Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
An Actor's Revenge
Kon Ichikawa's wildly melodramatic tale of a kabuki female impersonator who exacts a long-delayed revenge.
Period drama 1963 114 mins
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Overview
Strange, sumptuous and visually stunning, this wildly melodramatic tale of a kabuki female impersonator who exacts a long-delayed revenge on the men who drove his parents to suicide is played out against a colourful backdrop of comic rivalries between thieves in the Tokyo underworld. Kazuo Hasegawa stars, in the dual role of the actor and a thief, in a film which celebrates his 300th screen appearance.
A heady cocktail of swooning romanticism and highly stylised action, with an outstanding soundtrack that ranges from traditional Japanese music to lush Hollywood strings and cocktail jazz, An Actor’s Revenge is a cinematic tour de force.
scenes of suicide, moderate threatRelated
Period drama
A Jester's Tale A Jester's Tale
Period drama 1964 85 mins Director: Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman's astonishing fantasy mixes live-action and animation to tell the adventures of a ploughman and a mercenery during the Thirty Years War.
Sansho Dayu Sansho Dayu
Period drama 1954 125 mins Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi’s historical epic is among the greatest of all Japanese films, and a masterpiece of humanist cinema.
Picnic at Hanging Rock Picnic at Hanging Rock
Period drama 1975 107 mins Director: Peter Weir
The film that established Peter Weir as a major filmmaker remains one of the most chillingly atmospheric and beautifully enigmatic films ever made.
Blanche Blanche
Period drama 1971 94 mins Director: Walerian Borowczyk
Borowczyk's visually stunning historical drama, which presents the story of a young woman's hypnotic beauty in the style of a moving medieval fresco.
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
Science Fiction 1988 91 mins Director: Vincent Ward
A group of medieval English villagers find themselves transported to '80s New Zealand, in Vincent Ward's startling fusion of period fantasy and time-travel science fiction.
L'innocente L'innocente
Period drama 1976 130 mins Director: Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti's final film is a brilliant and disturbing drama set against the opulent backdrop of decadent, late 19th-century aristocracy.
Japanese Classics
Ran Ran
Drama 1985 154 mins Director: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.
Tokyo Story Tokyo Story
Drama 1953 136 mins Director: Yasujirō Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujiro Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.
100 Years of Japanese Cinema 100 Years of Japanese Cinema
Documentary 1996 52 mins Director: Nagisa Oshima
Archive propels argument in this fascinating exploration of the social and cultural importance of Japan's film heritage.
Tokyo-Ga Tokyo-Ga
Documentary 1985 92 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Profiling one of the great directors of World Cinema, Wim Wenders delivers this moving portrait of Japanese auteur Yasujiro Ozu.
Mifune : The Last Samurai Mifune : The Last Samurai
Documentary 2016 80 mins Director: Steven Okazaki
The on and off-screen character of Toshiro Mifune, Japan’s first international movie star, is explored in this illuminating documentary exploring the life and legacy of this mercurial icon.
Sansho Dayu Sansho Dayu
Period drama 1954 125 mins Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Mizoguchi’s historical epic is among the greatest of all Japanese films, and a masterpiece of humanist cinema.
New
A White, White Day A White, White Day
Drama 2019 109 mins Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Iceland’s finest actor Ingvar Sigurðsson gives a heart-breaking and Cannes award-winning performance as widowed cop who becomes increasingly obsessed with his wife’s death.
Volver Volver
Drama 2005 121 mins Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Family secrets echo around a Spanish clan, ringing loud enough to rouse the dead, in Pedro Almodóvar's assured melodrama.
A Moment in the Reeds A Moment in the Reeds
Romance 2017 107 mins Director: Mikko Makela
The world’s troubles recede, at least for a moment, in this intimate drama about an affair between a Finnish man and a Syrian immigrant.
La belle époque La belle époque
Comedy 2019 115 mins Director: Nicolas Bedos
Daniel Auteuil’s illustrator is given the chance to visit a different era to re-evaluate his life in this resplendent and absurdly enjoyable French comedy.
The Third Wife The Third Wife
Drama 2018 92 mins Director: Ash Mayfair
A fourteen-year-old girl falls for another of her polygamous husband's wives in this award-winning coming-of-age tale of love and self-discovery.
The Wound The Wound
Drama 2017 88 mins Director: John Trengove
A traditional rite of passage ritual forms the backdrop for this tough and complex tale of closeted sexuality in South Africa.