A man named Kure Ichiro (Yôji Matsuda) wakes up to find himself in a mental institution with no memory of who he is or why he is there. He is told by a Dr. Wakabayashi (Hideo Murota) that Ichiro has killed his fiancée on their wedding day, and his amnesia is caused by his brain’s…
A Man On His Knees [Radiance Films] Blu-ray Review
What would you do if you suddenly and inexplicably found yourself the potential target of a hitman? This is the precise situation that Nino Peralta (Giuliano Gemma), simple husband and father who works at a coffee stand, finds himself in when he is told that he is one of eight targets for elimination by one…
Tattooed Life [Radiance Films] Blu-ray Review
Tetsu (Hideki Takahashi) and Kenji (Kotobuki Hananamoto) are brothers, very different in temperament but bonded by blood. Tetsu is a hardened yakuza hitman who finds himself on the other end of a Yakuza altercation, but is saved by more sensitive and artistic Kenji, leaving Tetsu’s attacker dead. They are both forced to skip town for…
Viva La Muerte! [Radiance] Blu-ray Review
A young boy named Fando watches as his father is executed by firing squad after the Spanish Civil War under the Franco dictatorship. He comes to discover that it was his mother who actually turned his father in due to their conflicting political ideologies. The film follows Fando as his imagination conjures up bizarre and…
Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza [Radiance] Blu-ray Review
Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza, originally appearing as a stage play in the 1920s and being adapted to film several times since then, is the story of a wandering samurai named Tokijiro (Kinnosuke Nakamura) who works for gangsters in exchange for shelter for the night. They give him a bed and food, and he agrees to kill…
Tchao Pantin [Radiance] Blu-ray Review
Lambert (Coluche) is a melancholy, alcoholic gas station attendant that works the night shift with no drive in life. One evening a young man named Bensoussan stumbles into Lambert’s life while fleeing the cops, igniting a spark of friendship that Lambert hasn’t felt in a very long time. We come to find out that Bensoussan…
Eighteen Years in Prison [Radiance] Blu-ray Review
Noboru Ando plays Kawada, a former soldier of a suicide squadron in WWII who is now trying to find meaning in his life and forms a gang with his friend Tsukada (Asao Koike) to steal goods from occupying American soldiers in order to setup an organization to take care of the families of fallen Japanese…
Bandits of Orgosolo [Radiance Films] Blu-ray Review
Michele and his little brother Peppeddu are Sardinian shepherds who manage to just barely scape by in their quiet and dignified life. Their lives are shattered when three bandits rustling pigs cross paths with them. When Michele is forced to give refuge to the bandits on the run from the law, he is mistakenly accused…
Sympathy for the Underdog [Radiance Films] Blu-Ray Review
Kôji Tsuruta is Gunji, a yakuza who has spent the last ten years in prison after partnering with the Daikato gang to take out a rival clan. Upon his return to Yokohama, he finds that the Daikato have basically taken over the town under the guise of going straight. Gunji decides to start over in…
Shinobi [Radiance Films] Blu-ray Box Set Review
In Shinobi: Band of Assassins, Goemon Ishikawa (Ichikawa Raizo) is a promising young pupil who is shown particular favor by shadowy ninja clan master Sandayu (Yunosuke Ito). Sandayu secretly sets up Goemon in a scheme to push him to assassinate the Japanese warlord Ode Nobunaga who is trying to consolidate power amidst the feuding territories….