"Actor: Kazuko Yoshiyuki"

• Premonition | DVD | (26/06/2006) from £6.89   |  Saving you £8.10 (117.56%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Hideki Satomi (Mikami) his wife Ayaka (Sakai) and their young daughter Nana (Inoue) are driving blissfully through the countryside when the workaholic Satomi stops at a roadside phone booth to send an e-mail from his laptop. In the booth he discovers a smudged scrap of newsprint with Nana's picture on it -- and an article describing her death in a traffic accident. Three years later Satomi has not recovered from his failure to prevent the accident while his marriage has also ended

• Kikujiro | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £9.43   |  Saving you £6.56 (41.00%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) is a nine-year-old boy who is desperate to locate his long-lost biological mother. Abandoned by all of his friends for the summer holidays and with no one to accompany him on his quest Masao is left in the care of layabout yakuza goon Kikujiro (Kitano) who doesn't like children at all least of all demanding nine-year-old boys. Over time man and boy develop a fondness for one another embarking on an adventure of sorts through the Japanese countryside to find the long-lost mother... Japanese actor/writer/director Takeshi Kitano is perhaps best known to international audiences for his violent and stylish crime flicks Violent Cop and Sonatine. For this film he takes a change of pace to write direct and star in a comic road movie about a magical friendship between a middle-aged man and a little boy.

• Empire of Passion - Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (17/10/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  In feudal Japan a young soldier begins an intense affair with an older married woman. Driven by passion, obsession and jealousy they decide to violently murder her husband and dispose of the body in a nearby well. Claiming her husband is working away from home the couple carry on their affair in secret. Three years later her husband returns from the dead to haunt the illicit couple, feeding off their guilt and pushing them deeper into the dark realms of insanity.With films such as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Gohatto and the infamous In The Realm Of The Senses, director Nagisa Oshima is one of the most celebrated and controversial figures in Japanese cinema. Made in 1978, Empire Of Passion is an atmospheric, unsettling and unforgettable experience. A huge influence on contemporary Asian horror it has lost none of its beguiling power.

• Lady Snowblood 2 - Love Song Of Vengeance | DVD | (02/02/2003) from £14.98   |  Saving you £5.01 (33.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Love Song of Vengeance, Shurayuki-hime--a.k.a. Lady Snowblood, "Yuki" for short (played by Meiko Kaji)--continues her advertures in the female samurai saga that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. In Lady Snowblood, Yuki avenged her family by slaying the four criminals that killed her father, raped her mother, and predestined her to the life of a justice-seeking assassin. Love Song of Vengeance picks up where Lady Snowblood let off, not so much as a sequel like Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, but a continuation of the lone assassin's adventures (similar to Zaitochi). Sentenced to death for her crimes of murder, Yuki is given pardon by Kikui, a secret government police agent. In return for her freedom, Kikui wants Yuki to assassinate anarchist Ransui and obtain a secret document he is hiding. While carrying out her orders, Yuki discovers the document in question is actually a letter incriminating agent Kikui. Always one to be on the side of justice, Lady Snowblood switches sides, joining anarchist Rasui to face off, expose, and destroy the crooked agent. The blood may not flow like geysers and there may be a lot less samurai action than in the first installment. However, Love Song of Vengeance is well-paced, nicely shot, and a well thought-out continuation of the heroine's adventures. Sadly, they ended with this installment. --Rob Bracco

• Empire Of Passion | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £32.37   |  Saving you £-12.38 (-61.90%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Very much a companion piece to Nagisa Oshima's classic In The Realm Of The Senses Empire of Passion is part ghost story part love story - a tale of murder guilt and revenge laced with a provocative air of eroticism. Set in rural Japan at the end of the 19th Century the plot is based on the true story of a housewife Seki (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) who embarks on a torrid affair with a younger man Toyoji (Tatsuya Fuji) a soldier recently returned from the war. Following a passionate enc

• Oshima Boxset - The Realm of the Senses & Empire of Passion | DVD | (02/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Realm of the Senses: Ai No Corrida is perhaps the most notorious erotic film in cinema history having been banned at the 1976 New York Film Festival and denied a video release in the UK until 2000. Based on fact the film depicts the relationship between an ex- prostitute who becomes a domestic servant and her master who have a mutual sexual appetite which is almost boundless. The climax to the film is legendary and has become one of the most talked about scenes in movie history. Empire of Passion: Oshima deservedly won the Best Director award at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival for this thrilling ghost story set in late 19th century rural Japan. A housewife embarks on a torrid affair with a younger man and they decide that they must kill her elderly husband in order to protect their sordid secret. Having committed the murder they dispose of the body and explain his absence to the village by claiming he had departed for Tokyo to find work but three years after his death the ghost of the dead husband starts appearing in the village threatening to expose the illicit passion