"Actor: Sanae Nakahara"

• WOLVES, PIGS AND MEN | Blu Ray | (26/08/2024) from £17.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Ferocious, dynamic yakuza thriller from Kinji Fukasaku Eureka Entertainment to release WOLVES, PIGS AND MEN; Kinji Fukasaku's blood-soaked yakuza masterpiece. Presented on Blu-ray from a new 2K restoration. The first print run of 2000 copies only will exclusively feature a limited edition O-card slipcase. A standout yakuza film directed by a master of the genre in Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honour and Humanity), Wolves, Pigs and Men is an uncompromising treatise on brutality and brotherhood starring Rentarô Mikuni (Harakiri), Kin'ya Kitaôji (Battles Without Honour and Humanity: Final Episode) and the inimitable Ken Takakura (Abashiri Prison). Kuroki (Mikuni), Jirô (Takakura) and Sabu (Kitaôji) are three brothers born into poverty. Kuroki, the eldest, finds an escape from his squalid beginnings by turning to organised crime - and soon both Jirô and Sabu have followed him into the yakuza lifestyle. But none of the brothers see eye to eye, each of them showing more loyalty to their criminal comrades than to their siblings. Following a stint in prison, Jirô convinces Sabu to help him pull off a potentially lucrative heist, leading to a series of betrayals and horrifically violent acts that will test the bonds of blood to their breaking point. Blending the staple themes of the Japanese gangster film with narrative and aesthetic qualities borrowed from the French New Wave and American film noir, Wolves, Pigs and Men stands as one of the finest yakuza movies of the 1960s. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from a new restoration of the original film elements by Toei. 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a restoration of the original film elements supplied by Toei | Original Japanese audio track (uncompressed LPCM mono) | Audio commentary track by Jasper Sharp | Interview with screenwriter Jun'ya Satô | Interview with producer Tatsu Yoshida | Interview with Kinji Fukasaku's biographer, Sadao Yamane | Trailer | PLUS: A collector's booklet featuring new writing by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom

• I, the Executioner (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (29/01/2024) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A man brutally murders a woman after forcing her to write the names of four others. As the murders pile up, the police investigate the links between the victims and how they may be connected to the suicide of a young boy in the same building. Directed by Tai Kato (By a Man's Face You Shall Know Him), a former apprentice of Akira Kurosawa better known for his yakuza films, I, the Executioner is a pitch black neo noir that makes the serial killer the central character. Sensationally photographed with claustrophobic close ups, Kato's film evokes both Hitchcock's Psycho and the films of Nagisa Oshima, while also prefiguring the Italian giallo. Product Features LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES High-Definition digital transfer Uncompressed mono PCM audio Visual essay on Japanese serial killer films by Jim Harper Appreciation by filmmaker Kenta Fukasaku Trailer Newly translated English subtitles Reversible sleeve featuring original newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Tony Rayns and a new translation of archival writing on the film Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

• Lady Snowblood | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Serving as a source of inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill' ('Shurayuki Hime' herself Meiko Kaji even appears on the Vol.1 soundtrack!) these seminal Japanese gender-bending samurai movies directed by Toshiya Fujita are at heart a thrilling hack n' slash social satire of the strictures of the Edo-period male preserve of the samurai class... Lady Snowblood - Blizzard From The Netherworld: A band of ruthless criminals kidnap and brutalise a lone woman. Incarcerated the women survives only on her desire for revenge and purposefully gets herself pregnant so that her child will become an instrument of vengeance. Unfortunately the woman dies in childbirth and it is her daughter Yuki who is raised as an assassin knowing no family but only killing and revenge... Lady Snowblood 2 - Love Song Of Vengeance: Lady Snowblood ('Shurayuki Hime') is caught by the authorities and sentenced to death for her crimes of bloodthirsty vengeance on the behalf of her long deceased mother. However on her way to certain death at the end of a hangman's rope she is rescued by officers of the secret police who offer her freedom if she agrees a deadly and perilous mission to assassinate a band of revolutionaries...