Pale Flower Criterion Collection Blu-Ray

In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a yakuza, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful yet enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him further down the criminal path. Bewitchingly shot and edited and laced with a fever-dreamlike score by Toru Takemitsu (Woman in the Dunes, Ran), this breakthrough gangster romance from Masahiro Shinoda (Samurai Spy, Double Suicide) announced an idiosyncratic major filmmaking talent. The pitch-black Pale Flower (Kawaita hana) is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New video interview with director Masahiro Shinoda
• Selected-scene audio commentary by film scholar Peter Grilli, coproducer
of Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film critic Chuck Stephens