So it is we slipped into May and closer to that thing called summer, and with it some more film news.
Radiance gave us another month and another release to sink our teeth - or more appropriately throw our shurikens - into, with the second volume of their Shinobi releases, starring Raizo Ichikawa. But you'll have to wait for August to your your mitts on it.
And in a blast from the past, Third Window have just announced a standalone release of Toshiaki Toyoda's excellent Hanging Garden, previously only available in the out-of-print Toyoda 2005-2021 boxset, but a pleasing addition to their standalone Toyoda releases and all the more surprising for it hitting shelves this very month, May 26th!
Pre-order with links above if not already.
Shinobi vol. 2
In Siege, Raizo Ichikawa is Mist Saizo, the legendary folk hero and Iga ninja. Working in the service of warlord Yukimura Sanada (Tomisaburo Wakayama), he plots to assassinate Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, but finds himself facing the might of the nation’s supreme ruler.
In Return of Mist Saizo, our black-clad hero continues his mission to avenge his master, even after Ieyasu has abdicated from the throne. Told as one continuous story, these two films weave their ninja action in and out of Japanese martial history, featuring epic battles, ingenious spycraft and thrilling fight scenes.
In The Last Iga Spy, Mist Saizo’s son Saisuke takes over his father’s name and mission. He is recruited by a rebellious warlord to assist a plot to overthrow the government, but the Shogun hires a rival ninja clan to thwart the uprising. Meanwhile, other forces are also at play. Directed by Kazuo Mori (Shinobi 3: Resurrection, Zatoichi at Large), this film pits ninja against ninja, including a breathtaking rooftop battle scene that is one of the highlights of the entire Shinobi series.
Hanging Garden
Family as a nightmare and a fount of terror, discord and disquiet: that was his idea. A visually stunning and surreal tale of desperate times, in which we feel the pressure of things unspoken rippling through an unusual 20th-century Japanese family, Hanging Garden features an unforgettable gallery of neurotic portraits presided over by a camera that travels with unhindered calm, composure and Toyoda’s incomparable mad auteur style.
