The Funeral: The Criterion Collection (1984)

It's death, Japanese style, in the rollicking and wistful first feature from maverick writer-director Jûzô Itami (Tampopo). In the wake of her father's sudden passing, a successful actor (Itami's wife and frequent collaborator, Nobuko Miyamoto) and her lascivious husband (Kagemusha's Tsutomu Yamazaki) leave Tokyo and return to her family home to oversee a traditional funeral.

Over the course of three days of mourning that bring illicit escapades in the woods, a surprisingly materialistic priest (Yasujiro Ozu regular Chishû Ryû), and cinema's most epic sandwich handoff, the tensions between public propriety and private hypocrisy are laid bare.

Deftly weaving dark comedy with poignant family drama, The Funeral is a fearless satire of the clash between old and new in Japanese society in which nothing, not even the finality of death, is off-limits.

The Funeral is given the Criterion treatment and released on Blu-ray 30th May 2022 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.