Arrow Video have announced that they will release on Blu-ray Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi's
The Human Condition Trilogy (1959). The three-disc Blu-ray set will be available for purchase on May 30.
Synopsis: One of the towering masterpieces of Japanese and world cinema, this three-part war epic has rarely been seen in the UK, at least partly because of its dauntingly gargantuan nine-hour length.
Director Masaki Kobayashi (Harakiri) was attracted to Junpei Gomikawa's source novel because he recognised himself in the character of the protagonist Kaji, a pacifist and socialist who came of age during the aggressively militaristic 1930s and 40s. Following Kaji's career from factory worker to Japanese army private, Kobayashi unflinchingly examines the psychological toll of appallingly complex decisions made along the way, where being morally 'right' risks an outcome ranging from ostracism to savage beating to death. As Kaji, Tatsuya Nakadai (Sanjuro) is in virtually every scene, providing a rock-solid emotional anchor – and a necessary one in Japan, where the film was hugely controversial for being openly critical of the nation's conduct during WWII. But it's this willingness to confront national taboos head-on that makes it such a lastingly powerful experience.
Special Features:
- Original Japanese soundtrack (uncompressed mono on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles
- Introduction to the film by critic Philip Kemp
- Selected-scene commentary by Philip Kemp
- Theatrical trailers
- Booklet with new writing on the film by David Desser
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Also on May 30, Arrow Video will release a
standard Blu-ray edition of Dario Argento's classic film
Deep Red (1975), starring David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, and Eros Pagni.
Synopsis: From Dario Argento, maestro of the macabre and the man behind some the greatest excursions in Italian horror (Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), comes Deep Red – arguably the ultimate giallo movie.
One night, musician Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, Blow Up), looking up from the street below, witnesses the brutal axe murder of a woman in her apartment. Racing to the scene, Marcus just manages to miss the perpetrator… or does he? As he takes on the role of amateur sleuth, Marcus finds himself ensnared in a bizarre web of murder and mystery where nothing is what it seems…Aided by a throbbing score from regular Argento-collaborators Goblin, Deep Red (aka Profondo Rosso and The Hatchet Murders) is a hallucinatory fever dream of a giallo punctuated by some of the most astonishing set-pieces the sub-genre has to offer.
Special Features:
- Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative
- Original Italian soundtrack in DTS-HD MA mono 1.0 and lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio, and original English soundtrack in DTS-HD MA mono 1.0
- English subtitles for the Italian Soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the English Soundtrack
- Audio Commentary with Argento expert Thomas Rostock
- Introduction to the film by Claudio Simonetti of Goblin
- Profondo Giallo – a brand new visual essay by Michael Mackenzie featuring an in-depth appreciation of Deep Red, its themes and its legacy
- Rosso Recollections: Dario Argento's Deep Genius – the Deep Red director on the creation of a giallo masterpiece
- The Lady in Red - Daria Nicolodi Remembers Profondo Rosso
- Music to Murder For! - Claudio Simonetti on Deep Red
- Profondo Rosso: From Celluloid to Shop – a tour of the Profondo Rosso shop in Rome with long time Argento collaborator Luigi Cozzi
- Italian Trailer