---
title: 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Nagisa Ōshima'
released: '1983-05-10'
runtime_minutes: 116
genres:
  - 'Drama'
countries:
  - 'United Kingdom'
  - 'Japan'
  - 'New Zealand'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence-1983'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085933/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

1983 · 116 min · Drama · United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand


## Synopsis

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence , also known as Furyo , is a 1983 war film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima, co-written by Paul Mayersberg, and produced by Jeremy Thomas. The film is based on the experiences of Sir Laurens van der Post as a prisoner of war in Java during World War II, as described in his books The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of the New Moon (1970). It stars David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano and Jack Thompson. Sakamoto also composed and played the score, including the vocal version of the main theme, "Forbidden Colours", with lyrics written and sung by David Sylvian.

## Credits

- **Original Music Composer:** [Ryuichi Sakamoto](https://cinepixo.com/people/ryuichi-sakamoto)
- **Director:** [Nagisa Ōshima](https://cinepixo.com/people/nagisa-oshima)
- **Screenplay:** [Nagisa Ōshima](https://cinepixo.com/people/nagisa-oshima), [Laurens van der Post](https://cinepixo.com/people/laurens-van-der-post), [Paul Mayersberg](https://cinepixo.com/people/paul-mayersberg)
- **Producer:** [Jeremy Thomas](https://cinepixo.com/people/jeremy-thomas)
- **Director of Photography:** [Tōichirō Narushima](https://cinepixo.com/people/toichiro-narushima)
- **Editor:** [Tomoyo Ōshima](https://cinepixo.com/people/tomoyo-oshima)

## Cast

- [Masaki Kusakabe](https://cinepixo.com/people/masaki-kusakabe)
- [Rokkō Toura](https://cinepixo.com/people/rokko-toura)
- [Kan Mikami](https://cinepixo.com/people/kan-mikami)
- [Ryuichi Sakamoto](https://cinepixo.com/people/ryuichi-sakamoto)
- [Grant Bridger](https://cinepixo.com/people/grant-bridger)
- [Masamichi Shibasaki](https://cinepixo.com/people/masamichi-shibasaki)
- [Martin Ibbertson](https://cinepixo.com/people/martin-ibbertson)
- [Geoff Allen](https://cinepixo.com/people/geoff-allen)
- [Atsuo Yamashita](https://cinepixo.com/people/atsuo-yamashita)
- [Yūji Honma](https://cinepixo.com/people/yuji-honma)
- [Richard Adams](https://cinepixo.com/people/richard-adams)
- [Mikami Hiroshi](https://cinepixo.com/people/mikami-hiroshi)
- [Richard Hoare](https://cinepixo.com/people/richard-hoare)
- [Tokuhisa Masuda](https://cinepixo.com/people/tokuhisa-masuda)
- [Barry Dorking](https://cinepixo.com/people/barry-dorking)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence-1983
Film facts: Wikidata (Q696855); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.