Dear friends,
Hope everyone’s having a good weekend! It has been a busy half-year here, getting our releases of Bye Bye Love, Looking for an Angel, Carnival in the Night, A New Love in Tokyo, Macho Dancer, My Name Ain’t Suzie (and more) ready for screens and disc. We’re really proud of this year’s slate so far, and it looks like you have been enjoying the films too.
As Vinegar Syndrome roll out their annual Half-Way to Black Friday Sale, we wanted to send a warm reminder that nearly all our titles (up to Kaizo Hayashi’s The Maiku Hama Trilogy are on sale at 50% off, until Monday May 25th, 11:50pm Eastern Time).
For the occasion, we put together a simple recommendation cheat sheet:
Our release of My Name Ain’t Suzie (1985), Angie Chen’s ambitious tale of Hong Kong’s Red Light District - newly restored in 2K and free from the Shaw vaults at last - sold out its initial print run in less than a month! We’re re-pressing, but in the meantime, consider Chen’s singular debut at Shaw, the Nancy Drew-esque Maybe It’s Love (1984).
If you’re looking for more woman-forward storytelling, you may also enjoy Marilou Diaz Abaya’s Moral (1982) — the epic story of four best friends graduating from the University of the Philippines during the times of Martial Law. Karnal (1983), a striking example of Filipino Gothic, followed: in which melodrama turns to patriarchal horror.
There would be no Karnal without Kisapmata (1981) — two thematic peas in a pod. Arguably Mike De Leon’s masterpiece, it also stars Vic Silayan as a tyrannical father figure — here attempting to reassert control over his recently married daughter.
Liked The Illegal Immigrant (1985), Mabel Cheung’s debut, shot in New York’s Chinatown with a no-strings attached budget from Shaw Brothers? Try Lav Diaz’s Batang West Side (2001) for an alternate take on Asian immigrant life, in Jersey City.
Liked Carnival in the Night (1981), Masashi Yamamoto’s punk parade of despair and depravities? Let it be your gateway in the the mellower, but no less acerbic anti-capitalist shenanigans of Robinson’s Garden (1987) and What’s Up Connection (1990). Wonderful Paradise (2020) — his latest film — brings its all together with a truly unhinged spin on the unwanted guest scenario: what if the matsuri never ends?
Looking For An Angel (1999)— the very first gay pink film to get a Blu-ray release in the West, as per our latest calculation! — is, of course, a covert arthouse masterpiece. A melancholy, heartbreaking mood piece, as much as a piece of erotic titillation, it is also a great panorama of Tokyo’s streets. If you liked its unique POV on Tokyo, consider Tokyo Uber Blues (2021) — a first-person account of the gig economy, from emerging documentarian Taku Aoyagi, set in the COVID-stricken megalopolis. The shorter TV cut is still streaming on on PBS, if you want a taste!
The other documentary in our catalogue, Shari (2021), takes the viewer to one of Japan’s northernmost cities, with a unique blend of fantasy and documentary. It will become essential catch-up viewing, as we release Nao Yoshigai’s first-person account grief and solace, Masayume (2026, currently touring festivals), this upcoming winter.
If your favorite aspects of Isao Fujisawa’s groundbreaking Bye Bye Love (1974) were its road movie elements, consider Kong Dashan’s unpredictable Journey to the West (2021): a Monkey King re-telling about UFO hunters, shot à la The Office (in short!). If Bye Bye Love was all about the stylish doomed romance for you, of course, follow it with Patrick Tam’s heroic bloodshed crown jewel: My Heart is That Eternal Rose (1989).
Lastly, we can only recommend you start from the top, with Tadashi Nagayama’s pastoral, sort-of slacker comedy, Being Natural (which, as of this writing, is very nearly sold out its glow-in-dark slipcover), our very first. And if you’re in the mood for more contemporary cinema, dig into some of our favorite filmmakers, such as Glenn Barit (2019’s Cleaners) or Daisuke Miyazaki (Videophobia, Plastic and Yamato (California)).
We could do this all day, but we’ll leave it at that for now!
Thanks, as always.
Ariel & Pearl at Kani Releasing
Other updates:
Desert of Namibia joins Cleaners and Kisapmata on the Letterboxd Video Store! All three films are available for digital rental directly on the platform.
Austin Film Society finishes up its screenings of the Maiku Hama trilogy with The Trap today and May 27 & starts preview screenings of Take Care of My Cat on June 3.
VIFF Centre in Vancouver hosts screenings of My Name Ain’t Suzie on May 27 (with Angie Chen in attendance) and May 31.
Dave Barber Cinematheque in Winnipeg screens A New Love in Tokyo starting May 28.
Check out our website for more screening listing!
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