Japan Video//May&June 2021
May 9 - Giants and Toys (Arrow Video)
Per Arrow: “Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, this lurid adaptation of the award-winning 1957 novel by Ken Kaiko is considered a landmark in Japanese film history and a key work by Yasuzo Masumura (Blind Beast, Red Angel), one of the country’s most highly acclaimed directors of his generation. Its absurdist and acidly cynical take on the excesses of the media and advertising worlds recalls the work of Frank Tashlin (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), as it presents a garish vision of a bold new postwar Japan where traditional company values come head-to-head with American-style consumer capitalism.”
Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema scholar Irene González-López. Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns. In the Realm of the Publicists, a brand new visual essay by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson.
May 31 - One Cut of the Dead: Hollywood Edition (Third Window Films)
Per Third Window Films: The spin-off film ONE CUT OF THE DEAD: IN HOLLYWOOD boasts more zealous zombies and the former cast beefed up with international characters. As in the original, the plot centers on the Higurashi family, the starlet Chinatsu, a pretty-boy actor, a cameraman with a bad back, a tomboy assistant camera girl and the usual bumbling underlings. Besides a couple of easy-going producers, the film has added the new characters Joe and Tommy. And there are more zombies than ever!!”
Limited to 2000 copies. Also includes the original One Cut of the Dead.
Jun 8 - The Human Condition (Criterion Collection)
Criterion is finally upgrading their DVD release of Kobayashi’s trilogy.
Excerpt from a 1993 Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, conducted by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda. Interview from 2009 with actor Tatsuya Nakadai. Appreciation of Kobayashi and The Human Condition from 2009 featuring Shinoda. Trailers.
For comparison, the Arrow release has an introduction to the film by critic Philip Kemp and selected-scene commentary by Philip Kemp.
Jun 21 - Irezumi (Arrow Video)
Per Arrow: “Drawn from the pen of one of Japan’s foremost writers of the 20th century, Junichiro Tanizaki (A Fool’s Love, The Makioka Sisters), Irezumi is a stylish tale of lust, betrayal and revenge directed by Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Blind Beast). Available for the first time outside of Japan in a new 4K restoration, Irezumi sports some of Japanese cinema’s most respected talent of its day both in front of and behind the camera. The bewitching cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu) captures the sensual atmosphere of the period setting, while the script by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Kuroneko) lends a modern twist to this feverish meditation on obsession and the act of creation.”
Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema scholar David Desser. Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns. Out of the Darkness, a brand new visual essay by Asian cinema scholar Daisuke Miyao
Jun 28 - Tezuka’s Barbara (Third Window Films)
Per Third Window Films: “One of Osamu Tezuka’s most adult and sexually-charged works, Barbara (1973-74) was originally serialized as a follow-up to Ayako (1972-73) in Big Comic from July 1973 to May 1974.
Barbara is an adult-orientated fantasy tale filled with love and the occult from Osamu Tezuka’s reimagining of “The Tales of Hoffmann”. Its story deals with the erotic and bizarre experiences of a famous novelist called Yosuke Mikura whose life is tossed upside down by a mysterious girl named “Barbara”.
The controversial story, dealing with various taboos such as forbidden love, mystery, art, Eros, scandal and occultism, was said to have been impossible to be cinematized at the time of its original publication, but was made into a live-action film for the 90th Anniversary of Osamu Tezuka’s birth by his son Macoto Tezka (The Legend of the Stardust Brothers)”
Behind the Scenes (30 mins). Interview with director Macoto Tezka (30 mins). Interview with cinematographer Christopher Doyle (12 mins). Interview with actor Goro Inagaki (15 mins). Interview with actress Fumi Nikaido (7 mins). Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending (6 mins).
Jun 29 - Katsuhiro Otomo Presents Memories (Discotek Media)
Memories features 3 short stories directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. The blu-ray will have a new English dub for those into that thing. Discotek also states a “newly revised translation” but is not clear if that applies to subtitles or just the new dub.