The start of an ongoing series, this first volume of Radical Japan explores the films of new wave icon Nagisa Oshima (Cruel Story of Youth, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence). One of the most vital, challenging and admired bodies of work in cinema history, this boxset presents Blu-ray premieres of Oshima’s finest features across seven discs.
In The Catch (1961), a village in World War II is shaken by the capture of a pilot; in Death by Hanging (1968), a failed execution throws the justice system into disarray; Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969) strikingly captures Tokyo’s 1960s counter-culture; Boy (1969) is a vivid portrait of a family surviving through scams; The Man Who Left His Will on Film (1970), Oshima’s reaction to the protest movement; The Ceremony (1971), a meditation on how traditions oppress the young; and Dear Summer Sister (1972), which questions Japan’s colonial relation to Okinawa.
Details by Film
The Catch
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Death by Hanging
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Diary of a Shinjuku Thief
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Boy
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The Man Who Left His Will on Film
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The Ceremony
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Dear Summer Sister
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Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Audio commentary for Death by Hanging by Samm Deighan
- Audio commentary on Diary of a Shinjuku Thief by Tony Rayns
- Select-scene commentary on The Ceremony by Jasper Sharp
- Introduction by Luk Van Haute
- Introduction by Jennifer Coates
- Introduction by Rie Tsukinaga
- Introduction by Yang Yong-hi
- After the Tokyo War - a new visual essay by scholar Julian Ross on the complex network of influences on The Man Who Left His Will on Film (2025, 17 mins)
- Archival interviews with Nagisa Oshima (1986 & 1995, 4 and 7 mins)
- Interviews with actors Tadanori Yokoo and Kazuo Goto (2025, 19 and 20 mins)
- Interview with critic and author Junichi Konuma on composer Toru Takemitsu (2025, 22 mins)
- Extensive interview with critic Tony Rayns on Oshima’s life and career (2025, 46 mins)
- Yunbogi’s Diary - Oshima’s short film about street children in Seoul (1965, 25 mins) [Diary of Yunbogi]
- 100 Years of Japanese Cinema - Oshima's documentary celebrating the centenary of cinema (1995, 52 mins)
- Japanese Cinema: New Territories - a documentary by Hubert Niogret on the Japanese cinema of rebellion and renewal, charting the emergence of independent filmmakers of the 1960s to the 1990s featuring interviews with Oshima, Kiju Yoshida, Shohei Imamura and others (2011, 52 mins)
- Limited edition 160-page book featuring new writing by Rea Amit, Espen Bale, archival articles by Donald Richie and Alexander Jacoby, plus writing by and interviews with Oshima