Even with that knowledge, this hit me out of left field: an expensive boxset of three experimental Japanese films from the 1960s and 70s, one of them more than three hours long. That's... so very much NOT my cup of tea that I couldn't help but be intrigued. I'll swallow my pride here and state publicly that I had never heard of any of these films, nor (gulp) their director Yoshida Kiju. So what was Arrow doing here? Why THESE titles? I tested the waters and talked about it with several people I trust with regards to Japanese cinema, and while from some I got back my very same puzzlement, others completely flipped at the news of this release. Several people have done the Internet equivalent of grabbing me by the shoulder, shaking me hard, and yelling "These are fucking brilliant!" at top volume.
So what the hell, I took the plunge and ordered the damn thing. It's severely limited (just 3000 of these boxes exist) and it allows me a look at a side of Japanese cinema I was totally unaware of.
Truth be told I haven't been able to find the time to do a proper dive-in and write a full review, but I did notice that the release sure is pretty, and the included booklet is fantastic. Time for a pretty packaging article!
Therefore, here is a gallery of shots. Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version.
And here it is: a sturdy big pink-and-purple box.
In it: three amarays and a softcover booklet.
All items on display.
This set contains three films, on both DVD and Blu-ray:
Eros + Massacre (both the 169 minute version and the 220 minute version)
Heroic Purgatory
Coup D'état
With that last title, director Yoshida Kiju considered all of his filming aspirations fulfilled, and never made another one. So this set is pretty much a definite version with regards to his vision and intentions.
All contents opened. Yes, it's a seven-disc set.
A closer look at the fantastic 80-page booklet (more on the next pic).
It's absolutely crammed with great articles, ranging from director Yoshida Kiju, Japanese experimental cinema in general, local politics in the early 1970s. The writers are Dick Stegewerns (also well known in these quarters as one of the great interpreters at the International Film Festival Rotterdam), Isolde Standish, and David Desser.
All in all another fantastic release by Arrow. If their upcoming boxset of Fukasaku Kinji's Battles Without Honour and Humanity series is of the same quality, I may need my entire Christmas holiday time just for binge-watching Japanese classics...