Amongst the films of his that I'd recommend: Sonatine, which steals its climax from The Public Enemy (but then again, The Limey does much the same homage in one particular scene, and it really never gets old),

Hmm. That one's on the same DVD as Zatoichi, so maybe we will give it a try.

and Fireworks, which is almost indescribable.

You know that makes me really want to see it now . . .

(He also hosted the slapstick TV show Takeshi's Castle, surreally redubbed as MXE: Most Extreme Elimination, and recently remade as Wipeout.)

. . . I saw about five minutes of that at a friend's house in college. I thought I was experiencing hallucinations.