Third Window Films have recently announced that live-action Asian films Luminous Woman, The Crazy Family and Love Hotel on Blu-Ray in the UK as part of the Directors Company Collection.
Luminous Woman
Release Date: 20th May 2024
Limited to 2000 copies | Region B
Synopsis: A burly hulk of a man (pro-wrestler Keiji Muto) makes his way from Hokkaido to the decrepit trash heaps of outer Tokyo in a quest to find his beloved fiance, but meets a nightclub diva who has lost the ability to sing. When he finds himself pulled into the gladiator pits of a Tokyo nightclub, the mountain man agrees to fight in exchange for information on his lost love, yet also finds himself drawn to the various pulls of the big city. This unconventional love story employs powerful imagery in a daring attempt to visualize the contrast between people who live in concert with nature, and those who live in urbanized civil society.
Bonus Features:
Making Of (50 minutes)
Deleted Scenes (50 minutes)
Trailer
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
The Crazy Family
Release Date: 17th June 2024
Limited to 2000 copies | Region B
Synopsis: The Kobayashi family finally are able to move out of their tiny, cramped Tokyo apartment to the suburban house of their dreams. But things are not as perfect as they seem: the house is infested by termites and the family starts going crazy: Son Masaki is studying so obsessively for his exams that he’s losing his mind; daughter Erika is oblivious of all but her forthcoming record company audition, grandfather Yasukuni starts getting World War II flashbacks and father Katsuhiko is so worried about his family’s “sickness” that he thinks can only be cured by group suicide. As the Kobayashis’ house begins to crumble, so does the sanity of its inhabitants. Katsuhiko takes it upon himself to keep them from the asylum…at any cost.
Bonus Features:
Director approved remaster from the original negatives
Feature length audio commentary by Tom Mes
Director Gakuryu (exSogo) Ishii interview
“The Crazy Family: Sogo Ishii’s Wild Child” Video essay by James Balmont
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
Love Hotel
Release Date: 22nd July 2024
Limited to 2000 copies | Region B
Synopsis: After Tetsuro loses his business, the yakuza collect his debt in the most violent, shocking way imaginable. Honorably, he divorces his wife and becomes a taxi driver. Existing bereft of meaning or support, he eventually encounters Nami, a part-time prostitute who has undergone similar tribulations. An existential study of two lonely and tortured souls, Somai’s melancholic roman porno follows the pair as they kindle a newfound friendship amid the chaos of their broken and dispirited lives.
Bonus Features:
Feature length audio commentary by Jasper Sharp
Shinji Somai at the Director’s Company: Video essay by Josh Slater-Williams
Archival interview with actor Minori Terada and assistant director Koji Enokido
Original Trailer
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
Further details for each release can be found on the official Third Window Films website.
