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Release: April 13, 2021

$7.99

Description

March 11, 2011 - 2:46 PM - Japan's Tohoku Region: at a magnitude of 9. 0, the strongest earthquake in the country's history strikes, ?triggering a huge tsunami and carnage that would end up injuring thousands of people and displacing many more. It mercilessly engulfs the?Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, causing a crippling station blackout. Unable to be cooled, the nuclear?reactors quickly turn into hydrogen bombs at the brink of explosion. If the power plant is abandoned, Japan's destruction is assured. ?Facing a life or death situation, the power plant workers known as the "Fukushima 50", including shift supervisor Izaki and plant manager?Yoshida, remain on the site until the bitter end. As the world holds it's breath, the Fukushima 50 fight for their hometown, their families, and?the future of Japan.

Release: February 8, 2011

$7.99

Description

The lyrical, profoundly moving STILL WALKING is the most personal work to date from contemporary Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (Maborosi, After Life, Nobody Knows). Fashioned as a tribute to his parents, the film depicts one day in the life of the Yokoyamas, gathered together for a celebratory ritual that only gradually makes itself clear. Rather than focus on big dramatic moments, Kore-eda relies on simple gestures and domestic routines (especially cooking) to evoke a family�s entire life, its deep regrets and its daily joys. Featuring vivid, heartrending performances and a gentle naturalism that harks back to the director�s earlier, documentary work, STILL WALKING is an extraordinary portrayal of the ties that bind us.

Release: December 8, 2020

$7.99

Description

Throughout the 1980s, Shohei Imamura (The Pornographers, Profound Desires of the Gods), a leading figure of the Japanese New Wave era of the 1960s, cemented his international reputation as one of the most important directors of his generation with a series of films that all competed at Cannes to great critical acclaim. This exclusive box set from Arrow Academy presents restored versions of three late career classics from the legendary filmmaker. Based on an ancient folktale, The Ballad of Narayama (1983) was the first of two works from the director to win the prestigious Cannes Palme d Or. Imamura s magnum opus depicts the members of an extended farming family eking out their existence in the mountainous north of Japan against the backdrop of the changing seasons before village lore decrees they make the sacrifice of abandoning their aged mother on the top of a nearby mountain when she reaches her seventieth year. Making its HD debut, Zegen (1987) takes a satirical look at Japan s prewar colonial expansion through the unscrupulous eyes of its flesh-peddler antihero as he establishes a prostitution enterprise across Southeast Asia. Finally, the harrowing Black Rain (1989) details the precarious existence of a household of atomic bomb survivors as, five years after being caught in the blast of Hiroshima, they struggle to find a husband for their 25-year-old niece. These three works epitomize the director s almost documentary style of filmmaking, exposing the vulgar yet vibrant and instinctive underbelly of Japanese society through a sympathetic focus on peasants, prostitutes, criminal lowlife and other marginalized figures to explore the schism between the country s timeless premodern traditions and the modern face it projects to the world. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all three films Original lossless Japanese PCM 1.0 mono soundtracks Optional English subtitles Brand new audio commentaries on all three films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp Brand new, in-depth appreciations of all three films by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns Alternate color ending to Black Rain, shot by Imamura but removed from the film shortly before its release Archival interviews on Black Rain with actress Yoshiko Tanaka and assistant director Takashi Miike Multiple trailers and image galleries Original Japanese press kits for The Ballad of Narayama and Black Rain (BD-ROM content) Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Tom Mes Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella

