"Actor: Taiji Tonoyama"

• ONIBABA (Masters of Cinema) (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (25/02/2013) from £13.35   |  Saving you £6.64 (49.74%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Kaneto Shindo, one of Japan's most prolific directors, received his biggest international success with the release of Onibaba (The Demoness) in 1964. Its depiction of violence and graphic sexuality was unprecedented at the time of release. Shindo managed - through his own production company Kindai Eiga Kyokai - to bypass the strict, self-regulated Japanese film industry and pave the way for such films as Yasuzo Masumura's Mojuu (1969) and Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses (1976). Onibaba (or Onibabaa, in its alternate spelling) is set during a brutal period in history, a Japan ravaged by civil war between rivaling shogunates. Weary from combat, samurai are drawn towards the seven-foot high susuki grass fields to hide and rest themselves, whereupon they are ambushed and murdered by a ruthless mother (Nobuko Otowa) and daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) team. The women throw the samurai bodies into a pit, and barter their armour and weapons for food. When Hachi (Kei Sato), a neighbour returning from the wars, brings bad news, he threatens the women's partnership. Erotically charged and steeped in the symbolism and superstition of its Buddhist and Shinto roots, Kaneto Shindo's Onibaba is in part a modern parable on consumerism, a study of the destructiveness of sexual desire and - filmed within a claustrophobic sea of grass - one of the most striking and unique films of Japan's last half-century, winning Kiyomi Kuroda the Blue Ribbon Award for Cinematography in 1965. The memorably frenetic drumming soundtrack was scored by long-time Shindo collaborator Hikaru Hayashi. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Onibaba for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK. Special Features: Gorgeous New 1080p HD Transfer Full-length Director's Audio Commentary by Director Kaneto Shindo and the Stars of the Film, Kei Sato, and Jitsuko Yoshimura Video Introduction by Alex Cox 8mm Footage (40-minutes) Shot on Location by Lead Actor Kei Sato Optional English Subtitles Original Theatrical Trailer Production Stills and Promotional Art Gallery 36-Page Booklet with a New Essay by Doug Cummings - An English translation of the original short Buddhist fable that inspired the film and a statement from Writer/Director Kaneto Shindo about why he made Onibaba

• Vengeance is Mine | Blu Ray | (13/02/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the true story of Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) and his murderous rampage which sparked a 78-day nationwide manhunt, Shhei Imamura’s disturbing gem 'Vengeance Is Mine' won every major award in Japan on the year of its release. Both seducing and repelling with its unusual story and grisly humour, mamura uncovers a seedy underbelly of civilised Japanese society. Unfolding through multiple flashbacks, Ogata delivers a career-defining performance as a day-labourer and smalltime con-artist who, after killing two of his co-workers, embarks on a psychopathic spree of rape and murder. Eluding the police and public, Japan’s infamous “King of Criminals” passes himself off as a Kyoto University professor, only to become entangled with an innkeeper and her perverted mother. Five years in the making, 'Vengeance Is Mine' transcends the imitations of run-of-the-mill criminal studies by presenting a portrait of a killer imbued with a poignant, tragic banality. Special Features: New 1080p Blu-ray encode in the film’s original aspect ratio New and improved optional English subtitle translation Audio commentary by noted critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns Video introduction by film director Alex Cox Original Japanese theatrical teaser and trailer (Blu-ray only) 56-Page Booklet featuring a 1994 interview with Imamura by Tichi Nakata, original promotional material, and a director’s statement

• The Realm Of The Senses | DVD | (21/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Probably the most famous erotic film ever made, Oshima's masterpiece yields a fascinating conundrum: it's sexually explicit, but is it finally more about the mind than the body.

• Drunken Angel | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Post-war Japan anatomised in the combative relationship between an alcoholic doctor (Takeshi Shimura) and his patient (Toshiro Mifune) a wounded young gangster. This is the film that was considered to be Kurosawa's breakthrough movie illuminating themes that would go on to dominate his succeeding work. 'Drunken Angel' also marked his first - of many - collaborations with Toshiro Mifune here playing the tubercular Yakuza hoodlum.

• Violence at High Noon | DVD | (28/07/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of Oshima's most powerful and controversial films. Telling the brutal story of real-life rapist and serial murderer Eisuke (Kei Sato) and his relationship with his protective schoolteacher wife Matsuko (Akiko Koyama) and his only surviving victim Shino (Saeda Kawagushi) Oshima takes the format of the 'real-life crime' drama and uses it as a canvas to lay bare the lost idealism and decay in postwar Japan. Although the action takes place in a seemingly idyllic rural setting Oshima's portrait of humanity is as dark violent and uncompromising as the urban wastes and hellish ghettos of Naked Youth and The Sun's Burial. Never presenting Eisuke as anything less than a monster Oshima goes further to suggest how such deviancy and (specifically male) violence reflects an amoral and corrupt modern society. Part thriller part reaction against the austere Japanese cinematic tradition with avant-garde experimentation and grim social commentary Violence At High Noon is fresh and as fearsome today as when it was first released.

• The Naked Island (Masters of Cinema) (1960) | DVD | (20/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Kaneto Shindo's Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid sun-baked island. Daily chores captured as a series of cyclical events result in a hypnotising moving and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era. With hardly any dialogue Shindo combines the stark 'Scope' cinematography of Kiyoshi Kuroda with the memorable score of his constant collaborator Hikaru Hayashi to make a unique cinematic document. Fil

• NAKED ISLAND, The (Masters of Cinema) (BLU-RAY) | Blu Ray | (24/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Filmed on the virtually deserted Setonaikai archipelago in south-west Japan The Naked Island [Hadaka no shima] was made - in the words of its director - as a 'cinematic poem' to try and capture the life of human beings struggling like ants against the forces of nature. Kaneto Shindô (Onibaba Kuroneko) made the film with his own production company Kindaï Eiga Kyôkai who were facing financial ruin at the time. Using one-tenth of the average budget Shindô took one last impassioned risk to make this film. With his small crew they relocated to an inn on the island of Mihari where for two months in early 1960 they would make what they considered to be their last film. The Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid sun-baked island. Daily chores captured as a series of cyclical events result in a hypnotising moving and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era. With hardly any dialogue Shindô combines the stark 'Scope cinematography of Kiyoshi Kuroda with the memorable score of his constant collaborator Hikaru Hayashi to make a unique cinematic document. Shindô who had worked with both Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa shot to international fame in 1952 with the astounding Children of Hiroshima. Eight years later the BAFTA-nominated The Naked Island won the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Film Festival (where Luchino Visconti was a jury member). It is now considered to be one of Shindô’s major works and its success saved his film company from bankruptcy. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to release The Naked Island for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK. Special Features: Newly restored 1080p transfer in its 2.35:1 original aspect ratio Full-length audio commentary by director Kaneto Shindô and composer Hikaru Hayashi Video introduction by Alex Cox Optional English subtitles 24-page booklet with an essay by Acquarello and a reprint of Joan Mellen’s interview with Shindô from Voices from the Japanese Cinema

• Vengeance Is Mine | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the true story of Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) and his murderous rampage which sparked a 78-day nationwide manhunt Shohei Imamura's disturbing gem won every major award in Japan on the year of its release. Both seducing and repelling with its unusual story and grisly humour Imamura uncovers a seedy underbelly of civilised Japanese society. Unfolding through multiple flashbacks Ogata delivers a career-defining performance as a day-labourer and smalltime con-artist who after

• 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.