Fires on the Plain
Kon Ichikawa
Japan,
1959
An agonizing portrait of desperate Japanese soldiers stranded in a strange land during World War II, Kon Ichikawa's Fires on the Plain is a compelling descent into psychological and physical oblivion. Denied hospital treatment for tuberculosis and cast off into the unknown, Private Tamura treks across an unfamiliar Philippine landscape, encountering an increasingly debased cross section of Imperial Army soldiers, who eventually give in to the most terrifying craving of all. Grisly yet poetic, Fires on the Plain is one of the most powerful works from one of Japanese cinema’s most versatile filmmakers.
Latest Releases
-
A celebration of an artist’s life in the purest sense, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus is the definitive swan song of one of the world’s greatest musicians.
Neo Sora 2023
DCP, Blu-ray -
Mauritanian French director Med Hondo’s West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty proved a watershed event for African cinema.
Med Hondo Mauritania, 1979
DCP, Blu-ray -
Nestled away in wintry East Anatolia, public-school art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) yearns to leave the sleepy village for cosmopolitan Istanbul.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan Turkey, 2023
DCP -
In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts.
Jean-Pierre Melville France, 1967
DCP, Blu-ray, DVD -
Horace Ové’s fiction-film debut marks a watershed in the history of British cinema: the nation’s first feature to be written and directed by a Black filmmaker and the first to focus on the perspective of Black characters.
Horace Ové United Kingdom, 1975
DCP, Blu-ray