Hokuriku Proxy War (Blu-ray)

The final entry in Kinji Fukasaku’s celebrated sequence of jitsuroku eiga — fact-based yakuza pictures drawn from real criminal records — plunges into the 1960s underworld of the Hokuriku region as rival gangs wage a bloody proxy war financed by mainland syndicates. Featuring some of the strongest women’s roles in Fukasaku’s entire career, the film centres on a raucous, larger-than-life performance by Hiroki Matsukata, with legendary genre star Sonny Chiba in powerful support.

Presented in a new 2K restoration supplied directly by Toei, this Radiance Films limited edition — limited to 3,000 copies — brings one of the great director’s final genre statements to Blu-ray for the first time.