From Oscar-winning animation house Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away Grave of the Fireflies The Wind Rises) and directed by Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (Grave of The Fireflies) comes the spellbinding and visionary tour de force The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Visually inspired by Eastern brush painting this haunting story is based on the 10th century Japanese folktale ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’. Nominated for an Academy Award the film is another superb addition to Ghibli’s well-loved catalogue its unique animation style will appeal to all existing Ghibli fans and new audiences alike.
Yasuharu Hasebe, The Stray Cat Rock series stars Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Blind Woman's Curse) who with these five films began her reign as the badass action queen of the era. In these five tales of rebellious youth she stars alongside the gorgeous Bunjaku Han (Love Letter) and Tatsuya Fuji (In the Realm of the Senses). In Delinquent Girl Boss, the girl gang go up against criminal organisation the Seiyu Group, where following a fixed boxing match blood is shed and friendships are tested. In Wild Jumbo, Kaji and the gang get involved in a kidnapping and the robbery of a religious organization. In Sex Hunter Kaji's girl gang go up against The Eagles, a group led by Fuji where sex and violence erupt over the treatment of half-breeds'. In Machine Animal gang rivalry is once again the focus with two gangs pursuing some LSD pushers looking to move a big score. The series swansong, Beat'71, sees Kaji framed and sent to prison by her boyfriend's father and with the help of some hippies she strives to be re-united. Directed by genre veterans Yasuharu Hasebe (Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song) and Toshiya Fujita (Lady Snowblood) the films feature a psychedelic mix of girl gangs, bikers, sex, drugs and rock and roll with plenty of ass-kicking to boot, all captured in a delirious mash up of pop aesthetics including split screens, freeze frames, injections of colour, frenetic editing and dizzying angles, making these films a riotous joy from beginning to end. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS High Definition Blu-ray⢠(1080p) presentations of all five films in the Stray Cat Rock series Original uncompressed PCM Mono audio Optional English subtitles Interview with Yasuharu Hasebe director of Delinquent Girl Boss, Sex Hunter and Machine Animal Interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji, star of all five films Interview with actor Yoshio Harada, star of Beat '71 Original Trailers Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork choices
From Oscar-winning animation house Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away Grave of the Fireflies The Wind Rises) and directed by Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (Grave of The Fireflies) comes the spellbinding and visionary tour de force The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Visually inspired by Eastern brush painting this haunting story is based on the 10th century Japanese folktale ‘The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’. Nominated for an Academy Award the film is another superb addition to Ghibli’s well-loved catalogue its unique animation style will appeal to all existing Ghibli fans and new audiences alike. Collector's Edition includes DVD version
NEW BATTLES WITHOUT HOUNOUR AND HUMANITY: THE COMPLETE TRILOGY New Battles Without Honour and Humanity New Battles Without Honour and Humanity: The Boss's Head New Battles Without Honour and Humanity: Last Days of the Boss In the early 1970s Kinji Fukasaku's five-film Battles Without Honour and Humanity series was a massive hit in Japan and kicked off a boom in realistic modern yakuza films based on true stories. Although Fukasaku had intended to end the series Toei Studio convinced him to return to the director's chair for this unconnected follow-up trilogy of films each starring Battles leading man Bunta Sugawara and telling separate but fictional stories about the yakuza in different locations in Japan. In the first film Bunta Sugawara is Miyoshi a low-level assassin of the Yamamori gang who is sent to jail after a bungled hit. While in stir family member Aoki (Lone Wolf and Cub's Tomisaburo Wakayama) attempts to seize power from the boss and Miyoshi finds himself stuck between the two factions with no honourable way out. In the second entry The Boss's Head Sugawara is Kuroda an itinerant gambler who steps in when a hit by drug-addicted assassin Kusunoki (Tampopo's Tsutomu Yamazaki) goes wrong and takes the fall on behalf of the Owada family but when the gang fails to make good on financial promises to him Kuroda targets the family bosses with a ruthless vengeance. And in Last Days of the Boss Sugawara plays Nozaki a labourer who swears allegiance to a sympathetic crime boss only to find himself elected his successor after the boss is murdered. Restrained by a gang alliance that forbids retributions against high-level members Nozaki forms a plot to exact revenge on his rivals but a suspicious relationship with his own sister (Chieko Matsubara from Outlaw: Gangster VIP) taints his relationship with his fellow gang members. Making their English-language home video debut in this limited edition set the New Battles Without Honour and Humanity films are important links between the first half of Fukasaku's career and his later exploration of other genres. Each one is also a top-notch crime action thriller: hard-boiled entertaining and distinguished by Fukasaku's directorial genius funky musical scores by composer Toshiaki Tsushima and the onscreen power of Toei's greatest yakuza movie stars. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS: High Definition digital transfers of all three films High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations Original uncompressed mono audio New optional English subtitle translation for all three films Beyond the Films: New Battles Without Honour and Humanity a new video appreciation by Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane New Stories New Battles and Closing Stories two new interviews with screenwriter Koji Takada about his work on the second and third films in the trilogy Original theatrical trailers for all three films Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist Illustrated collector's book featuring new writing on the films the yakuza genre and Fukasaku's career by Stephen Sarrazin Tom Mes Hayley Scanlon Chris D. and Marc Walkow
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...
Explosive Japanese cool hits the retail DVD market in the shape of Eureka Video's 'Street Mobster'. Internationally acclaimed guru director Kinji Fukasaku the highly distinguished exponent of ultra violence with a purpose. Street mobster Isamu Okita likes fighting and girls and is just out of prison for killing a rival in a bath-house. On release he finds things have changed: old gangs no longer have the power they once enjoyed. So he teams up with Kizaki an aspiring gangster who suggests he revive his old gang to take on existing mobs and claim their territory.
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