British distributors Eureka Entertainment have detailed their upcoming Dual Format edition of Shohei Imamura's
The Insect Woman (1963). The release will also include the Japanese director's rarely seen 1958 feature film
Nishi-Ginza Station. Street date is February 20th.
Comparing his heroine, Tome Matsuki (played by Sachiko Hidari, who won the Best Actress Award at the 1964 Berlin Film Festival for the role) to the restlessness and survival instincts of worker insects,
The Insect Woman is an unsparing study of working-class female life. Beginning with Tome's birth in 1918, it follows her through five decades of social change, several improvised careers, and male-inflicted cruelty.
Elliptically plotted, brimming over with black humour and taboo material, and immaculately staged in crystalline NikkatsuScope,
The Insect Woman is arguably Imamura's most radical and emphatic testament to female resilience.
Special Features:
- Newly restored high-definition transfer of The Insect Woman
- New progressive transfer of Nishi-Ginza Station, a 1958 feature by Imamura
- Newly translated optional English subtitles for both films
- A video conversation about The Insect Woman between Imamura and critic Tadao Sato
- A lavish booklet featuring essays by film scholar Tony Rayns on both films, rare archival imagery, and more!