Out this week on dvd the classic Japanese comedy – BAKUMATSU TAIYÔ-DEN

BAKUMATSU TAIYÔ-DEN     1957  JAPAN  KAWASHIMA, YUZO    £17.99

    Classic Japanese comedy and one of the top five Japanese films ever made in a critic’s poll by Japan’s leading cinema publication Kinema junpô.  Yûzô Kawashima’s richly funny multi-levelled portrait of Japanese society Bakumatsu taiyô-den [A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era] is a glorious rediscovery.

When man-about-town Saheiji (the beloved comedian Frankie Sakai) finds himself unable to pay for a bill at a brothel, he is forced to remain there to work off his debt. However he finds his wit and resourcefulness enable him to turn this situation to his advantage, as he interacts with a whole range of characters, from rivalling courtesans to political activists.

Co-scripted by Shôhei Imamura (Vengeance Is Mine), it sharply and comically demonstrates the constants of human nature just as it delineates the tumultuous political times (the 1860s, leading up to the Meiji Restoration) in which they lived.

In Japanese with English subtitles

SPECIAL BLU-RAY AND DVD EDITIONS OF THE FILM

Features -

• Gorgeous new Nikkatsu restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio, presented in 1080p HD on the Blu-ray

• New and improved English subtitles

• A booklet including a new and exclusive essay by critic/scholar Frederick Veith; Shôhei Imamura’s tribute to Yûzô Kawashima; and more

DVD available to buy at – http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/japanese-films-on-dvd