Hideo Gosha’s ‘The Wolves’ (’Shussho Iwai’, 1971) with Tatsuya Nakadai R1 USA DVD In April 2008.

Within a long list, and removing those already on their way (the long-running ’Shinobi No Mono‘ series) and the appearance of many not that interesting to me -oh, and with Takashi Miike’s ’Big Bang Love, Juvenile A‘ set for January in America on DVD - there’s more Hideo Gosha from the company whom shall remain nameless (for the time being) by my lips; yes, the ’New Graveyard of Honor‘ DVD is apparently quite nice, but…

Anyway, Ninkyo Eiga (honorable Yakuza lifestyle movies, as opposed to the Fukasaku brutality-themed portrayals) are few on the ground this side of the globe, and Gosha does have something of a reputation with American buyers, so it’s nice to see a film being picked up that gives us a slice of both. It’s perhaps the only real surprise that’s currently set to appear in 2008 (April) that we’ve heard of so far, and that’s relatively odd considering 2007 was pretty much planned out from day one; ”they” also have Imamura’s ’Ballad of Narayama‘ scheduled for late ‘08, fantastic considering the HK DVD of recent times was one of the most unreadable subtitling jobs I’ve ever experienced.

Rumor has it that Criterion may also be lining up a couple long-awaited Imamura films which they’ve mentioned as being theirs in the past - are they ’Pigs and Battleships‘ and ’Intentions of Murder‘? I’m not sure, can’t remember, but they’re even likely to suddenly appear before the end of this year or very early into next? More Gosha welcomed, More Imamura welcomed. By the way, I jest with the whole AnimEigo thing, to some extent, so let’s just take it one release at a time… many are ecstatic about ’Shinobi No Mono‘ and although label identities are a guide, they’re never a guarantee, so I’ll pick films out where the films speak for themselves - I still hope for good transfers all the time though, without doubt these chances shoudln’t pass by.

The Wolves Review at MidnightEye.
Tatsuya Nakadai at Wikipedia.