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Considered the magnum opus of the five decades-long career of Tomu Uchida (Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji, The Mad Fox), the epic crime drama A Fugitive from the Past was voted third in the prestigious Kinema Junpo magazine's 1999 poll of the Top Japanese Films of the 20th Century. In 1947, a freak typhoon sends a passenger ferry running between Hokkaido and mainland Japan plunging to the ocean depths, with hundreds of lives lost. During the chaos, three men are witnessed fleeing a burning pawnshop in the Hokkaido port town of Iwanai. The police suspect theft and arson, and when Detective Yumisaka (Junzaburo Ban) discovers the burned remains of a boat and the corpses of two men, he sets about tracking the shadowy third figure. Meanwhile, the mysterious Takichi Inukai (Rentaro Mikuni) takes shelter with a prostitute, Yae (Sachiko Hidari), a brief encounter that will come to define both of their lives. A decade later, long after the trail has gone cold, Yumisaka is called back by his successor Detective Ajimura (Ken Takakura) as two new dead bodies are found. Making its home video debut outside of Japan, this adaptation of Tsutomu Minakami's 1700-page novel is a landmark in master director Uchida's oeuvre. Its gritty monochrome photography has the immediacy of newsreel as Uchida uses the landscapes of postwar Japan to explore the massive social upheaval and unspoken legacies of the war, and create an unsettling karmic allegory of a man's struggle to escape his past sins.

Media

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Bonus Materials

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the restored 183 minute-long cut of the film
• Original uncompressed mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Introduction by writer and curator Jasper Sharp
• Scene-specific commentaries from leading Japanese film scholars Aaron Gerow, Irene González-López, Erik Homenick, Earl Jackson, Daisuke Miyao and Alexander Zahlten
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Tomu Uchida filmography
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by David Baldwin and Inuhiko Yomota

Sales Points

• Winner of 7 Awards including Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Director & Screenplay
• For fans and collectors of Arrow's Japanese Cinema titles
• Voted third on the final poll of the Top Japanese Films of the 20th Century

Press Quotes

Routinely cited by Japanese critics as one of the best Japanese movies ever

     —Michael Glover Smith, White City Cinema

Another bona fide masterpiece by Uchida in grainy black & white Cinemascope

     —Mubi

A genuine masterpiece of film... never outstays its welcome

     —Letterboxd

Part police procedural, part melodrama, part noir, A Fugitive from the Past excels at all three.

     —Movie Line Online

The supplements are outstanding. Highly recommended.

     —Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

“A Fugitive from the Past” is a masterpiece that deserves more international attention.

     —Sean Barry, Asian Movie Pulse

The supplements are outstanding. Highly recommended.

     —Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

“A Fugitive from the Past” is a masterpiece that deserves more international attention.

     —Sean Barry, Asian Movie Pulse

Director Tomu Uchida expertly builds up this narrative by giving breathing room to each pivotal act which lays the groundwork for a gripping resolution steeped in character.

     —DILLON GONZALES, Geek Vibes Nation

A masterful film achievement. Highly Recommended.

     —M. Davison , The Sound View