Diary of a Shinjuku Thief

A compulsive book thief meets his match when a young woman pretending to be a bookstore clerk catches him in the act. A strange relationship ensues, in which the two challenge each other to undertake increasingly risky thefts. A seemingly omniscient bookstore owner takes them under his wing and has the young pair explore a series of absurdist performances as an alternative to physical love. Shot on real locations in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district and incorporating footage from actual street protests, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief paints a vivid portrait of Japan’s 1960s counterculture, with Oshima bringing together leading figures from the movement to concoct a radical mix of Godardian free-form cinema, underground theatre and documentary.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K restoration from the original negative
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns (2025)
• New interview with legendary graphic designer and actor, Tadanori Yokoo, on shooting conditions at locations around Shinjuku (2025, 19 mins)
• Japanese Cinema: New Territories - a documentary by Hubert Niogret on the Japanese cinema of rebellion and renewal, charting the emergence of independent filmmakers from the 1960s to the 1990s, featuring interviews with Masahiro Shinoda, Kiju Yoshida, Koji Wakamatsu and others (2011, 52 mins)
• Newly improved English subtitle translation

Year: 1969
Country: Japan
Cert: 18
Format: Blu-ray
Region: ABC
RAD146BD
EAN: 5060974682904
Release date: 17/08/26