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Blind Beast.You could start cradled like the kidnapped woman in the undulating foam curves that resemble a gigantic female torso in Blind Beast (1969). You could make your approach via the swing of a Super-8 camera towards the steps of a courthouse at the beginning of A Wife Confesses (1961). You could drift into A Cheerful Girl (1957) through the kitchen window, onto a table laden with groceries and bottles of fluorescent orange soda-pop. You could inject yourself like morphine into Red Angel (1966), seep like body ink into the skin of Spider Tattoo (1966), or slide into the fevered bloodstream of All Mixed Up (1964) like powdered poison swallowed from a kite-paper pouch. Whether you arrive on the tip of a blade or the cusp of a kiss, there is no wrong place to start with Yasuzo Masumura, the postwar Japanese director whose astonishing accomplishment should by rights have him mentioned in the same...

What’s singular about many of the films of Yasuzo Masumura (1924–1986) is that they’re intellectual forms of exploitation—politically incorrect experiences that are consciously sociopolitical critiques, unlike the roller-coaster rides of Tarantino. You might even say that they shock us into thinking. But it’s hard to make too many generalizations about someone who made 58 films, mostly assignments at Daiei before that studio closed in 1971. (source: https://metrograph.com/the-intellectual-and-sociopolitical-exploitations-of-yasuzo-masumura/)

In our latest column, we will have each contributor pick a specific person and present a list about him. The first selection belongs to Adam Symchuk.

1. Kisses (1957)

Yasuzo Masumura’s first feature-length film, “Kisses” may not be his most defined vision and is a, mostly, straightforward love story. However, the debut stands as an obvious testament of his trajectory in the film industry being one of profound skill. His ability to craft a love story at the forefront...

Brilliant filmmaking from Japan: Yasuzô Masumura’s film all but screams in protest, that unfettered consumer capitalism is cannibalism, plain and simple. In the radical director’s scathing, savage satire, Tokyo’s desperate advertising ‘Mad Men’ create a fresh new star celebrity to promote their product, only for the warfare of cutthroat competition to shatter careers, fortunes and basic human values. Masumura’s cinematic onslaught is at least ten years ahead of its time, in design, direction, writing and music — the movie outpaces American comedies about Succeeding in Business, recognizing that the tyranny of commercial media trashes the quality of life itself. Arrow’s informed and insightful Blu-ray extras ask the important question: how can one movie get this complex subject so completely right?

Giants and Toys

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95 min. / Kyojin to gangu, The Build-Up / Street Date May 11, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Hitomi Nozoe, Yunosuke Ito, Kinzo Shin,...

With the end of World War II and Japan’s defeat, a period of political and social re-orientation took place which then set the foundation for an economic rise on the following decade. Attracted by the capitalist business model, a new kind of war broke out, which, in contrast to the Cold War, was not of ideologies, but one solely based on sales, opportunities and finance. Apart from Japan, many other nations and cultures experienced a rise in importance in the archetype of the businessman and -woman, with concepts such as “free market” and “global economy” having a certain ring to them, of freedom and independence. At the same time, this era also paved the way for a decline in certain values, since morals or dignity take second place next to profit in the eyes of the company. In Japan, Yasuzo Masumura’s satire “Giants and Toys”, based on a novel by Takeshi Kaiko,...

Yasuzô Masumura’s Giants And Toys (1958) Special Edition will be available on Blu-ray May 11th from Arrow Video

Giants and Toys is a sharp and snappy corporate satire revolving around the ruthless machinations of a group of admen working in the confectionary industry.

As a new recruit to the marketing department of World Caramel, fresh-faced graduate Nishi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is eager to impress his ambitious and hard-nosed boss Goda (Black Test Car’s Hideo Takamatsu), even if it strains his relationships with his college friend Yokoyama (Koichi Fujiyama) and budding love interest Masami (Michiko Ono), who work at the rival companies of Giant and Apollo. With World’s lead over its competitors slipping badly, the two spot a chance to get back in the race in the shape of the pretty but unsophisticated 18-year-old, Kyoko (Hitomi Nozoe). Goda and Nishi get to work polishing this rough diamond as their new campaign girl,...

Arrow Video’s May films include a superbly quirky comedy horror debut, a vintage Japanese comedy classic, the worldwide Blu-ray debut of a provocative Seventies masterwork, and a lavish edition of an offbeat, A-list sci-fi favourite.

As expected, the releases will be superbly packaged, featuring brand new restorations and audio commentaries, rare behind-the-scenes featurettes, revealing documentaries, beautifully designed booklets with new writing on the filmmakers, and reversible sleeves with striking newly-commissioned artwork, collectable limited edition O-cards and exclusive SteelBooks.

First in May, Arrow Video presents “A Ghost Waits,” an ingeniously unique and unpredictable combo of horror, humour and heart from first-time writer/director Adam Stovall and producer/star MacLeod Andrews. From its opening spectral assault to its achingly poignant conclusion – as well as a witty depiction of afterlife bureaucracy in the vein of “Beetlejuice” and “A Matter of Life and Death – A Ghost Waits” has shocked and surprised audiences around the world,...