Third Window Films have recently announced that the live-action Asian films Bumpkin Soup, Mermaid Legend and Scent of a Spell will be released on Blu-Ray in the UK as part of the Directors Company Collection.
Bumpkin Soup
Release Date: 17th February 2025
Limited to 2000 copies | Region Free
Synopsis: A country girl named Akiko (Yoriko Doguchi, known for her collaborations with the late Kishin Shinoyama) visits a college in Tokyo in search of her hometown sweetheart. In the course of finding him, she runs into various odd inhabitants of the college campus–blasé intellectuals, sex-crazed co-eds, a psychology professor in search of the theory of shame (played by award-winning director Juzo Itami) and of course her sweetheart Yoshioka, who has become an elusive campus nobody.
Bonus Features:
Interview with actress Yoriko Doguchi
Feature length audio commentary by Jasper Sharp
Video Essay by Jerry White, author of “The Films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa : Master of Fear”
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
‘Directors Company’ edition featuring insert by Jasper Sharp – limited to 2000 copies
Mermaid Legend
Release Date: 17th February 2025
Limited to 2000 copies | Region Free
Synopsis: When a fisherman is killed by greedy land developers for standing in the way of their expansion plans, his pearl-diver wife Migiwa moves into unforgiving and vindictive payback on those yakuza responsible. Framed for her husband’s murder and forced to shelter in a brothel, hell hath no fury as the bloody battles begin.
Bonus Features:
Interview with writer Takuya Nishioka
Feature length audio commentary by Jasper Sharp and Tom Mes
Video Essay on Toshiyuki Honda by James Balmont
Trailer
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
‘Directors Company’ edition featuring insert by Jasper Sharp – limited to 2000 copies
Scent of a Spell
Release Date: 17th February 2025
Limited to 2000 copies | Region B
Synopsis: While a young man (Johnny Okura) is on his way home from a bar in a torrential downpour, he comes across a woman (Mari Amachi) trying to kill herself by jumping off a bridge. Without thinking, he jumps in to rescue her and save her from drowning. After taking her to his home, he learns that she’s escaped from a violent husband whom he decides to try and protect her from. He starts to fall for her, but finds out that there’s more to her story than she’s willing to tell at first.
Bonus Features:
Interview with Tokyo Intl. Film Festival programming director Shozo Ichiyama
Feature length audio commentary by Samm Deighan
Video Essay by Matthew Carter
Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
‘Directors Company’ edition featuring insert by Jasper Sharp – limited to 2000 copies
Further details for each release can be found on the official Third Window Films website.
