Criterion Hints At Future Nagisa Oshima Release: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

With the new Eclipse box set, Eclipse Series 21: Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties, hitting store shelves today, it appears as though Criterion is set to release yet another film from the legendary director, Nagisa Oshima.

Best known as the man behind the controversial film, In The Realm of The Senses, the new box set includes films like Pleasures of the Flesh, Violence At Noon, Sing a Song Of Sex, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide and Three Resurrected Drunkards, Criterion has now announced, kind of, that they will be bringing Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence to the collection.

In a tweet this morning, the collection announced that the film would see a release ‘this year’¦’ which albeit a cryptic piece of news, is quite interesting. This would be Nagisa’s third film in the collection, with Senses and Empire of Passion, and follows a British soldier Jack Celliers who comes to a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Yonoi. Celliers meets an interpreter, John Lawrence, who tries to explain the culture of the Japanese, but is considered a traitor instead.

While I actually haven’t had a chance to see the film, it does sound quite interesting, and right up Oshima’s politically charged alley. The film also stars David Bowie and Tom Conti as the film’s two leads, and even features a performance from Takeshi Kitano, director of films like Outrage (currently in competition at Cannes) and the rather superb Achilles and the Tortoise, so it’s definitely an interesting little film.

No release date was announced, but the film is set to see a release sometime this year from Criterion, and I must say, it is a welcome addition, as would be any film from Oshima, in my opinion.