Review: Manhunt

Manhunt is released by Arrow Film’s new subsidiary company Toy Robot, which has already got off to a great start with a number of titles announced the 60MW Towers is very much looking forward to.

This is a long-ass film that I’d never heard of, and I have to admit that I did have a few moments of laughter at the 70s Japanese ‘shouty’ acting. You know what I mean… those 70s films where all the male characters bark at each other? Yep, a LOT of that going on.

Morioka (Ken Takakura), a prosecutor in Tokyo, is accused of theft by a very shrieky seemingly mad woman he’s never seen before. Then he’s accused of stealing a camera from an equally mad unknown man. The stolen items are found at his house, much to his bewilderment, and he runs away from the police. The titular manhunt begins.

There’s stuff in this film that places it on a shelf with Samurai Cop and Shotgun for me. Not only does most of the male characters BARK at each other, but there’s this bear…. in the woods… yes. A bear, which (obscure alert) reminded me of the bear in The Singing Ringing Tree. People are murdered, Morioka is blamed, and the bear attacks a random girl up a tree  – the love interest! Yes, this has a SEX scene. Quite a saucy oral sex one as well. OOOO missus!

This is without a doubt a bit of a mad (long) film, but I enjoyed it. It’s obvious they all took themselves VERY seriously, even the bear! A great addition to the ‘I’ve never seen this but… wow’ shelf for 60MW.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• NEW Audio commentary by Jasper Sharp and Amber T.
• NEW Man on the Run, a brand new introduction with Japanese film specialist Mark Schilling
• NEW An Unusual Director, a discussion of the film and its production by Junya Sato biographers Masaaki Nomura and Tatsuya Masuto
• NEW Scaling The (Great) Wall to Freedom, a text essay by James Marsh
• NEW Believing in Ken Takakura, a text essay by Earl Jackson
• Stills gallery
• Original Theatrical Trailer

Released on Blu-ray on October 19th.

Pre-order in the UK via hmv: https://bit.ly/4hrzDkP

Pre-order in the UK via Zavvi: https://bit.ly/4bbBhDl

Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Toy Robot Video via Fetch Publicity.