Top 10 Blu-rays (UK) for January 2024 (2024)

Beautifully stylish and darkly progressive noir procedural that shines a light on one of the most hushed crimes in modern society.

Opening with a terrifyingly violent attack where a woman is forced to give up four names before being murdered, Tai Kato’s visceral and disturbing exploration of a killing spree becomes a fascinating mix of the who and whydunit, the murderer’s identity made known to us from the very beginning, but his motivations for the sad*stic murders of the identified women forming the intriguing backbone to a propulsive and gorgeously shot investigation.

Every frame is staged to perfection, Kato’s fascinating use of ultra-low angles, extreme close ups and foreground clutter giving us a very stark and real world in which the tail unfolds within. But while the first two acts seem to be heading into familiar territory as police begin to suspect that the suicide of a young man in the same building as the first murder just a couple of days earlier may be linked to the killings, the final act delivers a disturbingly dark twist on what’s gone before, daring audience’s sympathies and empathies to about face and reconsider all that’s taken place.

...dark, complex and wonderfully objective, placing the audience in the midst of an unfolding exploration of the murky sexual politics of Japanese culture...

The ninety-minute run-time is used quite brilliantly, not just to pack in a huge amount of efficient yet wholly effective character work, but to offer up two carefully constructed studies of both a crime and its perpetrator, never offering up easy answers right to the very last shot, but always utilising Kato’s wonderful eye.

Dark, complex and wonderfully objective, placing the audience in the midst of an unfolding exploration of the murky sexual politics of Japanese culture, I, the Executioner has remained a hell of a thing nearly sixty years later…

The transfer looks really quite solid – blacks are deep, whites are bright and occasionally bloom (but there’s a lot of this being used on purpose by Kato), while grain looks slightly chunky but natural and detail is decent enough. It's clean and lacks any judder and overall, it’s a highly competent transfer. The Japanese LPCM 2.0 dual mono track has a touch of underlying hiss to it but it's only noticeable during quieter moments and together with clean and error-free English subtitles that seemed nicely synched, it’s a strong audio and visual presentation overall. Extras are limited to a 20 min appreciation with Kenta f*ckasaku and a 16 min look at Japanese serial killer films – both are interesting enough, but one watchers and with nothing else, bar the usual off-disc extras that Radiance pile into their LEs (booklets reversible sleeves, etc), it's one of their lighter offerings.

Film: 9/10 Video: 8/10 Audio: 7/10 Extras: 5/10 Overall: 8/10

Other releases that didn’t quite make the Top Ten this month include:

The Sting of Death (1990, Radiance Films, region A/B, release date: 29/01)

An exploration of the dissolution of a marriage, this hyper-stylized, overtly theatrical affair from Kohei Oguri is an excruciating watch. Well-acted by Keiko Matsuzaka and Ittoku Kishibe, it’s a sadly dreary exercise in misery-p*rn, offering us little insight into this couple whose marriage is badly foundering in the wake of infidelity outside of them simply being defined by their entrapment in an increasingly unhappy situation. There’s no glimpse of them outside of these claustrophobic death throes of their relationship and it detaches us completely from the situation and the characters – empathy and sympathy are not earned, there’s nothing to let us understand why these two stay together and as such, it’s a two-hour long exercise in grinding futility that teases an escape of sorts with the barest of glimpses of flights of fancy and possibly returning memories but snatches them away to keep us locked into this ghastly situation they find themselves in. Some may appreciate that grim focus and find merit in its archness, but like these two with their own lives at times throughout this, I couldn’t wait for it to end…

Film: 3/10 Video: 7/10 Audio: 8/10 Extras: 5/10 Overall: 4/10

And so to finally finish off, what is my pick of this month?

Mark’s Pick of the Month

I, the Executioner

Tai Kato’s brilliant noir procedural takes us on a journey quite unlike anything seen in either genre, a dark, and at times desperately sad look at the sexual politics of a culture that even today seems both transgressive and incredibly progressive. It doesn’t heavily feature the usual tropes of either genre, but that’s very much to the film’s benefit, always keeping the audience guessing as to the motivations behind the actions of the film’s antagonists and protagonists and as such, it's a nicely different way to start 2024…

So that’s it for another month. It’s great to see the boutiques not taking their foot of the gas and keeping these little known and fascinating gems coming to 1080p…as the years change, the commitment to releasing interesting new titles with great transfers and fascinating supplementals doesn’t appear to be and for that we should all be very grateful. February is looking equally tasty with the likes of New French Extremity classic Inside coming from Second Sight, Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom Trilogy coming from Mubi and gonzo Hong Kong gorefests Evil Dead Trap 1 and 2 from 88 Films.

So see you all back here in a few weeks’ time to take a look at what other joys February brings. In the meantime, don’t forget to let us know in the discussion thread your thoughts on these or any other of this month’s releases. So take it easy y’alls and have yet another great month’s viewing!

You might also like: