Carnival in the Night

"This loose, low-budget look at Tokyo's bohemian underground in the early Eighties gets a belated American release in this DVD from Facets Video. Yami No Carnival (aka Carnival In The Night) has been presented on disc in the full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1; transferred from a print that has clearly made the rounds of a few screening rooms, the grainy image betrays the film's 16mm origins, and there are frequent scratches and other flaws visible, but they tend to jibe with the film's funky visual style and don't seriously distract from the presentation. The audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo from a monophonic source, and the quality is good, but like the picture occasionally reveals the low budget the filmmakers had to work with. The dialogue is in Japanese, with non-removable English subtitles and no multiple language options. No bonus material have been included with this release, but given the film's rarity (especially in the United States), fans of independent Japanese cinema might still want to give this a look."