Koreyoshi Kurahara
1964 • 95 minutes • 2.25:1 • Japan
Edition: Collector’s Sets
You’ve probably never seen anything quite like this manic, oddball, anti–buddy picture about a young, jazz-obsessed Japanese drifter and a black American GI on the lam in Tokyo.
This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of the nimble nasties Nikkatsu had to offer, action potboilers modeled on the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres.
Koreyoshi Kurahara
Japan
Edition: DVD
Koreyoshi Kurahara’s free-form approach to moviemaking was perfectly suited to the radical spirit of the 1960s, when he was one of the biggest hit makers working at the razzle-dazzle, youth-oriented Nikkatsu studios.
Koreyoshi Kurahara
1957 • 91 minutes • 1.33:1 • Japan
Edition: Collector’s Sets
In Koreyoshi Kurahara’s directorial debut, rebel matinee idol Yujiro Ishihara stars as a restaurant manager and former boxer who saves a beautiful, suicidal club hostess (Mie Kitahara) trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.
Koreyoshi Kurahara
1962 • 105 minutes • 2.35:1 • Japan
Edition: Collector’s Sets
In the high-octane, unorthodox romance I Hate But Love (Nikui anchikusho), a celebrity (played by megastar Yujiro Ishihara), dissatisfied with his personal and professional lives, impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village.
Koreyoshi Kurahara
1960 • 65 minutes • 2.20:1 • Japan
Edition: Collector’s Sets
The marvelously moody Intimidation (Aru kyouhaku) is an elegantly stripped-down and carefully paced crime drama.
Koreyoshi Kurahara
1967 • 99 minutes • 2.45:1 • Japan
Edition: Collector’s Sets
Kurahara adapted a novel by Yukio Mishima for Thirst for Love (Ai no kawaki), a tense psychological drama about a young woman who is widowed after marrying into a wealthy family.
Koreyoshi Kurahara
1960 • 75 minutes • 2.35:1 • Japan
Editions: Collector’s Sets, iTunes
The anarchic descent into amoral madness that is The Warped Ones (Kyonetsu no kisetsu) sounded a lost generation’s cry for help and was one of the films that kicked off Japan’s cinematic sixties with a bang.