"Actor: Mori"

• Verdi: La Traviata -- Venice | DVD | (10/04/2000) from £14.19   |  Saving you £3.80 (26.78%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This performance of Verdi's La Traviata comes from the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice in 1992. The intimacy and social realism of the story make it one of the most dramatically successful of all operas, while the score contains some of the finest music of the 19th century. Despite the strong production values and well-staged party scenes, any production of La Traviata stands or falls on the performers in the vital roles of the lovers Violetta and Alfredo, and that of Alfredo's father, Giorgio. Here Giorgio Zancanaro is suitably decent and morally serious as Giorgio, and Neil Shicoff makes a strong impression as an ordinary man suddenly overwhelmed by love. The drawback is that--and there is no polite way to say this--Edita Gruberova is not only too old to play the sparkling young society girl, Violetta, but she is a much better singer than she is an actress. She comes into her own in the tragic last act, but is otherwise awkward and uncomfortable when the part requires her to demonstrate confidence and sensuality. This remains a production with considerable merits, but overall a more dramatically, not to say visually, compelling version is that originally broadcast world-wide live from Paris in 2000 starring Eteri Gvazava and José Cura.On the DVD: The production is presented at 4:3 with above average picture quality for a live opera DVD, and with excellent PCM stereo sound. The disc and booklet both offer a synopsis, but other than the option to watch with or without subtitles there are no special features. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Rashomon | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Rashomon's most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favourite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh

• Punch Line Complete Season 1 Collection | Blu Ray | (29/08/2016) from £11.98   |  Saving you £30.00 (300.30%)   |  RRP £39.99

  If he sees underwear, humanity will be destroyed!? An original anime series from the noitamin A block, PUNCH LINE centers on Yuta Iridatsu, a high school student, with a peculiar habit. When he sees a girl's panties, he gets so excited he faints! After a certain incident with a ghost cat, his soul gets separated from his body. Using his special powers, Yuta watches the daily lives of the inhabitants of an apartment and sometimes plays tricks on them. Eventually, Yuta decides to unlock the secrets to why Earth will be destroyed and tries to save it!

• Torchwood - Series 2 - Complete | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £21.00   |  Saving you £13.99 (66.62%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Separate from the government outside the police beyond the United Nations: Torchwood sets its own rules. With fearsome new aliens compelling new storylines and amazing guest stars the second series will take the close-knit Torchwood team through dare-devil action temptation heartache... and a life changing event for one of the team. The high-octane new episodes take Torchwood on journeys to the 51st Century and World War I. The team battle a rogue Time Agent investigate alien sleeper cells save a stranded creature from horrific abuse and come face to face with an entity that may well be Death itself. Joined for three episodes by Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones in Doctor Who) and with guest appearances from Richard Briers (Monarch of the Glen The Good Life) Alan Dale (Ugly Betty The OC) and James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Smallville) Captain Jack will have his work cut out as the stakes get higher and his team are stretched further than ever before.

• Absolutely Fabulous - Series 1 To 4 Box Set | DVD | (25/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £54.99

  Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and became an instant hit. Originally a sketch on the French and Saunders Show, Jennifer Saunders saw its potential and created one of the most ground-breaking and debauched comedies on British TV. Centred around the hip London fashion scene the series follows Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), two women who refuse to grow up and are constantly on a mission to lose weight, gorging themselves with cocaine and/or champagne, endlessly throwing parties (or throwing up at parties), and sporting outrageous outfits, which were the height of fashion at the time--honestly sweetie! The superb comic performances reinvented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of Britain's top female comedians. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever. On the DVD: Absolutely Fabulous DVD box set comes beautifully packaged in mock velvet, with each series individually packaged inside. The original sketch from the French and Saunders Show and the pilot episode, "Mirrorball", offers all you need to understand the show's origins The commentary with Jennifer Saunders and John Ploughman on Series 4 is refreshing, owning up to the mistakes they made and the jokes that didn't work. The outtakes are funnier than the usual Hollywood blips. The 4:3 transfer is standard for a television comedy. --Nikki Disney

