"Actor: Hideaki Esumi"

• A Woman Called Abe Sade | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £6.73   |  Saving you £6.26 (48.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based upon a true story (more commonly known in Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of Senses) this well filmed well acted Japanese movie is as much a contribution to the infamous pink film genre as it is a fascinating tale of the wild and weird ways that sexual obsession leads to. Kaio as Abe Sada calls herself and her boss Kishi are drawn into an amorous affair and totally forget about the outside world. They stay in their hotel room and day-in day-out they spend their time in erotic games exploring all aspects of physical love and gradually going further and further until... The obsession is physically visible but no doubt is left that the real obsession takes place in the minds of the protagonists. A forgotten gem interesting provocative and highly recommendable.

• Tokyo Drifter | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Tokyo Drifter director Seijun Suzuki transforms the yakuza genre into a pop-art James Bond cartoon as directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The near-incomprehensible plot is negligible: hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari), a cool killer in dark shades who whistles his own theme song, discovers his own mob has betrayed his code of ethics and hits the road like a questing warrior, with not one but two mobs hot on his trail. In a world of shifting loyalties Tetsu is the last honourable man, a character who might have stepped out of a Jean-Pierre Melville film and into the delirious, colour-soaked landscape of this Vincent Minnelli musical-turned-gangster war zone. The twisting narrative takes Tetsu from deliriously gaudy nightclubs, where killers hide behind every pillar, to the beautiful snowy plains of northern Japan and back again, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Suzuki opens the widescreen production in stark, high-contrast black and white with isolated eruptions of colour which finally explode in a screen glowing with oversaturated hues, like a comic book come to life. His extreme stylisation, jarring narrative leaps and wild plot devices combine to create pulp fiction on acid, equal parts gangster parody and post-modern deconstruction. Mere description cannot capture the visceral effect of Suzuki's surreal cinematic fireworks. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• HB Films Notes on Cinea / Nikatsu | DVD | (06/12/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Titles Comprise: Abe Sada: Based on the true story of Sada Abe who is remembered in Japan for erotically asphyxiating her lover Kichiso Ashida on May 18 1936 and then cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her handbag. The story became a national sensation. Immortal Love: Chusei Sone's 'Immortal Love ' tells the story of a young man's passion and desire for the daughter of a wealthy Samurai. For social reasons the relationship cannot be condoned but such is the power of their attraction not even death can separate them. A Strange mysterious rare and bewitching piece of Japanese Cinema Immortal Love epitomizes the key characteristics of Kaiden the Japanese ghost story. Watcher in the Attic And Gate Of Flesh: The landlord of a boarding house in 1923 Tokyo is keen on spying on the bizarre close encounters taking place beneath his roof. One day he sees a prostitute killing a customer and decides he's found his soulmate.)

• A Woman Called Abe Sada | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  In May 1936 the body of a man is discovered in a Tokyo hotel. He had been strangled and emasculated. A week later a woman is found with a blood-stained knife and the severed member. This is the story of that woman - Abe Sada. The film is based on the same real life events as Nagisa Oshima's 'In The Realm of the Senses'. It was voted one of the best ten Japanese films of 1975.

• Street Of Joy | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  This slice of powerful eastern erotica takes place over one day in a house of pleasure in 1950's Tokyo on the eve of a new law which will ban prostitution. With an observant and perceptive eye director Kumashiro depicts the sometimes sad sometimes funny but always highly engaging lives of the girls who work on this 'street of joy'. This is one of the most successful of Nikkotsu's famous 'romantic porno' movies. Many critics consider it amongst the best Japanese films of the 1970's.