"Director: Akio Jissoji"

• Akio Jissoji: The Buddhist Trilogy | Blu Ray | (19/08/2019) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Akio Jissôji created a rich and diverse body of work during his five decades in Japan s film and television industries. For some, he is best-known for his science-fiction: the 1960s TV series Ultraman and 1998 s box-office success Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. For others, it is his 1990s adaptations of horror and mystery novelist Edogawa Rampo, such as Watcher in the Attic and Murder on D Street. And then there are his New Wave films for the Art Theatre Guild, three of which This Transient Life, Mandara and Poem, forming The Buddhist Trilogy are collected here. Winner of the Golden Leopard award at the 1970 Locarno Film Festival, This Transient Life is among the Art Theatre Guild s most successful and most controversial productions. The film concerns a brother and sister from a rich family who defy the expectations placed on them: he has little interest in further education or his father s business, instead obsessing over Buddhist statues; she continually refuses a string of suitors and the prospect of marriage. Their closeness, and isolation, gives way to an incestuous relationship which, in turn, breeds disaster. Mandara, Jissôji s first colour feature, maintained the controversial subject matter, focussing on a cult who recruit through rape and hope to achieve true ecstasy through sexual release. Shot, as with all of Jissôji s Art Theatre Guild works, in a radically stylised manner, the film sits somewhere between the pinku genre and the fiercely experimental approach of his Japanese New Wave contemporaries. The final entry in the trilogy, Poem, returns to black and white and is centred on the austere existence of a young houseboy who becomes helplessly embroiled in the schemes of two brothers. Written by Toshirô Ishidô (screenwriter of Nagisa Ôshima s The Sun s Burial and Shôhei Imamura s Black Rain), who also penned This Transient Life and Mandala, Poem continues the trilogy s exploration of faith in a post-industrial world. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of This Transient Life, Mandara and Poem Original uncompressed LPCM mono 1.0 audio on all three films Newly translated optional English subtitles Introductions to all three films by David Desser, author of Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Scene-select commentaries on all three films by Desser Theatrical trailer for Mandara Theatrical trailer for Poem Limited edition packaging, fully illustrated by maarko phntm Illustrated 80-page perfect-bound collector s book featuring new writings on the film by Anton Bitel and Tom Mes

• Japanese Classics Of Horror And Fantasy | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A box set containing some of the best horror and fantasy films ever produced in Japan! Portrait Of Hell Created by premier Japanese novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa (creator of Roshomon) 'Portrait of Hell' is a mesmerising look into humans creating hell on earth in their own unique ways. Must be seen to be believed! Illusion Of Blood From Shiro Toyoda director of the nightmarish 'Portrait Of Hell' comes a chilling story of love betrayal and vengeance. Tatsuya Nakadai stars as the selfish samurai Iyemon who after the loss of his lord has been left impoverished. He become outraged that his father-in-law intends to sell his two daughter's into prostitution. It is not love but respectability that Iyemon desires... Tokyo The Last Megalopolis When Masakado was executed for crimes against humanity over a thousand years ago his malevolent spirit refused to die with him merely becoming dormant and waiting for the chance to rise again. To disturb it is to awaken a terrible vengeance on the city of Tokyo. The demonic psychic Kato attempts to revive the slumbering evil and use its energy to plunge the city into a hell on Earth. It is up to a lone spiritual warrior Keiko a descendant of Masakado to stop the maniacal Kato before the spirit is released and the ancient curse is unleashed upon the world. Princess From The Moon Toshiro Mifune stars in this enchanting film based on the traditional Japanese fairytale 'Kaguya' as the male half of a country couple who find a baby girl in the bamboo and raise her as their own until the truth is revealed when she is taken back...