Skinheads - BLU-RAY

Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, the latest from Nadav Lapid (The Kindergarten Teacher) features a dynamic lead performance from newcomer Tom Mercier, whose feral intensity practically bursts out of the frame. Mercier plays Yoav, a disaffected young Israeli who flees Tel Aviv for Paris to start a new life. Desperate to erase his origins, Yoav sees becoming French as his only hope for salvation. Step one is to replace his language. From now on, he will not utter a single word of Hebrew and his dictionary becomes his constant companion. His work at the Israeli embassy is a burden, but studying for his naturalization test also has it's pitfalls. And the young French couple he befriends has some rather strange ideas about how to help him. Based on writer-director Nadav Lapid's own experiences, Synonyms explores the challenges of putting down roots in a new place. Yoav's attempts to find himself awaken past demons and open up an existential abyss in this tragicomic puzzle that wisely knows how to keep it's secrets.

From Oscar -winning director Guy Nattiv comes this galvanizing story of transformation inspired by true events. After a difficult childhood drives him into the grasps of a white supremacist gang, Bryon (Jamie Bell) strives to escape to a new life, and struggles to undo and repent for the evil he's done.

Drawn from the pen of one of Japan's foremost writers of the 20th century, Junichiro Tanizaki (A Fool's Love, The Makioka Sisters), Irezumi is a stylish tale of lust, betrayal and revenge directed by Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Blind Beast).Masumura's muse Ayako Wakao (The Blue Sky Maiden, Red Angel) stars as Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, who is tempted by her lover, Shinsuke, a lowly employee of her father's, to elope. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality transforms under it's influence.Available for the first time outside of Japan in a new 4K restoration, Irezumi sports some of Japanese cinema's most respected talent of it's day both in front of and behind the camera. The bewitching cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Ugetsu) captures the sensual atmosphere of the period setting, while the script by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Kuroneko) lends a modern twist to this feverish meditation on obsession and the act of creation.