Release: December 8, 2020

$7.99

Description

Throughout the 1980s, Shohei Imamura (The Pornographers, Profound Desires of the Gods), a leading figure of the Japanese New Wave era of the 1960s, cemented his international reputation as one of the most important directors of his generation with a series of films that all competed at Cannes to great critical acclaim. This exclusive box set from Arrow Academy presents restored versions of three late career classics from the legendary filmmaker. Based on an ancient folktale, The Ballad of Narayama (1983) was the first of two works from the director to win the prestigious Cannes Palme d Or. Imamura s magnum opus depicts the members of an extended farming family eking out their existence in the mountainous north of Japan against the backdrop of the changing seasons before village lore decrees they make the sacrifice of abandoning their aged mother on the top of a nearby mountain when she reaches her seventieth year. Making its HD debut, Zegen (1987) takes a satirical look at Japan s prewar colonial expansion through the unscrupulous eyes of its flesh-peddler antihero as he establishes a prostitution enterprise across Southeast Asia. Finally, the harrowing Black Rain (1989) details the precarious existence of a household of atomic bomb survivors as, five years after being caught in the blast of Hiroshima, they struggle to find a husband for their 25-year-old niece. These three works epitomize the director s almost documentary style of filmmaking, exposing the vulgar yet vibrant and instinctive underbelly of Japanese society through a sympathetic focus on peasants, prostitutes, criminal lowlife and other marginalized figures to explore the schism between the country s timeless premodern traditions and the modern face it projects to the world. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all three films Original lossless Japanese PCM 1.0 mono soundtracks Optional English subtitles Brand new audio commentaries on all three films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp Brand new, in-depth appreciations of all three films by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns Alternate color ending to Black Rain, shot by Imamura but removed from the film shortly before its release Archival interviews on Black Rain with actress Yoshiko Tanaka and assistant director Takashi Miike Multiple trailers and image galleries Original Japanese press kits for The Ballad of Narayama and Black Rain (BD-ROM content) Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Tom Mes Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella

Release: December 8, 2020

$7.99

Description

Throughout the 1980s, Shohei Imamura (The Pornographers, Profound Desires of the Gods), a leading figure of the Japanese New Wave era of the 1960s, cemented his international reputation as one of the most important directors of his generation with a series of films that all competed at Cannes to great critical acclaim. This exclusive box set from Arrow Academy presents restored versions of three late career classics from the legendary filmmaker. Based on an ancient folktale, The Ballad of Narayama (1983) was the first of two works from the director to win the prestigious Cannes Palme d Or. Imamura s magnum opus depicts the members of an extended farming family eking out their existence in the mountainous north of Japan against the backdrop of the changing seasons before village lore decrees they make the sacrifice of abandoning their aged mother on the top of a nearby mountain when she reaches her seventieth year. Making its HD debut, Zegen (1987) takes a satirical look at Japan s prewar colonial expansion through the unscrupulous eyes of its flesh-peddler antihero as he establishes a prostitution enterprise across Southeast Asia. Finally, the harrowing Black Rain (1989) details the precarious existence of a household of atomic bomb survivors as, five years after being caught in the blast of Hiroshima, they struggle to find a husband for their 25-year-old niece. These three works epitomize the director s almost documentary style of filmmaking, exposing the vulgar yet vibrant and instinctive underbelly of Japanese society through a sympathetic focus on peasants, prostitutes, criminal lowlife and other marginalized figures to explore the schism between the country s timeless premodern traditions and the modern face it projects to the world. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all three films Original lossless Japanese PCM 1.0 mono soundtracks Optional English subtitles Brand new audio commentaries on all three films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp Brand new, in-depth appreciations of all three films by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns Alternate color ending to Black Rain, shot by Imamura but removed from the film shortly before its release Archival interviews on Black Rain with actress Yoshiko Tanaka and assistant director Takashi Miike Multiple trailers and image galleries Original Japanese press kits for The Ballad of Narayama and Black Rain (BD-ROM content) Limited edition 60-page booklet containing new writing by Tom Mes Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella

Release: August 26, 2014

$6.99

Description

A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (MISHIMA's Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura (THE PORNOGRAPHERS) turns this fact-based story-about the seventy-eight-day killing spree of a remorseless man from a devoutly Catholic family-into a cold, perverse, and at times diabolically funny examination of the primitive coexisting with the modern. More than just a true crime tale, VENGEANCE IS MINE bares humanity's snarling id.