From the director of Vengeance Is Mine and Warm Water Under A Red Bridge, the Masters of Cinema series is proud to present this unforgettable work, for the first time in the UK on DVD, in an exclusively restored high-definition transfer.
The culmination of Shōhei Imamura's extraordinary examinations of the fringes of Japanese society throughout the 1960s, Profound Desires Of The Gods was an 18-month super-production which failed to make an impression at the time of its release, but has since risen in stature to become one of the most legendary — albeit least seen — Japanese films of recent decades.
Presenting a vast chronicle of life on the remote Kurage Island, the film centres on the disgraced, superstitious, interbred Futori family and the Tokyo engineer sent to supervise the creation of a new well — an encounter which leads to both conflict and complicity in strange and powerful ways.
A tragic view of a passing epoch that teeters on the edge of grotesque farce, Imamura's merciless gaze combines with spectacular colour 'Scope photography to create a mythic saga convulsing with earthly impulses.
This release features a new English subtitle translation, and is packaged with an extensive booklet with a new essay by Tony Rayns, rare stills, reprinted statements by Imamura, a lengthy 1994 career interview, and a transcript of Imamura's introduction and Q&A session at the 1994 Edinburgh International Film Festival's screening of the film.
Film: Profound Desires Of The Gods
Release date: 21st February 2011
Certificate: 15
Running time: 173 mins
Director: Shôhei Imamura
Starring: Rentarô Mikuni, Choichiro Kawarazaki, Kazuo Kitamura, Hideko Okiyama, Yoshi Katô
Genre: Drama
Studio: Eureka!
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
DVD Special Features:
• New video introduction by film scholar Tony Rayns
• Original theatrical trailer
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