#798: OSHIMA, Nagisa: Death By Hanging (1968)

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OSHIMA, Nagisa (Japan)
Death By Hanging [1968]
Spine #798
Blu-ray

Genius provocateur Nagisa Oshima, an influential figure in the Japanese New Wave of the 1960s, made one of his most startling political statements with the compelling pitch-black satire Death by Hanging. In this macabre farce, a Korean man is sentenced to death in Japan but survives his execution, sending the authorities into a panic about what to do next. At once disturbing and oddly amusing, Oshima's constantly surprising film is a subversive and surreal indictment of both capital punishment and the treatment of Korean immigrants in his country.

118 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in Japanese
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2016
Director/Writers



A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by critic Howard Hampton and a 1968 director’s statement by Oshima.

Commentary

None.

Interview

With critic Tony Rayns.

High-definition digital transfer

Of director Oshima’s 1965 experimental short documentary Diary of Yunbogi.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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