Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Director: Nagisa Ôshima

1983 / 123min / 35mm

Ryuichi Sakamoto composed his first original score for Ōshima’s lacerating World War II-set drama, in which the musician also starred, in his film acting debut, as Captain Yonoi, the Bushidō code-obsessed commandant of a Japanese POW camp in occupied Java who enters into a war of wills with unbreakable tow-headed South African internee Maj. Jack Celliers (David Bowie), his obsession with Celliers developing a distinctive element of romantic and sexual yearning. Also providing the first big-screen dramatic role for young comic actor “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence was greeted by many a skeptical critical notice on its initial release, but with the passage of time Ōshima’s hypnotic and ultimately heartbreaking film has attracted an ardent cult.

Distributor: Janus Films