performers overall. The film draws on a real 1582 incident in Kyoto.

Released in late 2023, the production carried a budget of about 11 million dollars and returned roughly 6 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.4 from about 1,500 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9 from a much smaller 45 votes. A critics' rating of 6.8 from 12 reviews sits closer to the audience scores than the larger IMDb sample does, indicating a moderately received historical drama.