• Bubblegum Crisis - Vol. 2 | DVD | (08/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second instalment of the popular Japanese anime, Bubblegum Crisis 2 contains the fourth, fifth and sixth episodes of the eight original videos. In a devastated high-tech Tokyo of a Blade Runner-ish future, four beautiful women disguised by their heavily armed exoskeletons protect society from killer androids and from an ambitious corporation that tries to take over the world, while also having complicated personal lives. The cute teenager NeNe always has a crush on someone or other; flighty Linna has to fit her superhero life into a busy social schedule; and Priss has her career as a rock singer as well as a habit of feeling emotional. Only the austere Sylia is entirely in control of her life--so much so that she needs the others for a bit of productive chaos. In the episodes included they deal with a mysterious car that is riding down motorcyclists, help a tragic android who is vampirising citizens to feed a damaged friend and cope with attempts by an evil conspirator to frame them for mass mayhem. The stories rely rather too heavily on extended sequences of fast bikes and car racing, or mechanised bodysuits and big robots tearing each other apart, but the plotting can be subtle and the emotional scenes tense and fraught. Someone trying to get a sense of anime's strengths and weaknesses could do a lot worse than start here. On the DVD: the disc is presented in a visual aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and has a very loud Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack which presents every screech of tortured metal vehemently and every pounding anthem in the slightly pompous score. There are no extras apart from a very extended documentation of the credits. --Roz Kaveney

• Laurin | DVD | (08/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Laurin a pretty nine year old girl lives with her young mother in a remote ivy-clad cottage in the middle of a forest. After her mother dies in mysterious circumstances Laurin is plagued by visions of a murderer who haunts the local castle and she sets out to defeat him...

• The Idiot | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Akira Kurosawa's The Idiot is his only adaptation of a Fyodor Dostoevsky novel and was a cherished project on which it is claimed he expended more effort than on any other film. A darkly ambitious exploration of the depths of human emotion it combines the talents of two of the greatest Japanese actors of their generation - Toshiro Mifune and Setsuko Hara. The Idiot is perhaps the most comprehensive of all of Kurosawa's works a tone which is heightened b

• Kites | DVD | (17/01/2011) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-4.24 (-26.50%)   |  RRP £15.99

  KITES centres around two immigrants - one from India and one from Mexico - both navigating life in North America in pursuit of their dreams.

• Samurai X - Trust | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Nineteenth century Japan: a land torn by warfare and rebellion where small bands of soldiers seek to overthrow the tyrannical Tokugawa Shogunate. Kenshin is a young orphan whose fighting skills where honed by the great swordsman Hiko. But Kenshin's soul is embattled just like the battlefields of Japan his hopes for a new world peace at odds with his life of blood and killing. His world is thrown into further confusion by the arrival of a mysterious woman named Tomoe. Her kindness

• Samurai X - Betrayal | DVD | (17/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  After the great fire in Edo Kenshin and Tomoe are sent into exile on a small farm. They experience peace and quiet for the first time in their turbulent lives. The rebellion wounded after the events in Edo is slowly rebuilding far away from Kenshin and Tomoe. Their only link to the outside world is Lizuka who brings them dire news from the city.

• Rocco And His Brothers | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  ""Brilliant and overwhelming... Among the classics of the screen."" -The New York Times In sweeping epic style the award-winning Rocco & His Brothers tells the story of four poor Italian brothers and their mother who leave their country home and move to bustling Milan with hopes of improving their bitter fortune. The family is thrown into chaos when two of the brothers are torn apart by their love for the same woman and their struggles to succeed in a viciously competitive world. Fr

• Kokoro (The Heart) | DVD | (23/02/2009) from £23.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Brimful with brooding psychological torment Kokoro is vintage Kon Ichikawa (An Actor's Revenge The Burmese Harp Tokyo Olympiad). Based on a novel by celebrated Japanese author Natsume Soseki the director foregrounds its themes of individual isolation and social estrangement most notably in a central protagonist stricken by existential demons and stranded by changing times. Why does Nobuchi (Masayuki Mori) visit the grave of his old friend Kaji (Tatsuya Mihashi)? Why is he so secretive with his wife Shizu (Michiyo Aratama)? And how does Nobuchi's friendship with the young student Hioki (Shoji Yasui) - for whom the older man acts as reluctant sensei - relate to his time with Kaji? As the Meiji Era draws to a close with the emperor's death and the suicide of General Nogi a fateful tale of tainted love failed friendship and redemptive honour unravels with tragic consequences. Though sometimes overlooked in the director's impressive oeuvre Ichikawa's profoundly beautiful rendering of Soseki's novel is a considerable work of cinema in its own right. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Kokoro for home viewing in the UK for the very first time.

• Mikio Naruse Collection | DVD | (26/11/2007) from £149.90   |  Saving you £-104.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Titles Comprise: 1. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Onna ga kaidan o agaru toki) (1960) 2. Floating Clouds (Ukigumo) (1955) 3. Late Chrysanthemums (Bangiku) (1958)

• Naked Lies | DVD | (08/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An undercover agent (Tweed) is sent on a covert operation in Mexico. She has a gun virtually no back-up and no way out. She uses all her weapons including her brains and body against a playboy counterfeiter and his sadistic henchman...

