The work of Kijû Yoshida is one of Japanese cinema’s obscure pleasures. A contemporary of Nagisa Ôshima (Death by Hanging, In the Realm of the Senses) and Masahiro Shinoda (Pale Flower, Assassination), Yoshida started out as an assistant to Keisuke Kinoshita before making his directorial debut at age 27. In the decades that followed he produced more than 20 features and documentaries, yet each and every one has proven difficult to see in the English-speaking world. This collection brings together three works from the late 60s and early 70s, a loose trilogy united by their radical politics and an even more radical shooting style. Eros + Massacre, presented here in both its 164-minute theatrical version and the full-length 215-minute director’s cut, tells the parallel stories of early 20th-century anarchist (and free love advocate) Sakae Osugi and a pair of student activists. Their stories interact and intertwine, resulting in a complex, rewarding work that is arguably Yoshida’s masterpiece. Heroic Purgatory pushes the dazzling cinematic language of Eros + Massacre even further, presenting a bleak but dreamlike investigation into the political discourses taking place in early 70s Japan. Coup d’état returns to the past for a biopic of Ikki Kita, the right-wing extremist who sought to overthrow the government in 1936. Yoshida considered the film to be the culmination of his work, promptly retiring from feature filmmaking following its completion.
Bonus Materials
- High definition digital transfers supervised by Kijû Yoshida
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations
- Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 sound
- Optional English subtitles on all films
- Yoshida …or: The Explosion of the Story – a 30-minute documentary on Eros + Massacre with contributions from Yoshida and film critics Mathieu Capel and Jean Douchet
- Introductions to Heroic Purgatory and Coup d’état by Yoshida
- Discussions on Eros + Massacre, Heroic Purgatory and Coup d’état by David Desser, author of Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave
- Scene-select commentaries by David Desser on all three films
- Heroic Purgatory theatrical trailer
- Coup d’état theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm
