ACF 545: K-20 available today on DVD

K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces
(K-20: Kaijin niju menso den)
Written and Directed by Shimako Sato
Japan, 2008, 137 min.

K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces comes out today in a single disc DVD edition from VIZ Pictures. It has an MSRP of $24.92 U.S. / $35.99 CAN. Based on the novel Kaijin Niju menso den by Soh Kitamura and set in 1949, the story employs an alternate history motif in which the Japan never attacked Pearl Harbor and engaged in war with the United States. The island nation has an extremely rigid, hereditary class system with almost all the wealth held by a small aristocracy.

In the imperial capital of Teito, a phantom thief known as "K-20," or the "Fiend (Kaijin) with 20 Faces," steals priceless objects from the rich. However, unlike Robin Hood, he does not give to the poor, but keeps his trove to himself.

Takeshi Kaneshiro stars not as K-20, but as Heikichi, a circus acrobat and illusionist. The title character actually appears very little in the film. He does set up Endo to be mistakenly identified and arrested as K-20, and the movie is thus about Endo's efforts to prove that he's not the master thief.

Endo's nemesis is detective Kogoro Akechi (Toru Nakumura), who is also a baron and thus a member of the nobility. Romantic interest for the two male leads is supplied by lovely Takako Matsu as Duchess Yolko Hashiba, the heir to Hashiba Industries.

The film has a beautiful Steampunk look that could have gone murky in the transfer to DVD. Thankfully it hasn't, as VIZ Pictures has done an outstanding job in maintaining detail in the many shadowy scenes. Writer/director Sato has done a masterful job moving things along and providing great action sequences. This is the first film I can recall seeing in which Kaneshiro (Chungking Express, House of Flying Daggers, and most recently John Woo's Red Cliff) carries the film as the dominant male lead, and he's more than equal to the task.

The DVD doesn't have much in the way of extras, just the original and the English trailers and some trailers from other VIZ films. But don't let that dissuade you from buying this release.

K-20 is terrific entrainment, and gets an ACF rating of 3.5 out of 4 stars, very highly recommended.

ACF 534: K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces coming on DVD on April 20th

VIZ PICTURES BRINGS THE HIGH FLYING ACTION OF

K-20: THE FIEND WITH TWENTY FACES TO DVD

Suspense And Intrigue Combine With Stunning Visual Effects And Gravity-Defying Stunts For A Riveting Adventure About A Phantom Thief

VIZ Pictures will release the action film K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces on DVD on April 20th. The film will carry an MSRP of $24.92 U.S. / $35.99 CAN, and will be distributed exclusively across North America by VIZ Media. The move played at last summer's New York Asian Film Festival and was very popular.

Director Shimako Sato assembled a strong cast and used cutting edge special effects to bring K-20 to life. The movie is set in the fictional city of Teito in the late 1940s, in a world where World War II never happened and the nobility system established during the Meiji Era still exists. An extreme divide exists between the upper and lower classes, with 90 percent of the country’s wealth being held by the upper class. The capital of Teito is in crisis with the emergence of a menacing phantom thief known as "The Fiend (Kaijin) With Twenty Faces" or simply "K-20." The film is based on The Story of Nijyumenso, a novel written by Soh Kitamura, and also features the mesmerizing theme song, Shock of the Lightning, by the British band OASIS.

Heikichi Endo (played by Takeshi Kaneshiro) is a circus acrobat who is deceived by K-20 and framed to take the fall for the phantom thief. Using his incredible physical dexterity, Heikichi wages war against K-20 in order to clear his name and fights alongside K-20's next wealthy target, Duchess Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her fiancée, the brilliant detective Kogoro Akechi (Toru Nakamura). But what is the ultimate decision Heikichi has to make?

Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro is internationally renowned and made his screen debut in the film Executioners (1993) followed by the critically acclaimed Wong Kar-Wai film Chungking Express (1994). More recently he has starred in films including Wong's House of Flying Daggers (2004) and John Woo's The Battle of Red Cliff (2008).

To celebrate this new release, VIZ Pictures has also announced a special theatrical screening of K-20 at VIZ Cinema in San Francisco on April 20th at 7:00pm. Tickets are $25.00 and also will include a copy of the DVD, a K-20 poster and more! VIZ Cinema is located at: 1746 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94115. Tickets are available at the box office and online at www.vizcinema.com.

“The character of K-20 was originally born in the best-selling 26-volume Boy Detectives series, written by Japanese literary master Rampo Edogawa, and over the years the stories have been enjoyed by more than 100 million people,” says Seiji Horibuchi, President and CEO of VIZ Pictures. “The inspired film uses a potent mix of eye-catching visual effects and gravity-defying high wire stunts to bring the unique story to the screen with incredible results. We look forward to fans discovering this thrilling new action feature from VIZ Pictures.”

For more information on K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces or other VIZ Pictures titles, please visit http://www.viz-pictures.com/.