Directed by Nagisa Oshima • 1983 • Japan
Starring David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tom Conti
In this captivating, skewed World War II drama from Nagisa Oshima, David Bowie regally embodies Celliers, a British officer interned by the Japanese as a POW. Rock star Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also composed this film’s hypnotic score) plays the camp commander, obsessed with the mysterious blond major, while Tom Conti is the British lieutenant colonel Lawrence, who tries to bridge the emotional and language divides between captor and prisoner. Also featuring actor-director Takeshi Kitano in his first dramatic role, MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE is a multilayered, brutal, at times erotic tale of culture clash, and one of Oshima’s greatest successes.
Up Next in Season 1
-
The Linguini Incident
Directed by Richard Shepard • 1991 • United States
Starring David Bowie, Rosanna Arquette, Marlee MatlinA brilliantly bizarro, lost-and-found gem of early-1990s independent cinema, this surreal screwball caper casts none other than David Bowie and Rosanna Arquette as Monte and Lucy, a pair of s...
-
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Directed by David Lynch • 1992 • United States
In the town of Twin Peaks, everybody has their secrets, but no one more than Laura Palmer. In this prequel to his groundbreaking 1990s television series, David Lynch resurrects the teenager found wrapped in plastic at the beginning of the show, fo...
-
Basquiat
Directed by Julian Schnabel • 1996 • United States
Starring Jeffrey Wright, David Bowie, Dennis HopperJulian Schnabel brings the all-too-brief life and incandescent world of Jean-Michel Basquiat to the screen with this dreamily stylized tribute from one creative phenom to another. Jeffrey Wrigh...
