Tezuka's Barbara is a Japanese romantic drama, flecked with touches of fantasy & erotic playfulness- with darts into the surreal, ritual occult, and even necrophilia. It is certainly a real ride of a film, that nicely plays with and at points subverts the romantic drama genre. Here from Third Widow films is a dual Blu Ray/ DVD release of the film featuring a good selection of extras.

Released in 2019 Tezuka's Barbara was directed by Toyko born director Macoto Tezuka, based on a thought unfilmable manga by Osamu Tezuka. The film is set in modern-day Japan, taking place in an unnamed city- along with the mentioned quirky/ surprising touches, the film has a sophisticated and classy modern noir edge to it, with these genre tropes added into the mix along with a great jazz soundtrack- that moves from smoky and lyrical, to angularly avant, and emotionally felt.

The film focuses on popular, publicly known, yet arrogant novelist Yosuke Mikura(Gorô Inagaki) he lives in a large and plush city centre apartment, carrying on a disinterested meant-to-be romantic relationship with the daughter of a local politician. One night on his way home, he come across a drunk, near passed out, and filthy women in an underpass- as he passes she spouts prose he recognizes- so rather stupidly he takes her back to his upmarket flat- she starts swigging 50-year-old whisky, mocking his novels, and generally making a menace of herself. We find out the women is Barbara (Fumi Nikaidô) who after she had a shower, is a rather distinctive and quirky looking, with a dyed blond ginger bob, ripped trenchcoat, and zany clothes choices. In time Mikura starts to get obsessed with Barbara as she bargers back and forth into his life, and here is where the surreal fantasy elements start to come into play- first of these is when Mikura is getting in on with a pushy female store clerk in a changing room- with Barbara appearing, and pulling here apart and we find she was a manikin. From here the film plays and blend the romantic drama tropes, with touches of colourful fantasy,  playful exotic encounters, with darker ritual occult moments, and a rather downbeat/ grim last quarter. 

The two leads play their characters with both depth and well-realized arcs. Inagaki moving from pompous and uncaring, to obsessive lover, and Nikaidô going from playful-boozed-up human firework, to more emotional and troubled lover. The different genre tropes and elements are expertly balanced and blended by director Macoto Tezuka, with the whole thing coming off as a  real cinematic ride- going from quirky and ditsy, playfully fleshy,  emotional and thoughtful, and darker more uneasy fare. 

This new Blu Ray/ DVD dual release is region free- and we get a nice selection of worthy/ interesting extras, these take in twenty-nine minutes of behind the scenes footage, a deleted scene & alternative ending- six minutes, directors interview- thirty-two minutes, interview with male lead Gorô Inagaki – fifteen minutes, interview with leading lady Fumi Nikaidô- seven minutes, and interview with cinematographer Christopher Doyle- twelve minutes. 

Tezuka's Barbara is a wonderfully unbalancing film- shifting nicely between been charming, quirky, bizarrely playful, shocking and emotionally impactful- so certainly one of the more original and distinctive takes on the romantic drama genre I can think of.  All told another great release from the folks over at Third Window Films.