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The Shape of Night

A young woman from the countryside (Miyuki Kuwano of Oshima’s Cruel Story of Youth) falls in love with a handsome hoodlum (Mikijiro Hira, Sword of the Beast), who pushes her into a life of prostitution. When his sleazy superiors catch sight of her, she finds herself trapped inside the gaudy maze of city nightlife. Directed by Noburo Nakamura, a veteran of the Shochiku studio’s signature Golden Age family dramas, The Shape of Night was made as a reaction to the radical film styles of the Japanese New Wave. With its lush cinematography full of saturated colours, a lyrical tone and its story of love leading to inescapable tragedy, it has been compared to the films of Douglas Sirk, while also acting as a precursor to the work of Wong Kar-wai.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:

• High-Definition digital transfer
  
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• New interview with Yoshio Nakamura, son of director Noboru Nakamura (2024, 16 mins)
• Major Changes - a visual essay on the artistic upheavals at Shochiku studios during the 1960s by Tom Mes (2024, 13 mins)
  
• Easter Egg (2024, 5 mins)
  
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• Sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
  

Year: 1964
Cert: 18
Format: Blu-ray
Region: AB
RAD052BD
EAN: 5060974680993
Release date: 24/03/25

Press:

★★★★★ ”a lyrical, nearly Wong Kar-wai-like counterpart to ardent work by Oshima or Imamura” – Film Comment

“kept me continually gripped and often surprised” – David Bordwell

The camera angles and movements, the colour scheme and editing all work brilliantly to illustrate her constant sacrifice and lead us to emotionally internalise the gaudy city as a dazzling parade that always leads her back to her situation. Stylistically the film anticipates the Wong Kar-wai of In the Mood for Love and echoes Douglas Sirk at his most stirring. – Nick James, Sight and Sound