Producer: Shigeji Maeda

Billed as Takashi Miike’s 100th film at the time of release, ‘Blade of the Immortal’ sees the enfant terrible deliver one of his best films of recent: both violently excessive and beautifully crafted.

For a director known for lurid excess, ‘Shield of Straw’ is a subtly haunting thriller with an ending that asks questions of everything that went before it.