RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2017 Criterion Collection presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu. Read the film’s official details below. Having refined his craft in the silent era, Kenji Mizoguchi was an elder statesman of Japanese cinema—fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other younger directors—by the time he made Ugetsu. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2017 Tokyo Shock presents the Blu-ray for 009-1: The End of the Beginning, directed by Koichi Sakamoto (Kamen Rider Fourze the Movie: Everyone, Space Is Here!). This 2013 film is based on Shotaro Ishinomori’s classic spy heroine manga, 009-1. Meet Mylene, a sexy, sleek cyborg spy. She’s dressed to kill, fully-loaded with an anatomically concealed arsenal of high-tech weaponry and programmed with the most lethal fighting skills. 009-1: The End of the … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2017 From visionary director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) comes The Handmaiden (read our review), a film adaptation of Sarah Waters’ 2002 novel, Fingersmith. The Handmaiden will be getting a Blu-ray release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on March 28, 2017 (DVD version was released in January). The Handmaiden is a gripping and sensual tale of two women – a young Japanese Lady living on a secluded estate, and … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2017 Arrow Video presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse (aka Kairo, read our review). Award-winning filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (not related to Akira) delivered one of the finest entries in the “J-Horror” cycle of films with this moody and spiritually terrifying film that delivers existential dread along with its frights. Setting his story in the burgeoning internet and social media scene in Japan, Kurosawa’s dark and … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2017 On May 2, 2017, Well Go USA Entertainment will be releasing the DVD for Kim Seong-hun’s Tunnel (read our review), a South Korean thriller starring Ha Jung-Woo (Assassination), Doona Bae (A Girl at My Door, The Host) and Oh Dal-su (Veteran). Jung-soo, an ordinary car salesman finds himself in a most extraordinary event when the tunnel he’s driving through collapses, trapping him. Nothing is around him … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2017 Arrow Video’s ever growing catalogue of Asian masterpieces continues with the Blu-ray & DVD for 1975’s Cops vs Thugs, a crime classic directed by Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor and Humanity). Considered by many to be director Fukasaku’s greatest single-film achievement in the yakuza genre, Cops vs Thugs was made at the height of popularity of Toei Studios’ jitsuroku boom: realistic, modern crime movies based on … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017 Johnnie To’s critically acclaimed action thriller Three (read our review) is heading onto digital March 7th and on Blu-ray & DVD April 4th from Well Go USA Entertainment. When a police sting goes bad, a criminal (Chung) forces cops to shoot him. Now hospitalized, the criminal refuses treatment while waiting for his cohorts to break him out. Caught between a cop (Koo) and a surgeon assigned to save his life (Wei), the hospital is about … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: February 28, 2017 On February 28, 2017, Kimstim Entertainment is releasing the Japanese thriller Creepy to DVD. The film (read our review) is directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who made his name with the classics Cure and Bright Future. A year after a botched hostage negotiation with a serial killer turned deadly, ex-detective Koichi (Hidetoshi Nishijima), and his wife move into a new house with a deeply strange new neighbor (Teruyuki Kagawa). His … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2017 The Criterion Collection announced today that it plans to bring Juzo Itami’s Tampopo to DVD and Blu-ray on April 25, 2017. Starring Nobuko Miyamoto (A Taxing Woman), Tsutomu Yamazaki (Departures), Koji Yakusho (The World of Kanako), Rikiya Yasuoka (Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter), and Ken Watanabe (Godzilla), Tampopo is a surreal comedy favorite both in its native Japan and among international audiences. From Criterion: The tale of an eccentric … Continue reading →

RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2017 Back in November 2015, Arrow Video released Kiju Yoshida: Love + Anarchism Blu-ray & DVD Boxed set in the UK, but now, the company is finally bringing the set to the U.S. for a April 11, 2017 release. The work of Kiju Yoshida is one of Japanese cinema’s obscure pleasures. A contemporary of Nagisa Oshima (Death by Hanging, In the Realm of the Senses) and Masahiro … Continue reading →