• Ugetsu Monogatari / Oyu-Sama (Masters Of Cinema) | DVD | (21/04/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Ugetsu Monogatar: Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari [Tales of the Rain and Moon] is a highly acclaimed masterwork of Japanese cinema. Based on a pair of 18th century ghost stories by Ueda Akinari. Amidst the pandemonium of civil war potter Genjuro (Mori Masayuki) and samurai-aspirant Tobei (Ozawa Sakae) set out with their wives in search of wealth and military glory respectively. Two parallel tales ensue when the men are lured from their wives: Genjuro by the ghostly charm of Lady Wakasa (Kyo Machiko); Tobei by the dream of military glory. Famed for its meticulously orchestrated long takes and its subtle blending of realistic period reconstruction and lyrical supernaturalism Ugetsu Monogatari is an intensely poetic tragedy that consistently features on polls of the best films ever made. Oyu-Sama:Another literary adaptation - this time of a story by one of Japan's modern literary masters novelist Tanizaki Jun'ichiro - Mizoguchi's Oyu-sama [Miss Oyu] is a poignant and contemplative tale of two sisters and their ill-fated relationship with the same man. At the core is Mizoguchi-regular Tanaka Kinuyo (who also stars in Ugetsu Monogatari) as the eponymous Oyu the older sister who allows marital customs to dictate the lives of those caught up in this complex love triangle. Continuing the director's fascination with the relationship between affairs of the heart and the social mores that shape and sometimes destroy them Mizoguchi transforms his subject matter into the realm of the transcendental through the use of long mobile shots - an approach that reaches its apotheosis in a take of almost six minutes - infused with humanity and emotion.

• Mr Arkadin | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Guy Van Stratten a convicted American smuggler leaves an Italian prison term with one asset a dying man's words about the wealthy mysterious and elusive Gregory Arkadin. Guy sets out in search of the enigmatic Arkadin and starts to scrutinize him through his lovely daughter Raina. To thwart Van Stratten's investigation Arkadin claims amnesia about his early life and sends Guy off to investigate his ""unknown"" past. Guy's quest spans many continents and unearths eccentric character

• Ugetsu Monogatari | Blu Ray | (23/04/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari [Tales of the Rain and Moon, aka Ugetsu] is a highly acclaimed masterwork of Japanese cinema. Based on a pair of 18th century ghost stories by Ueda Akinari, the film's release continued Mizoguchi's introduction to the West, where it was nominated for an Oscar and won the the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion award (for Best Direction). In 16th century Japan, amidst the pandemonium of civil war, potter Genjuro (Mori Masayuki) and samurai-aspirant Tobei (Ozawa Sakae) set out with their wives in search of wealth and military glory respectively. Two parallel tales ensue when the men are lured from their wives: Genjuro by the ghostly charm of Lady Wakasa (Kyo Machiko); Tobei by the dream of military glory. Famed for its meticulously orchestrated long takes and its subtle blending of realistic period reconstruction and lyrical supernaturalism, Ugetsu Monogatari is an intensely poetic tragedy that consistently features on polls of the best films ever made.

• The Lady Of Musashino | DVD | (26/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Mizoguchi's dissection of the Japanese reaction to the aftermath of war as a fastidiously moral woman faces upheaval with the changing times brought about by the new post-Imperial period...

• Lennon Naked | DVD | (28/06/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This TV movie focuses on the key years 1967 - 1971 with John Lennon's break from the Beatles his troubled relationship with his father his all consuming romance with Yoko Ono and his eventual move to America. In this exciting and powerful film Christopher Eccleston's portrayal of Lennon so spookily inhabiting the great man will give audiences a huge nostalgia trip whilst telling a story which until now hasn't been shown on screen. In Supporting roles are Naoko Mori (Torchwood) Chris Fairbank (Only Fools and Horses) Rory Kinnear (Margaret/Finchley First Men in the Moon) Claudie Blakley (Larkrise Cranford) and Andrew Scott (John Adams). The film is directed by BAFTA award winning director/producer Edmund Coulthard who recently received multiple awards (Cannes Sydney Bafta IFTA) as producer of Hunger a film about the hunger-striker Bobby Sands and a BAFTA as director of Soundproof and written by Robert Jones known for Party Animals and No1 Ladies Detective Agency.