A small round-up of announcements, Radiance's being a little old now but nevertheless their July slate of films was announced recently, including Shuji Terayama's 1970s boxing drama, The Boxer, starring, Bunta Sugawara.
In an HD upgrade from the old DVDs released nearly 20-years ago now, Arrow are giving us a double pack of Pinky Violence with Reiko Ike in Sex and Fury and Female Yakuza Tale (and very good value for the price).
The Boxer
A former boxing champ on the skids (Bunta Sugawara, Japanese Godfather) finds an opportunity for redemption by training a young fighter everyone judges beyond hope (Kentaro Shimizu, Mermaid Legend). Legendary director and playwright Shuji Terayama (Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets) made The Boxer for major studio Toei, at the request of lead actor Sugawara. While the story has the studio's trademark gritty 1970s setting, Terayama imbues the film with his characteristic carnivalesque atmosphere and his unparalleled passion for sports, resulting in a boxing movie like no other and a unique entry in his own filmography.
Sex and Fury, Female Yakuza Tale
Following their genre-defining "female delinquent" classic Girl Boss Guerrilla, director Norifumi Suzuki and action star Reiko Ike would join forces once again for the shocking Sex & Fury. Pulpy and bathed in lurid violence of the highest order, the film would beget the sequel, Female Yakuza Tale directed by none other than the king of ero-guro, Teruo Ishii (Horrors of Malformed Men).
In Sex & Fury, deadly swordswoman Ocho Inoshika (Ike) is looking for the men who killed her father and finds herself infiltrating a sordid den of sexually deviant yakuza, involving a British secret agent (Christina Lindberg, Thriller: A Cruel Picture) and a twisted international scheme that could alter the fate of Japan. The sequel sees Ocho captured by devious yakuza who use Chinese women as drug mules, forcing her to use her sharp wits and blade to fight her way out.
