Third Window Films will be releasing the third set of a series of films from the legendary 1980s Japanese production group, The Director's Company, all presented with brand new digital restorations. The films in this set are Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Bumpkin Soup, Ikeda Toshiharu's Mermaid Legend, and Scent of a Spell, also from Ikeda Toshiharu.

BUMPKIN SOUP [DO-RE-MI-FA MUSUME NO CHI WA SAWAGU] (1985)

Blu-ray & Digital | 17 February 2024 | £17.99 (Terracotta store)

An early pink film from Kurosawa Kiyoshi, the award-winning director of Cure and Tokyo Sonata.

A country girl named Akiko (Yoriko Doguchi, known for her collaborations with the late Shinoyama Kishin) 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 Itami Juzo) and of course her sweetheart Yoshioka, who has become an elusive campus nobody.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL 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 [NINGYO DENSETSU] (1984)

Blu-ray & Digital | 17 February 2024 | £17.99 (Terracotta store)

From the late Ikeda Toshiharu, director of Evil Dead Trap [Shiryô no wana] (1988) comes a tale of powerful vengeance.

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. 

BLU-RAY SPECIAL 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 [MASHO NO KAORI] (1985)

Blu-ray & Digital | 17 February 2024 | £17.99 (Terracotta store)

A Nikkatsu Roman Porno and Directors Company collaboration between director Toshiharu Ikeda (Mermaid Legend) & writer Takashi Ishii (Love Hotel).

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.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL 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