128 / BD 26 The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

[domino harvey]

Blu-Ray coming this year, details TK

[ozufils]

This is one of the most stomach-churning ballsy documentaries ever made. The godfather of everything Wang Bing. Watching it can't not permanently alter a person's worldview. Kudos to Second Run.

[Grand Wazoo]

It's absolutely stunning, my favorite doc and one greatly under-seen these days. I hope this has the same effect of re-introduction to the world as Second Run's Marketa Lazarova release, granted some people actually know of this one in the west!. I highly recommend the book Camera Obstrusa: The Action Documentaries of Kazuo Hara which is an autobiographical journey through the making of his films and also features a separate section of his production notes for The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On.

[Michael Kerpan]

Exciting news!

[zedz]

The best film Shohei Imamura never made.

[GoodOldNeon]

This is the best news I've heard all year.

[Calvin]

Amazing news. Very few films have knocked me for six like this one; it's an astonishing work. There were a couple of later films that featured Kenzo Okazaki that I've never managed to track down. Has anybody seen them? It sounds like they're nothing similar to this, but just focus on his... entertainment value.

[WmS]

WHAT this is phenomenal, unexpected news. I saw this just once, on a disintegrating 16mm print I projected and had to tape back together twice when it fell apart in the gate. What an unforgettable movie.

(Next do Peasants of the Second Fortress, Heta Village, and Minamata: The Victims and Their World, please!)

[Michael Kerpan]

They showed a bunch of this stuff at the Harvard Film Archive -- but (seemingly never-ending) foot problems kept me away.

[Calvin]

The release date seems to be November 11th, though it's not yet available for pre-order.

Conceived by Shôhei Imamura, Kazuo Hara's audacious, deeply unsettling documentary feature follows Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran who has fought tirelessly and often violently on a one-man mission to bring to justice Japan's Emperor Hirohito and the Army Commanders who he holds responsible for the countless deaths and other atrocities involving Japanese soldiers at the end of the war in the Pacific.

Harrowing, unflinching and extraordinarily powerful, Hara's film pushes against the proprieties of Japanese society (the film remains unreleased in its home country), and forces us to question the relationship between documentary filmmaker, protagonist and spectator.

"I first saw The Emperor s Naked Army Marches On at the San Francisco Film Festival. Werner Herzog and I were sitting together. We couldn t believe it. Here was one of the weirdest, most dramatic stories ever. And the movie itself? What can I say? It s on my list of the 10 best movies ever" Errol Morris

"It was like I had this soul brother in Japan... I was inspired, I was exhilarated. I had never seen anything like this. I had truly never seen anything like this." Michael Moore

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (Yuki Yukite Shingun, 1987) from a new HD re-master and transfer from original materials
A new filmed interview with director Kazuo Hara
Booklet featuring new writing on the film
New and improved English subtitle translation
Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)
Original soundtrack in 2.0 Dual Mono 16-bit LPCM audio
World premiere on Blu-ray
More TBC!

Hopefully they can include 'Kami-sama no ui yatsu', which followed Okazaki after he was released from jail, and Kazuo Hara's short 2017 follow-up 'A Human Being, Kenzo Okazaki'.

[Bikey]

Pre-order (finally) live at Amazon UK

[Bikey]

Pre-order now £14.99 at Amazon UK

[Bikey]

Full details now up at our website

[Bikey]

OUT TODAY!
Order at Amazon UK
At HMV UK
At our website

[htdm]

Got my dispatch notice from Amazon uk yesterday

[Bikey]

"I would position THE EMPEROR'S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON with the cream of the crop of the investigative documentary... It’s a passionate, furious, and maniacal piece of work that no-one will ever forget"
The Geek Show deliver the first review

[Grand Wazoo]

I just received my copy and unsurprisingly it's a stunning upgrade from the Facets disc, a truly a beautiful transfer of one of my favorite films. I love you, Second Run.

[Bikey]

Only just out - and a wonderful surprise to see it rank in Sight & Sound/BFI's 'Best Blu-rays (and DVDs) of 2019' poll!

[TMDaines]

Only just out - and a wonderful surprise to see it rank in Sight & Sound/BFI's 'Best Blu-rays (and DVDs) of 2019' poll!

November ain't even over yet!

[Glowingwabbit]

Only just out - and a wonderful surprise to see it rank in Sight & Sound/BFI's 'Best Blu-rays (and DVDs) of 2019' poll!

November ain't even over yet!

True. But it is a good time for a holiday buying guide.

[Aunt Peg]

WOW! Coming Home in at no. 5! Its one of my all time favourite films and I was glad to see it released in such a beautiful edition with some terrific special features but even I must admit it would not be in my top ten releases of the year. Still I'm thrilled to see the appreciation of it.

[Aunt Peg]

Mine arriving today - hope to watch it this weekend.

[Bikey]

"It's a classic, the APOCALYPSE NOW of nonfiction film... The film is newly potent, newly illuminating, newly enraging. [...]
Given the historical significance of this film, and its new-found relevance, the response to Second Run's beautifully transferred and crisply subtitled Blu-ray is relief. Now this film can be taught everywhere, screened widely and debated broadly."

Mark Cousins revisits and reviews THE EMPEROR'S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON in the latest Sight & Sound Magazine

[Bikey]

""Something of a sacred text among many documentarians, this disturbing and often nerve-ratting look at war atrocities paved the way for innumerable subsequent films, perhaps rivaled only by The Act of Killing for its jaw-dropping mixture of unflinching filmmaking and appalling subject matter. [...]
a peculiar and unforgettable antiwar statement unlike any other out there on the cinematic landscape."

Mondo Digital

[Bikey]

"What a great documentary for Second Run to release on Region FREE on Blu-ray. It's a must-see for those keen on this genre and this less-exposed character study and history of Japan. Watch this!"
Beaver