Cult Epics presents after the release of HIS MOTORBIKE, HER ISLAND and SCHOOL IN THE CROSSHAIRS the third collaboration of Obayashi and Kadokawa of Japanese teenage pop idol movies: THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN on Blu-ray and DVD.
Obayashi 1980’s Kadokawa films
The teenage symphonies of Nobuhiko Obayashi (1938-2020) are wound in a melancholy nostalgia for a period indelibly lost to time—that inexpressible gap between adolescence and adulthood. Braiding visually expressive fantasias with striking formal experimentation and pop-art boldness, Obayashi’s idiosyncratic cinematic language produced some of Japan’s most beloved seishun eiga (coming-of-age youth films) in the 1980s. Captivating generations of filmgoers with his earnest portraits of young love and vanished worldviews, Obayashi’s films were further bolstered by Kadokawa’s innovative tactics of popularizing dreamy pop idols like Hiroko Yakushimaru and Tomoyo Harada.
With a career overshadowed abroad by the oddball eccentricity of his electric 1977 debut House, the 1980s would prove to be the high-water mark of Obayashi’s popularity. Framed in 35mm viewfinders, against wildly ingenious chroma-key composites and characterized by his unflagging optimism for the youth of Japan, Obayashi’s youth passages are caught up in the ages of transition, demonstrably attuned to the extraordinary nature of ordinary adolescence.
Synopsis THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN
Based on Katsura Morimura’s 1966 best-selling travelogue, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s paradise-laden coming-of-age tale is an island retreat to the white sands of New Caledonia. Fulfilling her late father’s (YMO’s Yukihiro Takahashi) dream to take her to “the island closest to heaven,” bookish teen Mari (Tomoyo Harada) ventures solo to the archipelago’s indigo waters in search of this mythic locale. Taking in the island’s sites, Mari journeys off the beaten path, befriending a host of friendly locals in the process, from islander Taro (Ryoichi Takayanagi) to footloose tour guide Yuichi. One of Obayashi’s breeziest features, filled with a sense of old school Hollywood romanticism, THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN forms an affecting portrait of a young girl’s journey to self-discovery and her own piece of heaven deep within.
THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN Blu-ray/DVD
Price: $34.95 / $29.95
Street Date: November 25, 2025
Production Year: 1984
Country: Japan
Video run time: Approx. 103 Mins
Language: Japanese language w/optional English subtitles
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: LPCM 2.0 Mono/DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Label: Cult Epics
Distributor: MVD Entertainment Group
Blu-ray/DVD Cat.no. CE229/CE230
BD/DVD UP 881190022993 / 881190023099
Rating: Not Rated
Region: Code A/Region 1
SPECIAL FEATURES
High-Definition Transfer
Audio Commentary by film critic Derek Smith (Slant Magazine)
Kadokawa and Obayashi – Visual essay by Alex Pratt
Tomoya Harada 28 Days in Caledonia: The Making of The Island Closest to Heaven
Theatrical Trailers
New improved English subtitles
Blu-ray:
New Slipcase art design by Sam Smith
Reversible sleeve with original Japanese poster art
First Pressing includes repro 24-page Japanese booklet
