RELEASE DATE: February 5th, 2013 Criterion presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Keisuke Kinoshita’s The Ballad of Narayama. This haunting, kabuki-inflected version of a Japanese folk legend is set in a remote mountain village, where food is scarce and tradition dictates that citizens who have reached their seventieth year must be carried to the summit of Mount Narayama and left there to die. Watch the trailer.

RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2013 Vanguard Cinema presents the DVD for Ryotaro Muramatsu’s Hey Japanese! (aka Hey Japanese! Do You Believe Peace, Love and Understanding? 2008 or Heyjapa!). According to Nippon Cinema, this movie is a black comedy interweaving 6 concurrent stories occuring in a suburban area on the outskirts of Tokyo. Check out the trailer.

RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2013 Asian Media Rights presents the DVD for My Sassy Girl: Director’s Cut. A chance meeting with a drunk girl (Ji-hyun Jun) on the train puts Gyun-woo (Tae-hyun Cha) in a masochistic relationship he never wanted. After all these years, this beloved Korean comedy is finally available (officially) in America. Watch the trailer. Read our reviews.

RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2013 Asian Media Rights presents the DVD for Atsushi Yamamura’s Bullet Explosion. Get ready for some hard-hitting Yakuza action – at the mercy of their violent lifestyles, two brothers are determined to make a name for themselves in the Japanese gangster society. Starring Hitoshi Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Ozawa.

RELEASE DATE: January 15, 2013 Zeitgeist Films presents the DVD for China Heavyweight. Award-winning filmmaker Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze) returns to China for another riveting documentary. In China Heavyweight, Chang follows the charismatic Qi Moxiang, a former boxing star and state coach who recruits young fighting talent from the impoverished farms and villages across Sichuan province. Watch the trailer.

RELEASE DATE: January 22, 2013 Bayview Entertainment presents the DVD for Bleak Night (aka Pasuggun). A grieving father (Cho Seong-ha, The Yellow Sea) seeks to understand the circumstances that led his teenage son, Ki-tae (Lee Je-hoon, The Front Line), to commit suicide. Watch the trailer.

RELEASE DATE: December 11, 2012 Pathfinder Home Entertainment presents the DVD for Ryu Seung-Wan’s The Unjust, a movie about corruption in the South Korean justice system. A critical and commercial success, this one has shades of Infernal Affairs, and obviously The Departed. Be sure and read our review. Check out the trailer.

RELEASE DATE: November 13, 2012 Danger After Dark presents the DVD for X-Game. Hideaki is kidnapped and when he awakens he finds himself in a recreation of his old school room, along with his recently reunited classmates. Trapped and held captive by mysterious hooded figures, each of them must now play a deadly game. Directed by Yohei Fukuda (Chanbara Beauty). Check out the trailer.