By A Man's Face Shall You Know Him

A community struggles against immigrant gangs in the ruins of postwar Tokyo. Only doctor Amamiya (real-life ex-yakuza Noboru Ando) can save them, but he had enough fighting in the war. His pacifism is severely tested by the gangs’ increasingly outrageous taunts and when his neighbours decide to take matters into their own hands, Amamiya is forced to take action. The consequences prove to be much more far-reaching than he could ever foresee. With a story spread across three time periods, Tai Kato’s ambitious revision of the yakuza movie was one of the first films to tackle the taboo subject of Japan’s Korean nationals, greatly influencing the work of later directors such as Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• High-Definition digital transfer
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Appreciation by filmmaker Kenta Fukasaku (2023, 18 mins)
• Tribute to Sanae Nakahara by her son Kenta Fukasaku (2023, 14 mins)
• Tale of a Scarface - A visual essay on Noboru Ando by Nathan Stuart (2023. 22 mins)
• Newly translated English subtitles
  
• Reversible sleeve featuring original newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Mark Schilling
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings 

This item is included in the multi-month Bundle Package "2024 Bundle", customers who ordered this package will automatically receive this release.

See also our book on Tai Kato by Tom Mes, the first extended writing dedicated to this genre master, this new book provides a guide to a sensationally overlooked filmmaker to accompany a series of Tai Kato releases from Radiance Films.

Cert: 15
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD040BDLE
EAN: 5060974680740
Release date: 26/02/24

Press & Awards:

Official selection - Locarno International Film Festival (1997), Viennale (2003)

"a remarkable example of just how well-crafted Japanese studio films were in the 1960s. It is highly compelling, dramatic and wonderful looking, and an interesting early attempt at addressing conflicts that so often get swept under the carpet." - MidnightEye