Introcucing a classic
OUT NOW in Blu-ray and DVD editions: Yuzo Kawashima’s 1957 classic, Bakumatsu taiyo-den [A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era]. This is the debut of Kawashima on disc in the West — and what a debut it is. Bakumatsu taiyô-den has consistently been heralded one of the greatest Japanese films of all-time, garnering the #5 spot in the influential Kinema junpo’s 1999 best-of-Japanese-cinema poll. This is a particularly exciting release for us, as the film has long been requested for a DVD or Blu-ray release — and we are proud to help expand, even in a modest way, exposure to the canon of Japanese masters. When the great studio Nikkatsu (a long-time MoC collaborator) celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2011, it was this new restoration of Kawashima’s raucous brothel comedy, Bakumatsu taiyo-den, that opened the festivities.
