Please Note: If you ordered Satô Vol.1 between September 1st - 3rd, please use coupon code SATO2 to save $6 on this release. Subscribers, please use coupon code SATO2-SUB.
This special limited edition Blu-ray comes with a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (designed by Luke Insect), includes a 40-page perfect bound book, and is limited to 4,000 units. It is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.
The 1970s through 1990s saw a boom in transgressive genre filmmaking throughout Asia, but particularly in Japan where the "Pinku Eiga" became one of the most popular types of films produced in the country. With young filmmakers seizing an opportunity to hone their craft, countless soon-to-be celebrated directors created work which were more daring, unusual, and often shocking than just about any of the other genre cinema ergering across the globe. Pink Line will present exclusive new restorations of select works from key Asian erotic filmmakers, with a focus on Japan's Pinku Eiga genre.
As pink film auteur Hisayasu Satô evolved as a filmmaker, he both expanded and refined his fascination with connecting elements of melancholy, violence, voyeurism, and repressed sexuality. In this second installment of THE FILMS OF HISAYASU SATÔ, Pink Line presents two of his most celebrated and also most controversial features from his prolific early 90s output, presented in new director-approved restorations from their 35mm original camera negatives.
In AN ARIA ON GAZES (aka The Bedroom), an exclusive Tokyo club offers a safe haven for its clients to anonymously indulge in perverse and deeply personal erotic fantasies as the lines between reality and imagination become increasingly opaque - and dangerous. One of Satô’s most lyrical and structurally experimental films, which effortlessly blends moments of tenderness and brutality, centers on a stirring performance by Kiyomi Itô (Muscle) and an appearance by real-life cannibal Issei Sagawa.
In LOVE - ZERO = INFINITY, Satô’s focus on bonding and connection through voyeurism hits a fever pitch in this simultaneously unsettling and romantic saga of two disturbed outsiders finding unexpectedly kindred spirits in each other. Tōru Bessho, a lonely voyeur whose feverish desire for companionship borders on stalking, is hired by a doctor to follow his mysterious young wife. But as they each grow increasingly aware of the other’s presence, violent desires also begin to erupt within them in this fatalistic piece, blurring intimacy and blood ritual.
directed by: Hisayasu Satô
starring: Kiyomi Itô, Momori Asano, Kyôko Nakamura, Issei Sagawa, Takeshi Itô, Ryûmei Homura
1992, 1994 / 127 min (combined) / 1.85:1 / Japanese 1.0 Mono
Additional info:
AN ARIA ON GAZES:
LOVE - ZERO = INFINITY:
Overall rating: 4.766355 / 5 from 214 reviews.
Volume 2 of The Films of Hisayasu Satô is highly praised for its bold content and exceptional restorations. The release is celebrated for its quality and presentation, making it a must-have for fans of the genre. The special edition packaging, including a spot gloss hard slipcase and slipcover, adds to its appeal.
Review topics: ["colors","quality","looks","picture","packaging","case","style","work","feel","design","box","set","film","release","movie","volume","collection","line","restoration","transfer","extras","sato","cinema","entry","addition","idea","viewing","vol","presentation","series"].
"This box features 2 of the highly prolific japanese pink auteur Hisayasu Sato. Not your average pinku cinema, Sato uses eroticism as an excuse to present situations that goes sometimes too far from what one would expect of a soft core film. This collection is available on VS and Melusine website and is part of a so far 4 volumes that remebers us that japanese always are two steps ahead when about bizarre films we talk!"
"Another great release of Satô’s early-1990s films, this time in a two-film set: An Aria on Gazes and Love – Zero = Infinity. Both are known for their unsettling blend of voyeurism, violence, and psychological drama. The Blu-ray presentation uses new director-approved restorations from the original 35mm negatives, resulting in solid image quality with good detail and an authentic film look, making this likely the best these films have appeared on home video."
"I had never seen a Hisayasu Satô film before, so I went into this set completely blind. It ended up being a pretty mixed experience. A few of the films really clicked with me and showcased a unique visual style, while others leaned so heavily into ambiguity that I found myself losing interest. I’m all for movies that leave room for interpretation, but some of these felt a little too elusive without enough substance to keep me invested from beginning to end. Still, it was an interesting introduction to a director I probably wouldn’t have discovered otherwise."
"Compared to the first Satô collection, this one is certainly more poetic and plot-driven, especially ‘Love - Zero = Infinity’. Reading the booklet was edifying and a little wild; there’s an actor in ‘An Aria on Gazes’ who, years before this film, murdered and partly ate a Dutch student irl. He’s seen here gnawing on a woman’s breast. Casting decisions aside, the collection quality is stellar. No one does it like VS."
"This second boxset of Hisayasu Sato films only contains two films this time, but both continue the trend of films that make me feel empty and sad, but stick live rent free in my head, their low budgets and lack of preoccupation with coherence and plot no impediment to their impact. Both films feature commentaries and interviews as well as another 40 page book of essays."
"Dig the overall artwork of this set everything about it is striking! Each volume released just gets cooler and cooler!"
"VS continues their new Pink Line with another set of Hisayasu Satô films, this time only 2 but with the same design art extravaganza and lavish treatment to the films. Amazing and creatively rich, Japanese films cannot show certain things yet they circumvent that with a language of images that provokes and gets attention. These 2 films try to push boundaries in short running times and succeed. A joy to watch."
"Give me all these sets. I haven’t found one movie. I didn’t like yet. Fun stuff here."
"Excellent release, glad to see VS releasing these films in great quality. Here's to more!"
"The Films of Hisayasu Satô: Volume #2 – An Aria on Gazes / Love – Zero = Infinity continues Hisayasu Sato’s uncompromising exploration of alienation, desire, and psychological dislocation, pushing even further into abstraction and formal minimalism. Across these works, Satô treats narrative as secondary to sensation, using repetition, sparse dialogue, and rigid framing to create a distancing effect that can feel both hypnotic and oppressive. An Aria on Gazes leans into voyeurism and perception, constructing meaning through what is seen and withheld, while Love – Zero = Infinity strips emotional connection down to something almost mathematical in its coldness. These films resist conventional engagement, often feeling more like conceptual exercises than stories, but for viewers willing to meet them on those terms, they offer a stark, unsettling meditation on intimacy and emptiness that lingers well beyond their runtime."
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