"Actor: Kenji Kobayashi"

• Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters | Blu Ray | (11/06/2018) from £32.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Paul Schrader's dazzlingly unconventional biopic, with a celebrated score by Philip Glass. In this visually stunning, collagelike portrait of the acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Vengeance Is Mine's KEN OGATA), PAUL SCHRADER (American Gigolo) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted the impossible task of finding harmony among self, art, and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day, when he famously committed public seppuku, the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as by gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by JOHN BAILEY, exquisite sets and costumes by EIKO ISHIOKA, and unforgettable, highly influential score by PHILIP GLASS, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a tribute to its subject and a bold, investigative work of art in its own right. Features: DIRECTORAPPROVED BLURAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored 4K digital transfer of the director's cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTSHD Master Audio soundtrack Two optional English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider Audio commentary from 2008 featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul Interviews from 2007 and 2008 with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka Interviews from 2008 with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie Audio interview from 2008 with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55minute documentary from 1985 about the author Trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film's censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka's sets

• Yakuza Graveyard | DVD | (19/08/2002) from £8.47   |  Saving you £7.52 (88.78%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Yakuza Graveyard was one of the stylish, morally ambivalent movies with which director Kinji Fukasaki revolutionised the Japanese gangster genre in the 1970s. These days more famous for his brilliant teen exploitation film Battle Royale, Fukasaki has a proven flair for unsettlingly violent scenes in which the camera dips and twirls as his characters throw each other down stairs and across rooms. An honest cop (Tetsuya Watari) is stationed in Osaka and finds himself caught up in a nightmare world where his superiors launder money and carry out hits for several rival gangs. His sense of honour--already supporting the drunken, promiscuous widow of a man he killed--ties him ever closer to the principal heavy of the gang his superiors are gradually destroying and to the man's half-sister, with whom he falls passionately in love. A torrid interlude as waves beat on the shore--waves that somehow manage to be something other than a cliché--is just a break in the gloomy spiral of degradation and death. This is in some ways as corny as anything, in other ways a minor classic. On the DVD: Yakuza Graveyard is presented in 16:9 widescreen and comes with a short text essay explaining the importance of the film in the development of Fukasaki's career and the yakuza genre. --Roz Kaveney

• Paganini - Heart And Virtuosity - 51st International Violin Competition | DVD | (31/12/2007) from £18.49   |  Saving you £1.50 (8.11%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A journey in the fascinating world of a famous international violin competition, where heart and technique are needed to succeed. Follow the participants step by step till the exciting final stage. Hear the advice given to the young musicians by world-renowned violinists such as Gyoergy Pauk and Massimo Quarta, who won the competition in the past and are now members of the jury.