We'll start with June, aka the month of Imamura as Radiance have annoaunced they'll be releasing mid-year not one but two Imamura films. They'd already teased a release for a restored version of The Pornographers (in a UHD+blu-ray edition) but they've gone one further by adding Imamura's final film, the wonderfully romantic, and kinky, Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, which will allow us all to decommision our old DVD copies.
Seguing into other film news, The Nickel Cinema has some up-coming programming worth paying attention to including in April a rare double bill of Toshiaki Toyoda films (courtesy of Third Window): 9 Souls and Blue Spring - both of which we've reviewed here and here. I've also been meaning to take myself to their Shrime Time: A Night of Bizzaro Anime to witness the weirdness that may unfold.
It's always worth plugging The Prince Charles Cinema's Anime screenings, so let's do that again with their current set of screenings here.
As always the cinema listing are London-centric but being that's where I live and what information I get so if you want us to showcase any screenings across the country reach out and let us know.
So a bit more on those Shohei Imamura releases:
The Pornographers:
A former buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter. Shohei Imamura’s landmark satire of postwar affluence was adapted from the internationally renowned novel by Akiyuki Nosaka (Grave of the Fireflies) and brings to vivid life the seedy side of 1960s Japan.
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge:
When a dying friend tells out-of-work salaryman Yosuke (Koji Yakusho, Perfect Days) about a hidden treasure, he sets off in search of the only clue about its location: a house by a red bridge. What he finds instead is a woman who transcends all his fantasies. Japanese master Shohei Imamura's final feature reunites the cast and crew of his Palme d’or-winning The Eel for a boldly sensuous and taboo-breaking love story.
