The July Blu-ray releases from Radiance have been announced as director Murakawa Toru's dark thriller The Beast to Die, Paul Vecchiali's underseen drama Rosa la rose, fille publique, a collection of 27 animated shorts from Poland in Essential Polish Animation, and from Arbelos, Wayne Wang's early work Life is Cheap... But Toilet Paper is Expensive. Details of each title below.
THE BEAST TO DIE [YAJŪ SHISUBESHI] (Japan 1980)
Blu-ray | 21 July 2025 | £17.99
Deeply scarred by what he witnessed on battlefields across Asia, a young war photographer (Matsuda Yusaku, Yokohama BJ Blues) returns to the bustling streets of Tokyo, plotting a series of brutal murders and robberies that are mere warmups for an unprecedented bank heist. Searching for an accomplice, he finds the short-fused and equally disenfranchised Tetsuo (Kaga Takeshi, Death Note).
Directed by Murakawa Toru (The Game Trilogy) from a venomous script by Maruyama Shoichi (Yokohama BJ Blues), this unsettling dark thriller was Matsuda Yusaku’s farewell to his 1970s action hero persona.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- 4K Restoration by Kadokawa
- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
- Interview with Murakawa Toru (2025)
- Interview with Maruyama Shoichi (2025)
- Critical appreciation from novelist and screenwriter Jordan Harper (2025)
- Newly improved English subtitle translation
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Tatsuya Masuto
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Pre-order from Radiance Films here.
ROSA LA ROSE, FILLE PUBLIQUE (France 1986)
Blu-ray | 21 July 2025 | £17.99
On the streets of Paris, Rosa ‘la rose’ (Marianne Basler, Va savoir) is the belle of Les Halles. With no shortage of clients, she is beloved by her fellow working girls and spoiled by her pimp Gilbert (Jean Sorel, Belle de Jour). For her, this is a charmed life - that is until her 20th birthday arrives. Across the floor, she locks eyes with Julien (Pierre Cosso, An American Werewolf in Paris), a blue-collar worker who sees something deeper beyond her fun-loving façade. Almost Shakespearean in its execution, Paul Vecchiali’s underseen drama explores class consciousness and female sexuality with startling precision. Anchored by a magnetic central performance from the then 20-year-old Marianne Basler, Rosa la rose, fille publique is a true hidden gem.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- 2K restoration approved by Paul Vecchiali
- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
- Interview with critic David Jenkins (2025)
- Archival interview with director Paul Vecchiali (1985)
- Archival interview with actors Marianne Basler and Jean Sorel (1985)
- Newly improved English subtitle translation
- Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original promotional materials Limited edition booklet featuring archival interviews and new writing by Marina Ashioti
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Pre-order from Radiance Films here.
ESSENTIAL POLISH ANIMATION
Blu-ray | 21 July 2025 | £25.99
Polish animation, influenced by jazz, poster design and collage, took off in the late 1950s when artists found creative freedom in the wake of Stalin’s death. Pioneering filmmakers like Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica would change the form and usher in a golden age of filmmaking that would enable this art form to be appreciated around the world including winning prestigious international awards at festivals such as Cannes, Annecy, Oberhausen and an Oscar for Rybczyński’s Tango. This collection of 27 films spans the breakthrough works of the late 1950s to the close of the classic era in the 1980s, capturing some of the form’s essential films.
COMPLETE LIST OF FILMS:
- Banner of Youth (Borowczyk, Lenica, 1957)
- Love Requited (Borowczyk, Lenica, 1958)
- The Changing of the Guard (Halina Bielinska, Wlodzimiez Haupe, 1959)
- New Janko the Musician (Jan Lenica, 1960)
- A Little Western (Witold Giersz, 1960)
- Playthings (Kazimierz Urbanski, 1962)
- Labyrinth (Jan Lenica, 1962)
- The Chair (Daniel Szczechura, 1963)
- The Red and the Black (Witold Giersz, 1964)
- Everything is a Number (Stefan Schabenbeck, 1967)
- Horse (Witold Giersz, 1967)
- Cages (Miroslaw Kijowicz, 1967)
- The Stairs (Stefan Schabenbeck, 1968)
- The Son (Ryszard Czekała, 1970)
- Journey (Daniel Szczechura (1970)
- Roll Call (Ryszard Czekała, 1970)
- Road (Miroslaw Kijowicz, 1971)
- The Banquet (Zofia Oraczewska, 1977)
- Barrier (Jerzy Kucia, 1977)
- A Hardcore Engaged Film. Non-camera (Julian Józef Antoniszczak, 1979)
- Reflections (Jerzy Kucia, 1979)
- Tango (Zbigniew Rybczyński, 1980)
- Solo in a Fallow Field (Jerzy Kalina, 1981)
- The Source (Jerzy Kucia, 1982)
- Chips (Jerzy Kucia, 1984)
- A Gentle Woman (Piotr Dumała, 1985)
- Parade (Jerzy Kucia, 1987)
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- High-Definition digital transfers of 27 classic animated films on two discs
- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
- Audio commentaries on select films by Polish film expert Daniel Bird (2025)
- Visual essay by film historian and Eastern European cinema expert Michael Brooke (2025)
- Optional English subtitles Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by animation expert Karol Szafraniec
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Pre-order from Radiance Films here.
LIFE IS CHEAP... BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE (USA 1989)
Blu-ray | 21 July 2025 | £17.99
Exploding a seemingly simple premise – a nameless “cowboy” courier (Spencer Nakasako) arrives in pre-Handover Hong Kong to deliver a mysterious briefcase to a mercurial Mob boss whilst becoming entangled with his femme fatale mistress (Cora Miao) – independent filmmaking legend Wayne Wang’s Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive barrels through inspired genre deconstruction, guerrilla docu-fiction and fierce political jeremiad, all with a keen sense of humour and one of the richest visual palettes of the 1990s.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- New 4K restoration from the original 35mm colour interpositive
- New video interview with director Wayne Wang
- New video interview with co-writer/co-director Spencer Nakasako & Wang
- Original full-length chase sequence
- Trailer
- Newly improved English subtitle translation
- Limited edition booklet with new writing by Aliza Ma
- Limited edition slipcover – exclusive to radiancefilms.co.uk
Pre-order from Radiance Films here. |
