On July 28, 2026, IFC is releasing the 4K Ultra HD for Tornado, a period actioner directed by John Maclean, who is best known for 2015’s Slow West.
Tornado stars Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction), Jack Lowden (Dunkirk), Takehiro Hira (Shōgun) and Koki (Ox-Head Village).
The film, set in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain, follows Tornado (Koki), a young and determined woman who finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s (Hira) traveling puppet samurai show crosses paths with a gang of ruthless criminals led by Sugarman (Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Lowden). In an attempt to create a new life for herself, Tornado seizes the opportunity to take matters into her own hands and steal the gold from their most recent heist (via Deadline).
Features:
- Audio commentary with writer/director John Maclean and director of photography Robbie Ryan
- New video interview with John Maclean
- Making of Tornado – Super 8mm film
- Booklet with new writing by film critic Josh Slater-Williams
🔥 Footnote: If you’re wondering who lead star Koki is, you’re not alone. Koki, born Mitsuki Kimura, is a Japanese actress, model, and songwriter (her father is megastar Takuya Kimura and her mother is singer Kudo Shizuka) who has been steadily making a name for herself in film and fashion. She first broke out as a teenager in the modeling world, working with major international brands before shifting into acting. Since then, she’s appeared in 2022’s Ox-Head Village (from Ju-on director, Takashi Shimizu), 2024’s Touch, and the aforementioned Tornado. Last year, she picked up the Rising Star award at the Asian Film Awards, a nod to how quickly she’s becoming one of the more talked about young talents in Asian cinema.
Tornado is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. Watch the Trailer below:
Slow West was great, so I’m expecting good things from this one.
I was interested in Slow West, but I think it went over my head. It was like a combination of what Hal Hartley and Alejandro Jodorowski would do.
SPOILER
It was also a bit much when the main character realizes the woman he loves is with someone else, and then salt on a shelf literally pours into his open wound. As Ralph Wiggum would say, it symbolized obviousness.
That’s a fantastic description! Totally accurate. And I can see why obvious symbolism would rub someone the wrong way, but the whole thing was so unusual that I didn’t mind at all.
Thank you. I suppose Slow West was meant to be one of those movies that rubs certain people the wrong way, and anybody who “got it” was automatically one of the manner-of-speaking cool kids.
Sometimes I go for absurdist and surreal entertainment, but sometimes it goes too off the deep end for me. Tornado appears to be more of a linear narrative, so we shall see how it turns out.
I went in expecting to love Tornado but left the cinema really disappointed! I returned home and consoled myself with my Zatoichi box set which made it all better again.
Hmmm… Sounds like the common complaint is for the lack of any interesting action pieces, not so much the film itself.
No, it wasn’t just the lack of action pieces, l was disappointed with the whole film, characters and story.
I’m a big fan of John Maclean as well, l’ve enjoyed everything he has been involved with including The Beta Band. Like l said l really expected to just Love this film but sadly that was not the case.
Even if you like this film l don’t believe that it would stand up to repeated viewings.
Thanks for elaborating. Good to know. I’ll give it a chance if it conveniently comes on one of my streaming subs.
I’d like to hear your thoughts
This looks interesting.
The trailer is now out.
https://youtu.be/JCW7OoSp0bI
from what i recall, there’s very little action in the movie, it’s just a regular western.