One of Japanese cinema’s supreme emulations of American noir, Takashi Nomura’s A Colt Is My Passport is a down-and-dirty but gorgeously photographed yakuza film starring Joe Shishido as a hard-boiled hit man caught between rival gangs. Featuring an incredible, spaghetti-western-style soundtrack and brimming with formal experimentation, this is Nikkatsu at its finest.

Fresh out of the slammer, Togawa (Branded to Kill’s Joe Shishido) has no chance to go straight because he is immediately coerced by a wealthy mob boss into organizing the heist of an armored car carrying racetrack receipts. After gathering together a ragtag bunch to carry out the robbery, Togawa learns that all is not what it seems in Takumi Furukawa’s thriller. Cue the double (and triple) crosses!

At the beginning of Seijun Suzuki’s taut and twisty whodunit, a prison truck is attacked and a convict inside is murdered. The penitentiary warden on duty, Daijiro (Michitaro Mizushima), is accused of negligence and suspended, only to take it upon himself to track down the killers.

Rusty Knife was the first smash for director Toshio Masuda, who would go on to become one of Japanese cinema’s major hit makers. In the film, Yujiro Ishihara and fellow top Nikkatsu star Akira Kobayashi play former hoodlums trying to leave behind a life of crime, but their past comes back to haunt them when the authorities seek them out as murder witnesses.

In Koreyoshi Kurahara’s directorial debut, rebel matinee idol Yujiro Ishihara (fresh off the sensational Crazed Fruit) stars as a former boxer working as a restaurant manager, who saves a beautiful, suicidal club hostess (Mie Kitahara) trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer. Featuring expressionist lighting and bold camera work, this was one of Nikkatsu’s early successes.

Eclipse Series 17:
Nikkatsu Noir

http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/655

MTV has finally done something good. They are finally releasing the Complete Series on The State on DVD. It arrives July 14th. thank god. Now if only they can release the Brothers Grunt

Mirageman is finally getting released in the States and it’s about damn time. I’ve been after this one for about two years now. It’s not coming out until October but at least we got an official release date.

pre-order from amazon

Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo will be released on Blu ray in North America by Mpi Home Video on October 27th.

I see that the Korean film Breathless is on its way to retailers’ shelves in a couple of weeks. I’m more than a little skeptical about this one, I’ll see if I can’t rent it first…

“Il Divo” on BluRay? That’s a must-have, I can only hope it contains some of the best extras that the Italian DVD had!
 
As for “Breathless”, definitely check it out first as it will not be to everyone’s liking. I’m actually very interested in your take on it because you know so much more about Korea than I do.
 
But after having interviewed Yang Ik-Yune last February and meeting him just after he won the Tiger award, there is no way I’m not going to own this film. It’s not really all that rewatchable (due to the high “harrowing”-factor) but as a memento to that evening it will be priceless.
Funny how you don’t need a common language anymore after a few beers: my wish to see the actual award was understood immediately by Yang Ik-June, and getting him to pose with it wasn’t hard either:
 

 
We met a few times over the week in Rotterdam and he was never anything else but charming and funny, obviously enjoying his participation in the festival and being a total tourist despite the lousy weather.

brbro4 - July 31, 2009, 4:32am

Mirageman is finally getting released in the States and it’s about damn time. I’ve been after this one for about two years now. It’s not coming out until October but at least we got an official release date.

pre-order from amazon

Kiltro was decent so I’ll definitely give this a rental come October.

Ard Vijn - August 17, 2009, 6:34pm

“Il Divo” on BluRay? That’s a must-have, I can only hope it contains some of the best extras that the Italian DVD had!
 
As for “Breathless”, definitely check it out first as it will not be to everyone’s liking. I’m actually very interested in your take on it because you know so much more about Korea than I do.
 
But after having interviewed Yang Ik-Yune last February and meeting him just after he won the Tiger award, there is no way I’m not going to own this film. It’s not really all that rewatchable (due to the high “harrowing”-factor) but as a memento to that evening it will be priceless.
Funny how you don’t need a common language anymore after a few beers: my wish to see the actual award was understood immediately by Yang Ik-June, and getting him to pose with it wasn’t hard either:
 
We met a few times over the week in Rotterdam and he was never anything else but charming and funny, obviously enjoying his participation in the festival and being a total tourist despite the lousy weather.

