Viz Pictures, an affiliate of Viz Media specializing in the distribution of Japanese live action films, is premiering Shimako Sako’s K-20: The Fiend With 20 Faces at the New York Asian Film Festival with showings on June 20th at 8:15 pm and June 30th at 1:45 pm.  After its showings on the festival circuit Viz Pictures will be releasing a DVD of K-20: The Fiend With 20 Faces through its distributor, Viz Media.

K-20 is based on a novel by Soh Kitamura who borrowed the character of K-20 (the kajin or “fiend” with 20 faces) from the classic detective novels of Rampo Edogawa, who popularized mystery fiction in Japan in the 1920s and 30s.  Kitamura’s novel is set in an “alternate history” Japan, which was not involved in World War II and where feudal class distinctions have survived into the modern era.  Takeshi Kaneshiro (House of Flying Daggers) plays a circus acrobat who is tricked and framed by K-20, but who uses his acrobatic powers, which are at the heart of this inventively-staged and photographed high-action saga, to clear his name.  With its breakneck pace and state-of-the-art special effects K-20 is a film that should have a broad appeal to fans of Asian action cinema.