"Actor: Kôji Tsuruta"

• Japan Organized Crime Boss | Blu Ray | (18/11/2024) from £18.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Two major yakuza factions from Tokyo and Osaka battle over control of Yokohama, using local gangs as their proxies. Amid this violent struggle, Tsukamoto (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss), the head of one of the local gangs, is released from an eight-year prison sentence. The feud forces him into action, but he learns that those pulling the strings have political connections and that he is up against overwhelming forces. A predecessor to and blueprint for Fukasaku's Sympathy for the Underdog, Japan Organized Crime Boss also signals the director's first collaboration with Bunta Sugawara, the later star of Battles Without Honour and Humanity as well as with Tomisaburo Wakayama (The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and gangster-turned-movie star Noboru Ando (Eighteen Years in Prison). LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURESNew 4K restoration by Toei CompanyUncompressed mono PCM audioArchival interview with Kinji Fukasaku Interview with yakuza film historian Akihiko Ito (2024)Visual essay on Koji Tsuruta's collaborations with Fukasaku by yakuza cinema expert Nathan Stuart (2024)TrailerNewly improved English subtitle translationReversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time TomorrowLimited edition booklet featuring new writing by Stuart Galbraith IV and an archival review of the film

• Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (DVD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (18/05/2020) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Made the year before his career defining masterpiece, Tokyo Story, Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice is one of Yasujiro Ozu's most beautiful domestic sagas, a subtly piercing portrait of a marriage coming quietly undone. Secrets and deceptions strain the already tenuous relationship of a childless, middle aged couple, as the wife's city bred sophistication clashes with the husband's small town simplicity, and a generational sea change in the form of their headstrong, modern niece sweeps over their household. Ozu's expert grasp of family dynamics receives one of its most spirited treatments, with a wry, tender humour and an expansiveness that moves the action from the home, to the baseball stadiums and the shops of postwar Tokyo. Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition ***FIRST PRESSING ONLY*** Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film and full film credits Extras TBC

• Sympathy for the Underdog (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (24/06/2024) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Returning from a ten-year prison sentence, former gang leader Gunji (Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss) finds that his turf has been taken over by his former enemy, now a large crime syndicate with a legal corporate front. Looking for new opportunities, he gathers his old crew and heads for the island of Okinawa, a legal grey zone ripe for the taking. Made just before Kinji (Yakuza Graveyard) Fukasaku's 1970s streak of yakuza movie masterpieces, Sympathy for the Underdog is a key film in the development of this director's unique style and themes.LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES High-Definition digital transfer Uncompressed mono PCM audio Audio commentary by yakuza film expert Nathan Stuart (2024) Interview with Fukasaku biographer Olivier Hadouchi (2024) Visual essay on Okinawa on screen by film historian and author Aaron Gerow (2024) Trailer New and improved English subtitle translation Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Bastian Meiresonne and an archival review of the film

