Pale Flower - The Criterion Collection

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 Features

• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Interview with director Masahiro Shinoda
• Selected-scene audio commentary by film scholar Peter Grilli, coproducer of Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu
• Trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Chuck Stephens

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