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Release: May 17, 2016

$7.99

Description

Director Kaneto Shindo s documentary-like, dialogue-free portrayal of daily struggle is a work of stunning visual beauty and invention. The international breakthrough for one of Japan s most innovative filmmakers who went on to make such other marvelous movies as Onibaba and Kuroneko The Naked Island follows a family whose home is on a tiny, remote island off the coast of Japan. They must row a great distance to another shore, collect water from a well in buckets, and row back to their island a nearly backbreaking task essential for the survival of these people and their land. Featuring a phenomenal modernist score by Hikaru Hayashi, this is a truly hypnotic experience, with a rhythm unlike that of any other film. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES - New, high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack - Video introduction by director Kaneto Shindo, recorded for a 2011 retrospective of his work - Audio commentary recorded in 2000, featuring Shindo and composer Hikaru Hayashi - New appreciation of the film by actor Benicio Del Toro - New interview with film scholar Akira Mizuta Lippit - Trailer - New English subtitle translation - PLUS: An essay by film scholar Haden Guest

Release: October 5, 2021

$7.99

Description

Deep in the windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished older woman and her daughter-in-law murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for the most meager of sustenance. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from battle, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio's tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals their horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, the chilling folktale Onibaba by Kaneto Shindo conjures a nightmarish vision of humankind's deepest desires and impulses. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES Restored high-definition transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary from 2001 featuring director Kaneto Shindo and actors Kei Sato and Jitsuko Yoshimura Interview from 2003 with Shindo On-location footage shot by Sato Trailer PLUS: An essay by film critic Elena Lazic, a 2001 director's statement by Shindo, and a version of the Buddhist fable that inspired the film