DVD Full Metal Yakuza
Eastern Cult Cinema

image

Presented in anamorphic 1.85:1, the transfer is pretty good despite of a little lack of definition and some few artefacts. It is important to consider that this is a very low budget movie originally made for the video market, so the only available sources must be poor quality masters. Taking this detail into account, it is a good image.

sound

Same thing. The original Japanese language track is quite good. There are sometimes a few little problems but absolutely nothing serious, and the stereo Dolby Surround provides very good results for such a low-budget movie whose sound effects were not the strongest spot of the feature anyway.

subtitles

Excellent English subtitles.

special features

Artsmagic did a very good job since the Miike Takashi’s fans may enjoy several interesting and original extras. First, there are two good interviews of Miike and his editor which are quite attention-grabbing even if the director speaks too slowly to keep the attention during the 33 minutes. Then we have the possibility to re-watch the movie listening to an audio commentary by Tom Mes who is a great specialist of Japanese cinema and especially the author of Agitator, a very complete book about Miike’s cinema. All the commentary long, he makes a lot of remarkable observations about Miike, his movies, the actor, and the history of V-Cinema. An excellent extra.

We’ll also appreciate the fine work done by Artsmagic for the bio-filmographies of the director and his four main actors which are very complete and give a lot of information even if people like Miike Takashi and Taguchi Tomorowo have absolutely huge filmographies.

menus

The setup menus are animated in synthesis images which might seem a little bit “cheap” but they are clearly related to the visual effects and universe of the movie. We’ll only notice the unbearable electronic music which accompanies the navigation in the menus.

quality/price ration

A fine DVD which allows to discover the movie in quite good conditions with very solid extras full of information about the movie, its director and his universe. Recommended to all Miike’s fans.

All our thanks to ArtsMagic USA and ArtsMagic UK for providing us with the DVD.

01 June 2004
El Topo | his/her reviews