June2025 Film News Round-up

Film news has been a bit quiet recently, sunlight and summer banishing the darkness of the cinema but thankfully there are those that are happy to keep you locked to the screen. 

Let’s start with Radiance’s September release of 1966 Samurai film, The Betrayal, and though no inclusion in their World Cinema boxset they’re keeping up their monthly Japanese release. 

Third Window have been teasing for some days that there would be a Takashi Ishii announcement and now it has been made, a boxset in fact: Takashi Ishii: 4 Tales of Nami; which looks to be a most salacious set of films coming your way in August. 

Also in some cinema news, for those in the capital the ICA have included in their July Celluloid Sunday series a rare double-bill of Kaizo Hayashi films, covering his first two films: To Sleep so as to Dream and Circus Boys, and highly recommend both, especially Circus Boys as it is otherwise unavailable. 

For those Bristolians, The Watershed have an Akira Kurosawa season running from Friday 20 June to Thursday 17 July, check out their offerings here. 

Want to know more? Yes, we know you do!

 

The Betrayal 

To protect his clan, an honourable samurai (Raizo Ichikawa, Shinobi) takes the blame for a murder committed by one of his fellows. He is promised a safe return after one year in exile, but this vow is broken and he becomes a fugitive chased by his own clansmen. Disillusioned by the bushido code of honour, he realises there are only two ways out: vengeance or death. From director Tokuzo Tanaka (The Snow Woman), a former assistant to Akira Kurosawa, this cruel jidaigeki stands alongside such notable works of the genre as Harakiri and Sword of Doom with its classic mix of honour codes and samurai action. Beautifully filmed in black and white ‘scope with thrilling set pieces, The Betrayal features one of the most breathtaking finales in all of samurai cinema. 

 

Takashi Ishii: 4 Tales of Nami 

 
Alone in the Night (1994) 
Nami, the wife of a narcotics cop murdered in the line of duty, is surprised to find that her husband has been accused of involvement in organized crime. 

  
Angel Guts: Red Flash (1994) 
Nami, a magazine designer agrees to substitute the cameraman during the shooting of a porn film. The brutal rape scene unleashes distant, forgotten memories and strange things start happening to her. 

  
A Night in Nude (1993) 
When the beautiful and mysterious Nami walks into the office of Jiro, a man who will “do anything for anyone”, he unknowingly gets dragged into her plot to murder her abusive yakuza lover. 

  
Original Sin (1992) 
Nami, the wife of an estate agent, begins an affair with a 22 year old man that leads to a plot to kill her husband.