Big Bang Love, Juvenile A

Maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike calls this juvenile prison drama, an expressionist boys-behind-bars picture by way of Jean Genet, his "masterpiece." Ryuhei Matsuda is a soft, sad gay bartender incarcerated for his brutal killing of a customer who assaulted him, and Masanobu Ando is a Yakuza thug brimming with anger and violence. The two arrive in juvenile detention on the same day and, with nothing in common, their fates become intertwined by longing, mutual dreams of escape to a fantasy world, and a murder within the walls that leaves one dead and the other confessing to the killing. It's a murder mystery of young men in stir and in lust, with surreal scenes on sets of shadow and light and the merest suggestion of detail. Miike resorts to equally unusual choices in his interrogation scenes as outside cops come in to investigate the murder. The two-disc set features "The Making of Big Bang Love, Juvenile A" and an interview with Miike (both in Japanese with English subtitles, like the film), plus a stills gallery, program notes, bios and trailers.