“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (戦場のメリークリスマス), Original Re-Release Japanese Movie Poster 2021, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) Q59

This is an original Japanese B2 poster printed in 2021 for the 4K re-release of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (戦場のメリークリスマス), Nagisa Ōshima’s haunting Anglo-Japanese wartime drama. First released in 1983, the film remains one of the most admired and culturally significant works of its era, and this later Japanese reissue poster is an especially striking piece of modern country-of-origin design.

Film background
Directed by Nagisa Ōshima and written by Ōshima and Paul Mayersberg, the film is based on Sir Laurens van der Post’s wartime writings, principally The Seed and the Sower. It stars David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryūichi Sakamoto, Beat Takeshi, and Jack Thompson. Set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War, it explores power, repression, desire, cultural conflict, and human vulnerability with unusual emotional and visual intensity. The film was screened in competition at Cannes in 1983, and Sakamoto’s celebrated score—along with the theme Forbidden Colours—became inseparable from its lasting reputation.

Poster design
This is a superb and highly collectible re-release design. Rather than using stills or montage, the poster presents a refined, symbolic composition built around the two central faces of Ryūichi Sakamoto and David Bowie, set against a dark ground and crossed by a katana entwined with vivid hibiscus flowers. The contrast between military severity, floral softness, and elegant typography gives the sheet a grave, lyrical beauty entirely appropriate to the film. The large handwritten-style title treatment and the discreet 4K restoration note at lower right reinforce its status as a premium modern reissue poster rather than a routine revival sheet. It is one of the most visually sophisticated later posters for the film.

Condition
Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale. 

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.