[Susan Foreman]

9th March, 2018

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

Arrow Academy

"NEW UK/US/CA TITLE: Akio Jissôji: The Buddhist Trilogy (Blu-ray)

A limited edition collection containing three of Akio Jissôji’s New Wave films for the Art Theatre Guild.

Release date: 11/12 June

Akio Jissôji created a rich and diverse body of work during his five decades in Japan’s film and television industries. For some, he is best-known for his science-fiction: the 1960s TV series Ultraman and 1998’s box-office success Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. For others, it is his 1990s adaptations of horror and mystery novelist Edogawa Rampo, such as Watcher in the Attic and Murder on D Street. And then there are his New Wave films for the Art Theatre Guild, three of which – This Transient Life, Mandara and Poem, forming The Buddhist Trilogy – are collected here.

Winner of the Golden Leopard award at the 1970 Locarno Film Festival, This Transient Life is among the Art Theatre Guild’s most successful – and most controversial – productions. The film concerns a brother and sister from a rich family who defy the expectations placed on them: he has little interest in further education or his father’s business, instead obsessing over Buddhist statues; she continually refuses a string of suitors and the prospect of marriage. Their closeness, and isolation, gives way to an incestuous relationship which, in turn, breeds disaster.

Mandara, Jissôji’s first colour feature, maintained the controversial subject matter, focussing on a cult who recruit through rape and hope to achieve true ecstasy through sexual release. Shot, as with all of Jissôji’s Art Theatre Guild works, in a radically stylised manner, the film sits somewhere between the pinku genre and the fiercely experimental approach of his Japanese New Wave contemporaries.

The final entry in the trilogy, Poem, returns to black and white and is centred on the austere existence of a young houseboy who becomes helplessly embroiled in the schemes of two brothers. Written by Toshirô Ishidô (screenwriter of Nagisa Ôshima’s The Sun’s Burial and Shôhei Imamura’s Black Rain), who also penned This Transient Life and Mandala, Poem continues the trilogy’s exploration of faith in a post-industrial world.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of This Transient Life, Mandara and Poem
• Original uncompressed LPCM mono 1.0 audio on all three films
• Newly translated optional English subtitles
• Introductions to all three films by David Desser, author of Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave
• Scene-select commentaries on all three films by Desser
• Theatrical trailer for Mandara
• Theatrical trailer for Poem
• Limited edition packaging, fully illustrated by maarko phntm
• Illustrated 80-page perfect-bound collector’s book featuring new writings on the film by Anton Bitel and Tom Mes"

21st August, 2018

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

Arrow Academy

"***THE BUDDHIST TRILOGY RELEASE DATE UPDATE***

Arrow pride itself in the quality of every release that we work on. Within the Akio Jissoji – The Buddhist Trilogy we’ve set about tracing the very best materials available. Unfortunately tracking these down has proven more difficult than we initially thought, which has had a knock-on effect on our production schedule.

While we recognise that this will cause disappointment, during the production process we have managed to secure the rights to another film that we will be adding to the collection. This is Jissoji’s 1974 feature It Was a Faint Dream, which will expand and improve the set. The release date has now been pushed back to 31st December 2018.

We sincerely appreciate your patience during this delay."

Today:
"***AKIO JISSOJI: THE BUDDHIST TRILOGY RELEASE DATE UPDATE***

As many of you may already be aware, we’ve previously encountered a few production issues with our AKIO JISSOJI: THE BUDDHIST TRILOGY release. Sadly one of these issues is still unresolved so after much careful consideration, we’ve now decided to remove this item from sale until we can 100% confirm a new date for release. If you’ve ordered this box set direct from our website you should have already received an email from our team and we’ll be issuing you with refunds shortly.

We are genuinely sorry for this situation - we know lots of you are really looking forward to this set. The release will still very much be going ahead, we just want to ensure we have a concrete date set rather than pushing the set back again and again whilst we try and resolve the last of the issues.

Team Arrow"