In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, aĀ yakuza,Ā fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful and 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-dream-like score by Toru Takemitsu, this gangster romance was a breakthrough for the idiosyncratic Masahiro Shinoda. The pitch-blackĀ Pale FlowerĀ (Kawaita hana) is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.
SPECIAL 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 ofĀ Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by film critic Chuck Stephens
New cover by Michael Boland