"Actor: Susumu Terajima"

• Hana-Bi | DVD | (19/02/2001) from £13.59   |  Saving you £6.40 (47.09%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The ideal starter movie for those who wish to familiarise themselves with the work of the paradoxical Japanese auteur, Hana-Bi (the word means "fireworks" in Japanese) is an echt example of "Beat"'s Takeshi Kitano's distinctive brand of existential crime thrillers. Like Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine or his LA-set Brother, Hana-Bi juxtaposes shocking bursts of violence with reflective moments of lyricism, setting up a slap-caress-slap rhythm that's as disquieting as it is addictive. Kitano himself plays weary Tokyo cop Nishi, an impassive-faced detective in hock to yakuza mobsters, toughened by a career in violence (at one point he takes out an attacker's eye with a chopstick, an assault so swiftly edited one barely has time to register it). Nishi's Achilles-heel is his love for his wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto) who is dying of cancer, following their late daughter to the grave. When Nishi leaves a stakeout to attend to her in hospital, a colleague, Horibe (Ren Osugi) is paralysed in the ensuing shootout. Nishi, guilt-stricken, goes on the run with Miyuki, taking her to beauty spots to enjoy simple pleasures like kite-flying and picnics before she dies, although the yakuza are never far behind. Meanwhile, Horibe takes up painting, and discovers in the process a calming new vocation (the na&239;ve, disturbing and strangely beautiful images are by Kitano himself, painted after he had his own near-fatal experience in a motorcycle accident). The cumulative effect is a profoundly moving and enigmatic movie, one that discreetly withholds many of the narrative crutches--backstory, motivation--you would expect from a conventional Hollywood movie with the same story. It's not surprising Kitano is so drawn to characters teeming with contradictions, given that his own career seems so bi-polar on paper: he started out a television presenting clown, and his move into glowering policiers represented an image volte-face as surprising to Japanese audiences as it would be if Dale Winton had started making Scorsese-style gangster movies. His comic sensibility shines through in spots in Hana-Bi, even more so in the broad comedy Kikujiro. Considered by many critics Kitano's best film, Hana-Bi^'s power is augmented by Hideo Yamamoto's lapidary cinematography, and Jo Hisaishi's lush, string-laden score. --Leslie Felperin

• Hana-bi (Fireworks) | Blu Ray | (11/01/2016) from £17.05   |  Saving you £2.94 (17.24%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Nishi leaves the police in the face of harrowing personal and professional difficulties. Spiraling into depression, he makes questionable decisions.

• After Life (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (17/08/2020) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  If you had to choose the single best memory of your life, what would it be? Hirokazu Koreeda poses the question in this lyrical yet down-to-earth fantasy set in a posthumous limbo. In just one week, the newly deceased must choose one memory that will constitute their own private heaven. With humour and tenderness, Koreeda challenges the viewer to reflect on the experiences that most make life worth living. Extras: Hirokazu Koreeda screen talk (2013, 47 min) Interview with Arata (2003, 16 min) Deleted Scenes (1998, 17 min) Feature-length Commentary with broadcaster Tara Judah (2019)

• Dead Or Alive | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £5.49   |  Saving you £9.50 (63.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The director of Dead or Alive, Takashi Miike, made his name on the international scene with Audition, a chilling psychological thriller that builds from a quiet start towards a prolonged torture sequence almost too unbearable to watch. But such deliberate pacing isn't typical of Miike, whose movies often assault the viewer with an onslaught of slam-bang action that makes John Woo look like Eric Rohmer. Dead or Alive, his most successful cops-vs-yakuza thriller to date, kicks off with six non-stop minutes of machine gun-paced violence, sex and slaughter, all set to a pounding heavy-metal beat. Thereafter things calm down a little, though not much. Given Miike's penchant for murky, livid-toned visuals and skewed camera angles, it's not always too easy to work out exactly who's doing what to whom, but the general outline's clear enough. The Tokyo underworld is being torn apart by a turf war between the yakuza gangs and the invading Chinese triads. Ambitious yakuza member Ryuichi isn't above playing both sides off against each other in his bid for power, while police detective Jojima, himself none too scrupulous in his methods, is out to destroy the gangs. Into this conventional plot framework Miike piles enough warped characters and bizarre, twisted happenings to fuel half-a-dozen Tarantino movies, while cheerfully borrowing--and inflating--key moments from such hard-boiled gangster-noirs as The Big Heat and Kiss Me Deadly. One character deep-fries his own hand, a stripper is drowned in a paddling-pool filled with her own excrement, and the literally apocalyptic finale, the showdown to end all showdowns, will leave you gasping. The appallingly prolific Miike, who regularly makes about five movies a year, has since directed two sequels--the first only three months after the original.--Philip Kemp

