Ken Ogata

The director’s first Palme d’Or-winner, this film epitomizes the transgressive qualities that make Shōhei Imamura one of Japan’s greatest directors. Sex, death, squalor and horror perpetually intertwine in this year-spanning portrait of instinct, survival and private dignity in brutal circumstances.

After the long (26 film!) road of the Zatoichi series, which was later remade by Takeshi Kitano, it finally ended with this concluding entry directed by the blind swordsman himself: Shintarô Katsu. The dark shadows of regret, retribution, and redemption are cast over this tale of endings.