TAG – The Unexpected Italian 2K Edition

Tag is one of 5 films (+ 2 TV productions) from 2015 by cult Japanese director Sion Sono, who with this work once again confirmed his nature as an unpredictable author, capable of moving from the most unbridled chaos to insights of surprising theoretical lucidity.

Just under 90 minutes, yet incredibly dense, Tag is a non-stop race into a pop nightmare that blends horror, surrealism, and social criticism, always maintaining that visionary signature that makes Sono's cinema immediately recognizable.

The protagonist is Mitsuko (Reina Triendl), who survives a sudden and inexplicable massacre that annihilates her schoolmates during a bus trip. From that moment, the young woman finds herself catapulted into a series of alternative realities, linked by a deliberately unstable narrative thread, where death reappears with increasingly absurd and violent methods. The film proceeds in fragments, transformations, and abrupt turns, leading to a finale that retroactively reinterprets everything that preceded it.

The opening is one of the most striking in Sono's filmography: a shocking sequence choreographed with fierce elegance, which immediately clarifies that Tag has no intention of reassuring the viewer. Behind the visual excess and almost cartoonish cruelty lies a much more layered discourse. The film reflects on control, female identity, and the violence of the male gaze, transforming exploitation horror into a surprisingly political and feminist parable.

Visually hyperactive, narratively disorienting, and often deliberately incoherent, Tag is an experience that divides but rarely leaves one indifferent. It is not among Sono's most accessible works but is undoubtedly among his freest and most conceptually audacious. A film that runs, screams, provokes, and, beneath the chaos, stimulates, inviting us to look beyond the surface of the game.

A second, unexpected release for the new all-Italian publisher Legends Collection, which, after the 2K offering of the action-comedy Singham, decided to offer Italian cinephiles and collectors another unreleased gem for Christmas 2025, shifting attention from Indian cinema to exquisitely Japanese cinema, which is far from mainstream. A prestigious collector's edition, a rigid slipcase with exclusive artwork by Tentacle, an Amaray (Scanavo) box, and various collectibles, which, even if not numbered, remains a limited edition that will not be replicated once sold out.

Shot analogically on 35mm negative at an unspecified ASA sensitivity, the work has circulated partially in foreign markets, here offered at the best of its technical potential from the native 2K master used for the encoding by the esteemed post-production laboratory Pianeta Zero. Original image format 1.85:1 (1920 x 1080/23.97p), AVC/MPEG-4 on a dual-layer BD-50. Except for rare passages where background grain appears more evident, the visual frame is exhilarating in its precision and richness of elements regardless of lighting conditions. Net of SDR/8-bit dynamic compression, it is a fully enjoyable spectacle even on large screens. Intense colors, blacks with excellent depth.

As with Singham, the audio offering only includes the original Japanese for a production that never interested Italian distribution, thus lacking dubbing. Excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (24 bit) encoding with dynamic dialogues from the center channel, effects, and a scenic presence for the soundtrack by Susumu Akizuki and Hiroaki Kanai, where even the subwoofer makes itself heard from the very first moments with the bus massacre. A delight if listening takes place immersed in a true HT system with real discrete channels, beyond the usual soundbar + sub. Customary Italian subtitles (optional) to follow the story best.

The prestige of the edition derives, as with Singham, from the copious production of in-depth extras, in this case: 6 collector's cards; double-sided slipcover with original Japanese poster and internal illustration; double-sided poster with new artwork and original Japanese poster; 32-page booklet with text by Marcella Leonardi of Nubi Fluttuanti.

Interviews with Nanni Cobretti (17') and Pier Maria Bocchi (35') conducted by Eugenio Ercolani; press conference at the Torino Film Festival with Sion Sono (21'); 2-part interview (8' + 6') with Tentacle (Gian Luca Maconi and Andrea Scoppetta) on the creation of the artwork and the possibility of viewing its creation in timelapse mode; original Japanese screenplay; original Japanese trailer and Legends Collection edition launch trailer.