• Sonatine | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £14.93   |  Saving you £-1.95 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Takeshi is Murakawa an established and ruthless Yakuza sent outside his usual turf to intervene in a gang war on the tropical island of Okinawa. Things go badly wrong and he and his gang get caught in the crossfire. Forced to retreat to a seaside hideaway they kill time and fool around on the beach but then their enemies start picking them off one by one. Murakawa decides to go on the offensive for a final and breathtaking showdown... Contrasting lyrical scenes with shocking burs

• Ichi The Killer | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Explore your fear Welcome to a world where violence is a virtue and depravity is a way of life. This is the underside of Shinjuku and the Home of Kakihara a sadistic Yakuaza killer. He relentlessly tears apart the underworld searching for the man who killed his boss. The mastermind behind the plot is Jijii an ex-cop bent on turning the gangsters of Japan against one another. His trump card is a physically powerful child-like lunatic who is constantly on the verge of snapping. This madman is Ichi the Killer and between him and Kakihara the streets will run red with blood.

• Katsuhito Ishii Collection | Blu Ray | (17/07/2023) from £54.97   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Ichi The Killer | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £15.94   |  Saving you £4.05 (25.41%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with 100 million yen. His loyal gang members led by Kakihara start a search but their aggressive methods worry the other yakuza gangs. Kakihara's most scary counterpart is the mysterious Ichi a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret...

• Brother | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £11.07   |  Saving you £-3.09 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Written, directed by and starring Takeshi Kitano, Brother is the story of a displaced yakuza gangster (Takeshi Kitano), whose crime family is annihilated in a Tokyo gang war, and who flies to LA in search of his brother.

• Ichi The Killer | DVD | (09/11/2009) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-9.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Ichi The Killer

• Ichi the Killer - 3 Disc Special Collectors Box | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A bumper box set featuring the live action feature film and the anime spin-off adventure. Ichi The Killer Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with 100 million yen. His loyal gang members led by Kakihara start a search but their aggressive methods worry the other yakuza gangs. Kakihara's most scary counterpart is the mysterious Ichi a psychopathic killer with a dark childhood secret... Ichi The Killer (Anime): Bullied at school by day and psychologically tormented by th

• A Scene At The Sea | DVD | (11/05/2009) from £25.63   |  Saving you £-5.64 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Scene At The Sea

