CRITERION COLLECTION: MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE

Details

• Release Year: 1983
• Genre: Drama, War
• Plot: In this captivating, exhilaratingly skewed World War II drama from Nagisa Oshima (In The Realm Of The Senses, Empire Of Passion), David Bowie (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Basquiat) regally embodies the character Celliers, a high-ranking British officer interned by the Japanese as a POW. Music star Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also composed this film's hypnotic score) plays the camp commander, who becomes obsessed with the mysterious blond major, while Tom Conti (The Duellists; Reuben, Reuben) is British lieutenant colonel Mr. Lawrence, who tries to bridge the emotional and language divides between his captors and fellow prisoners. Also featuring actor-director Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine, Fireworks) in his first dramatic role, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is a multilayered, brutal, at times erotic tale of culture clash that was one of Oshima's greatest successes.
• Cast: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryûichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Jack Thompson, Johnny Ôkura, Alistair Browning, James Malcolm, Chris Broun, Yûya Uchida, Ryûnosuke Kaneda, Takashi Naitô, Tamio Ishikura, Rokkô Toura, Kan Mikami, Yûji Honma, Daisuke Iijima, Hideo Murota, Barry Dorking, Geoff Clendon, Grant Bridger, Richard Adams, Geoff Allen, Michael Baxter-Lax, Mark Berg, Marcus Campbell, Colin Francis, Richard Hensby, Richard Hoare, Martin Ibbertson, Rob Jayne, Richard Mills, Mark Penrose, Arthur Ranford, Steve Smith, Stephen Taylor, Richard Zimmerman, Ian Miller, Don Stevens, Yôichi Iijima, Satoshi Ito, Masaki Kusakabe, Kunihide Kuruma, Hiroshi Mikami, Arihiro Masuda, Tokuhisa Masuda, Takeshi Nagasawa, Takashi Odashima, Masanori Okada, Shoetsu Sato, Rintaro Shibata, Masamichi Shibasaki, Kaname Shimura, Kenzo Shirahama, Hisao Takeda, Hidenobu Togo, Atsuo Yamashita, Heiwa Yoshihara, Takeshi Yu, Peter Barakan, Alastair Floyd, Rex Wilmshurst, Nagisa Ôshima, Paul Mayersberg, Lourens van der Post
• Director: Nagisa Ôshima
• Runtime: 2:04
• Company: The Criterion Collection, Image Entertainment, Hanway Films
• Media Format: Movie