You’re a lucky guy, Ard! I can’t say I’m any expert on Korea, though—I think a Westerner could spend his entire life here and still not understand Korea…

I might stop by the video rental store next week to see if they’ve got Breathless — it seems video shops here often get DVDs before they’re made available for sale. I would probably have ignored it entirely (as I nearly did the thrilling Rough Cut) if it hadn’t received so much play at festivals, but curiosity’s gotten the better of me. I guess I’ll have to lower my expectations a bit though, huh?

Criterion is releasing Matteo Garrone’s Gommorah on Blu-ray in November. Extras include Five Stories, a 60-minute documentary on the making of, interviews with Garrone, actor Toni Servillo, writer Roberto Saviano and actors Gianfelice Imparato and Salvatore Cantalupo. Link: http://www.criterion.com/films/1590

The trouble I have with Criterion at the moment is that they are one of the very few companies who take BluRay region-coding seriously. Meaning that their BluRays are region A and I can’t play them (yet)...

Jon Pais - August 24, 2009, 11:18pm

Criterion is releasing Matteo Garrone’s Gommorah on Blu-ray in November. Extras include Five Stories, a 60-minute documentary on the making of, interviews with Garrone, actor Toni Servillo, writer Roberto Saviano and actors Gianfelice Imparato and Salvatore Cantalupo. Link: http://www.criterion.com/films/1590

Except for the addition of the booklet, the Criterion release seems to have the same (transfer?) contents as the UK dvd released a few months ago by Optimum. What incentive would I have to purchase the Criterion???

I am anxiously awaiting Criterion’s release of Tatsuya Nakadai’s THE HUMAN CONDITION on September 8th. I’m a bit surprised by the small discount margin that Amazon.com (US) is offering for this, even at the pre-order price.

TheDoug - August 27, 2009, 5:31pm

Jon Pais - August 24, 2009, 11:18pm

Criterion is releasing Matteo Garrone’s Gommorah on Blu-ray in November. Extras include Five Stories, a 60-minute documentary on the making of, interviews with Garrone, actor Toni Servillo, writer Roberto Saviano and actors Gianfelice Imparato and Salvatore Cantalupo. Link: http://www.criterion.com/films/1590

Except for the addition of the booklet, the Criterion release seems to have the same (transfer?) contents as the UK dvd released a few months ago by Optimum. What incentive would I have to purchase the Criterion???

I am anxiously awaiting Criterion’s release of Tatsuya Nakadai’s THE HUMAN CONDITION on September 8th. I’m a bit surprised by the small discount margin that Amazon.com (US) is offering for this, even at the pre-order price.

I actually have no plans to buy Criterion’s Gomorrah either—in fact, the Italian release has a great transfer already, and it’s not a film I foresee watching over and over again…

On the other hand, I will also be picking up Criterion’s edition of Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition. I preordered this one ages ago, when the initial asking price was only around $55.00. But when they uncovered a missing audio reel, causing a delay of the release date, the cost went up for those who hadn’t already pre-ordered the DVDs. This film is so superior to Kwaidan, and is nearly a mastepiece, but has unaccountably received very little press. Then again, that seems to be the case for just about every worthwhile film—how many English reviews are there for The Housemaid, for example? Or for Masamura’s Red Angel, far and away his best work available on DVD?

2008 Mexican Heist film - Sultans of The South ( follow up from Matando Cabos director ) available at Ethaicd.com

Princess (Anders Morgenthaler): The Danish anti-porn anime is out on Region 1 DVD this week.

Mother (Bong Joon-Ho): The Korean R3 DVD will be out the first week of November

District 13 Ultimatum: The UK R2 DVD will be out on Oct. 26th.

Ip Man: The UK R2 and Blu-ray will be out on Oct. 26th.  Heard the HK Blu-ray leaves a lot to desired. Hopefully this will be a better re-master and not region-locked.

Moon (Duncan Jones): UK R2 and Blu-ray will be out on Nov. 16th.

Is anyone aware of whether an American distributor has picked up Mesrine: Killer Instinct for release in the States. I’m debating whether to pick up the French DVDs, wait for the upcoming UK release, or an upcoming Region A Blu ray.