Nostalgia Kinky

A beautifully composed and structured work of cinema from Japanese director Tai Katō, BLOOD OF REVENGE (1965) is a boldly poetic yakuza film soon out from Radiance on Blu-ray. Directed with incredible precision by Katō, BLOOD OF REVENGE features the great Koji Tsuruta in an astounding performance that is profoundly human, bristling with emotion in a genre often known for its lack of it.

Save for his short debut LICE ARE SCARY (1943), which Radiance have added to this film’s supplements, Tai Katō’s feature-length directorial career began as the fifties dawned. In between his first short feature and his early features, Katō worked as an assistant director on a number of films, including Kurosawa’s masterful RASHOMON (1950). Working with Toho, he’d make more than 25 films in the fifteen year period between his work with Kurosawa and BLOOD OF REVENGE. His work behind the camera here is flat out remarkable, a masterclass in composition and framing especially.

Perhaps just as important as Katō’s direction is the fact that film was co-written by the great Norifumi Suzuki, who’d just started his own legendary directorial career that produced some of the most unforgettable films of the late sixties through the seventies. Katō’s experience and subtlety collide with Suzuki’s anarchic punk-rock spirit making the fact that BLOOD OF REVENGE partially concerns conflicts between tradition and modernity especially noteworthy. Despite the fact that he was barely out of his twenties and had very little film experience, Suzuki’s script (co-written with the more experienced Akira Murao) is one of the film’s main strengths, It is especially impressive considering the fact that BLOOD OF REVENGE could have been a very routine film centered on rivalry and revenge but it is far more interesting than your average Yakuza film.

Every beautifully composed shot in BLOOD OF REVENGE is punctuated by the stunning cinematography by Motoya Washio. What an absolutely gorgeous film this. There are so many freeze-frame worthy moments throughout that it is easy to lose count. This is masterclass filmmaking. Washio’s work on the film also marked the first time he’d cross paths with Suzuki but certainly not the last, as Washio ended up as DP on later Suzuki classics like SILK HOUSE BOSS (1970) and SEX AND FURY (1973). Katō also called on Washio again after BLOOD OF REVENGE, not surprising at all considering just how completely stunning looking their collaboration is.

While Koji Tsuruta totally dominates the film, in a real performance for the ages, BLOOD OF REVENGE is packed with a splendid ensemble cast. A special note of mention goes to stunning Sumiko Fuji, who gives a heartbreakingly romantic performance that’s incredibly moving. Throughout Katō allows the entirety of his cast to shine, guiding one exceptional performance after another.

Running just shy of ninety minutes, the leisurely paced BLOOD OF REVENGE never outstays its welcome. If anything the film is perhaps a bit too considered, even a bit overly restrained at times. Perhaps this is by design as it certainly makes the jaw-dropping late film action/revenge sequence all the more shockingly gratifying and explosive.

Per their usual, Radiance have done an terrific job bringing BLOOD OF REVENGE to Blu-ray and it looks lovely via this new HD transfer. The sole mono track is strong and I so appreciated how in depth the subtitles are, including providing lyrics. Extras are fairly slim but strong. The nicely presented booklet comes with a great new essay by Earl Jackson and Mark Schilling supplies a terrific and informative essay, Junko Fuji: Flower and Storm. A double side sleeve is available as is the OBI info strip.

BLOOD OF REVENGE is a spectacular piece of movie-making. It is also a strikingly emotive work of art with a tinge of loss and sadness at every turn.
Kind of like life.

Here is my look at LICE ARE SCARY, the early short also found on this Blu-ray, which can be ordered directly from Radiance or MVD.

A fascinating curiosity, LICE ARE SCARY is the debut film from director Tai Katō. A short wartime educational/propaganda film about the dangers of lice, typhoid fever and capitalism, LICE ARE SCARY is serviceable for what it is. Shot documentary style in newsreel like black and white footage along with some animation, this was shot nearly a decade before Katō’s feature-length debut. There isn’t anything here that marks the sign of a great filmmaker but that’s not really the point. There’s no room for any sort of grand cinematic entrance here for Katō, who at this point only had experience as an assistant director. If anything elevates this from any other mid-forties classroom-style health films, it is one rather jolting out of the blue line that momentarily SCREAMS out the film’s fairly obvious subtext. With its target audience being kids and young men coming of battle age, LICE ARE SCARY does what it set out it to do. Cheers to Radiance for adding this neat little film to their BLOOD OF REVENGE Blu-ray. Subtitled in English, the print for LICE ARE SCARY is in pretty rough shape but it’s a miracle the film survives in the first place so no matter.

-Jeremy Richey, January 2026-

***Both of these reviews were originally shared at my Letterboxd.***