Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto deliver compelling performances as a POW and his captor.

  • Director

    Nagisa Ôshima

  • With

    David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano

  • UK-Japan-New Zealand 1983. 123min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    15

  • Some English subtitles

Bowie and Sakamoto (another musician-turned-actor) play strangely bonded antagonists in this study of brutalisation and repressed desire in a Japanese POW camp. Bowie’s dyed blonde hair crowns a visage shaded by rockstar excess and sexual ambiguity as Major Celliers, a man haunted by his past who’ll risk everything to defy his captor, Captain Yonoi. Electrifying scenes between the two leads, under Oshima’s spare direction, are boldly underlined by Sakamoto’s powerful score.

Joint ticket available with David Bowie: So I Felt Like an Actor on Saturday 8 January, £15, concessions £12 (Members pay £2 less).

Also available on BFI Player.