• Gangster: The Yards, Brother, Ghost Dog | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The Yards:'The Yards' is a tense thriller set in the vast New York City subway yards. After serving time in prison for taking the fall for a group of friends Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) just wants to get his life back on track. So he goes to the one place he thinks he'll be safe: home. There he takes a job with his highly connected and influential uncle Frank (James Caan) and is reunited with his long-time friend Willie Gutierez (Joaquin Phoenix) and Willie's girlfriend Erica (Charlize Theron). But in the yards where his uncle now pulls the strings safe is not how they do business. Unwittingly he's drawn into a world of sabotage high stakes payoffs and murder. And the secret he discovers will make him the target of the most ruthless family in the city: his own. Now in the name of justice he'll have to do everything in his power to bring them down. Brother:In Japan the sworn brotherhood of the Yakuza is described as being 'thicker than the blood of kindred brothers'. With his life under threat disgraced Yakuza hard man Yamamoto escapes to Los Angeles in search of his half-brother Ken a small-time drug dealer. Unable to speak the language and confused by his surrounding Yamamoto teams up with Ken and his friend and fellow gang-member Denny. Soon Yamamoto finds himself back in the old routine. His ruthless efficiency in terrorising and killing rival gang members shocks even the blood hardened Americans and before long Yamamoto's gang is strong enough to join forces with a rival Japanese crime lord called Shirase. Ghost Dog:Ghost Dog lives above the world alongside a flock of birds in a homemade shack on the roof of an abandoned building. Guided by the words of an ancient Samurai text Ghost Dog is a professional killer able to dissolve into the night and move throughout the city unnoticed. When Ghost Dog's code is dangerously betrayed by the dysfunctional mafia family that occasionally employs him he must find a way to defend himself without breaking the code of the samurai.

• Isola | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  Inspired by a short tale from Ugetsu Monogatori an 18th century collection of supernatural stories Isola: Persona 13 is part of the Japanese horror boom of the late 1990s. Yukari is a telepath who takes a break from her psychological study to travel and help survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. In the disaster's aftermath she meets Chihiro (Yu Kurosawa granddaughter of legendary director Akira Kurosawa) but the girl acts differently each time Yukari encounters her. Meanwhile a

• Dead Or Alive Trilogy Box Set | DVD | (28/05/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Dead Or Alive (2000): Welcome to Shinjuku - city of darkness and corruption and the setting for this stunning movie by Japanese director Takashi Miike. Here rapid-fire shoot-outs and twisted acts of perverse violence provide the backdrop for a vicious war between the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triads and make for one of the most dizzying and spectacular openings ever committed to film. Ryuichi is a gangster who is driven by a desire for power and the memory of his deprived childhood. His younger brother Toji has just returned from studying in the U.S. Between them they are about to learn some harsh lessons about life on the wrong side of the law. Meanwhile Detective Jojima finds himself drawn deeper into the world of the Yakuza as he continues to make dirty deals he hopes will help raise the money to pay for his daughter's life-saving operation. Uncompromising and fearlessly original Takashi's 'Dead Or Alive' takes a mind-bending journey into the dark and twisted world of ruthless gangsters dealers strippers and hookers... Dead Or Alive 2: Birds (2000): With Dead or Alive the extraordinarily gifted and prolific Miike Takashi created one of the most extreme and visually stunning films of his career. With Dead or Alive 2 he pushes the boundaries further than ever before. When Otamoko (Sho Aikawa) is hired to assassinate a ruthless gangster he is surprised to find a mysterious gunman make the hit before he gets the chance to pull the trigger. Deciding to take the money for the job he failed to complete Otamoko flees the city with Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triads hot on his trail. Hiding out on the island where he grew up he runs into the man who killed his target; an old friend named Sawada (Riki Takeuchi). Together they plan to use their shooting skills to rid the earth of evil and set out to hit the gang bosses and drug dealers who make the world a worse place. Dead Or Alive: Final (2002): Set in a post apocalyptic Yokohama where the population is kept under rigid control by a half crazed mayor Riki Takeuchi is a hard boiled cop and Show Aikawa a mellowed out drifter that hooks up with a gang of rebels. When the gang kidnap Takeuchi's son the wheels are set in motion that leads to an inevitable showdown.

• Ichi The Killer | Blu Ray | (19/10/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Welcome to a world where violence is a virtue and depravity is a way of life. This is the underside of Shinjuku and the Home of Kakihara a sadistic Yakuaza killer. He relentlessly tears apart the underworld searching for the man who killed his boss. The mastermind behind the plot is Jijii an ex-cop bent on turning the gangsters of Japan against one another. His trump card is a physically powerful child-like lunatic who is constantly on the verge of snapping. This madman is Ichi the Killer and between him and Kakihara the streets will run red with blood.