• The Bounty Hunter Trilogy | Blu Ray | (23/09/2024) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Before he made his name in Lone Wolf and Cub Tomisaburo Wakayama starred in this triptych of violent samurai spectacles that draw on James Bond and Spaghetti Westerns for inspiration yet feature the familiar style and blood-spattering action of the period. Wakayama stars as Doctor and spy-for-hire Shikoro Ichibei who in Shigehiro (The Streetfighter) Ozawa's Killer's Mission is hired to prevent the sale of firearms to a hostile Shogun. In Eiichi (13 Assassins) Kudo's follow-up, The Fort of Death, Ichibei is hired on a Seven Samurai-style mission to protect a village of farmers from a ruthless Lord. The final film sees Ozawa return for Eight Men to Kill, in which Ichibei is hired to recover a cache of stolen gold from the government's mine. Featuring an array of weapons and gadgets that would make Q proud with Ichibei supported by a band of helpers including fellow spies, ronin and female ninjas, the Bounty Hunter films deliver action thrills galore and deserve to sit alongside the celebrated action epics that followed. '[Kudo is] an extraordinary stylist .... To call him a skilled action director is to understate the power of his set-pieces.' 'Henry Sheehan Wakayama is incredible as the wily, brazen, and burly sword slinging samurai spy...If you only know Wakayama Tomisaburo by his more famous Ogami Itto role in the SIX LONE WOLF AND CUB films (1972-1974), you're in for a treat here. - Cool Ass CinemaBefore he made his name in Lone Wolf and Cub Tomisaburo Wakayama starred in this triptych of violent samurai spectacles that draw on James Bond and Spaghetti Westerns for inspiration yet feature the familiar style and blood-spattering action of the period. Wakayama stars as Doctor and spy-for-hire Shikoro Ichibei who in Shigehiro (The Streetfighter) Ozawa's Killer's Mission is hired to prevent the sale of firearms to a hostile Shogun. In Eiichi (13 Assassins) Kudo's follow-up, The Fort of Death, Ichibei is hired on a Seven Samurai-style mission to protect a village of farmers from a ruthless Lord. The final film sees Ozawa return for Eight Men to Kill, in which Ichibei is hired to recover a cache of stolen gold from the government's mine. Featuring an array of weapons and gadgets that would make Q proud with Ichibei supported by a band of helpers including fellow spies, ronin and female ninjas, the Bounty Hunter films deliver action thrills galore and deserve to sit alongside the celebrated action epics that followed. '[Kudo is] an extraordinary stylist .... To call him a skilled action director is to understate the power of his set-pieces.' 'Henry Sheehan Wakayama is incredible as the wily, brazen, and burly sword slinging samurai spy...If you only know Wakayama Tomisaburo by his more famous Ogami Itto role in the SIX LONE WOLF AND CUB films (1972-1974), you're in for a treat here. - Cool Ass Cinema

• The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (25/03/2024) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Big Time Gambling Boss | Blu Ray | (20/03/2023) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tokyo, 1934. Gang boss Arakawa is too ill and a successor must be named. The choice falls on Nakai, but being an outsider he refuses and suggests senior clansman Matsuda instead. But Matsuda is in jail and the elders won't wait for his release, so they appoint the younger and more malleable Ishido to take the reins. Clan honour and loyalties are severely tested when Matsuda is released, resulting in an increasingly violent internal strife.An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, (Lone Wolf and Cub, The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre. Paul Schrader called it the richest and most complex film of its type, while novelist Yukio Mishima hailed it as a masterpiece. Radiance Films is proud to present this crucial re-discovery for the first time ever on Blu-ray.Product FeaturesHigh Definition digital transfer of the filmUncompressed mono PCM audioVisual essay by genre expert Chris D on the film and its place within the period and genre (2022)Ninkyo 101: A masterclass with Mark Schilling, author of The Yakuza Movie Book (2022)Trailer

• Big Time Gambling Boss | Blu Ray | (02/01/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Tokyo, 1934. Gang boss Arakawa is too ill and a successor must be named. The choice falls on Nakai, but being an outsider he refuses and suggests senior clansman Matsuda instead. But Matsuda is in jail and the elders won't wait for his release, so they appoint the younger and more malleable Ishido to take the reins. Clan honour and loyalties are severely tested when Matsuda is released, resulting in an increasingly violent internal strife. An atmospheric tale of gangland intrigue written by Kazuo Kasahara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity) and starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, (Lone Wolf and Cub, The Bounty Hunter Trilogy) and genre legend Koji Tsuruta, Big Time Gambling Boss is one of the all-time classics of the yakuza genre. Paul Schrader called it the richest and most complex film of its type, while novelist Yukio Mishima hailed it as a masterpiece. Radiance Films is proud to present this crucial re-discovery for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Product Features High Definition digital transfer of the film Uncompressed mono PCM audio Visual essay by genre expert Chris D on the film and its place within the period and genre (2022) Ninkyo 101: A masterclass with Mark Schilling, author of The Yakuza Movie Book (2022) Trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Stuart Galbraith IV, and critic Hayley Scanlon Limited edition of 2000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings