May Titles From The Criterion Collection – STAGECOACH, WALKABOUT, M Blu-ray, ECLIPSE SERIES 21: OSHIMA’S OUTLAW SIXTIES & More!!!
February 12, 2010 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment
BY BRAKHAGE: AN ANTHOLOGY, VOLUME 2 – DVD
In Criterion’s first volume of the anthology By Brakhage, we brought twenty-six astonishing works by the avant-garde film pioneer Stan Brakhage to home video for the first time. Now, in this second installment, we are proud to present thirty more of Brakhage’s innovative creations, from 1950s films to his final work, from 2003. Highlights of this collection include the antiwar film 23rd Psalm Branch; hand-painted films from the Persian Series; The Wonder Ring, made for a commission by Joseph Cornell; the autobiographical Scenes from Under Childhood, Section One; his only found-footage film, Murder Psalm; and much more.
1955–2003 • 454 minutes • Color/Black & White • Silent/Monaural • 1.33:1/1.85:1 aspect ratio
SPECIAL EDITION THREE-DVD SET FEATURES
• New high-definition digital transfers of all thirty films
• Brakhage on Brakhage, a collection of video encounters with the filmmaker
• For Stan, a short film by Marilyn Brakhage
• Excerpts from a 1990 interview with Brakhage
• Footage from Brakhage’s salon at the University of Colorado
• Audio recordings of two lectures by Brakhage
• PLUS: A booklet featuring film program notes by Marilyn Brakhage and write-ups of the films by Brakhage expert Fred CamperTITLE: By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume 2 (DVD)
CAT. NO: CC1898D
UPC: 7-15515-05851-3
ISBN: 978-1-60465-280-2
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 4/27/10
STREET: 5/25/10BY BRAKHAGE: AN ANTHOLOGY, VOLUMES ONE AND TWO – BLU-RAY
Working outside the mainstream, Stan Brakhage made nearly four hundred films. Challenging all taboos in his exploration of “birth, sex, death, and the search for God,” Brakhage turned his camera on explicit lovemaking, childbirth, even autopsy. Many of his most famous works pursue the nature of vision itself and transcend the act of filming. Some, including the legendary Mothlight, were made without using a camera at all. Instead, Brakhage pioneered the art of making images directly on film—drawing, painting, and scratching it by hand. His visionary style has influenced everything from cartoons and television commercials to MTV music videos and the work of such mainstream moviemakers as Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and Oliver Stone. With these two volumes, we present the definitive Brakhage collection—fifty-six of his works in high-definition digital transfers, spanning his almost fifty-year career.1954–2003 • 697 minutes • Color/Black & White • Silent/Monaural/Stereo • 1.33:1/1.85:1 aspect ratios
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION THREE-DISC SET FEATURES
VOLUME ONE (ONE DISC)
• New high-definition digital transfers of all twenty-six films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• Brakhage on Brakhage, a collection of video encounters with the filmmaker
• Audio remarks on selected films by Stan BrakhageVOLUME TWO (TWO DISCS)
• New high-definition digital transfers of thirty films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• Brakhage on Brakhage, a collection of video encounters with the filmmaker
• For Stan, a short film by Marilyn Brakhage
• Excerpts from a 1990 interview with Brakhage
• Footage from Brakhage’s salon at the University of Colorado
• Audio recordings of two lectures by Brakhage
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a foreword and program notes by Marilyn Brakhage, as well as write-ups of the films and an essay by Brakhage expert Fred CamperTITLE: By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two – BLU-RAY
CAT. NO: CC1912BD
UPC: 7-15515-05971-8
ISBN: 978-1-60465-300-7
SRP: $79.95
PREBOOK: 4/27/10
STREET: 5/25/10M – BLU-RAY
A simple, haunting musical phrase whistled offscreen tells us that a young girl will be killed. “Who Is the Murderer?” pleads a nearby placard as serial killer Hans Beckert, played by Peter Lorre (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon), closes in on little Elsie Beckmann. In his harrowing masterwork M, Fritz Lang (Metropolis, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) merges trenchant social commentary with chilling suspense, creating a panorama of private madness and public hysteria that to this day remains the blueprint for the psychological thriller.1931 • 110 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.19:1 aspect ratio
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes and Eric Rentschler
• The long-lost English-language version of M
• Documentary on the physical history of M, from production to distribution to digital restoration
• Conversation with Fritz Lang, a fifty-minute film by William Friedkin
• Claude Chabrol’s short film M le maudit, plus a video interview with Chabrol
• Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg discussing M and its history, set to clips from the film
• Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal
• Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos and production sketches
• Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with director Fritz Lang, the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articlesTITLE: M – BLU-RAY
CAT. NO: CC1890BD
UPC: 7-15515-05771-4
ISBN: 978-1-60465-272-7
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 4/13/10
STREET: 5/11/10STAGECOACH – DVD & BLU-RAY
This is where it all started. John Ford’s smash hit and enduring masterpiece Stagecoach revolutionized the western, elevating it from B movie to the A-list. The quintessential tale of a group of strangers thrown together into extraordinary circumstances—nine passengers traveling a dangerous route from Arizona to New Mexico—Stagecoach features outstanding performances from Hollywood stalwarts Claire Trevor (Key Largo; Murder, My Sweet), John Carradine (Drums Along the Mohawk, The Grapes of Wrath), Thomas Mitchell (Make Way for Tomorrow, It’s a Wonderful Life), and, of course, John Wayne (The Searchers, Rio Bravo), in his first starring role for Ford, as the daredevil outlaw the Ringo Kid. Superbly shot and tightly edited, Stagecoach (Ford’s first trip to Monument Valley) is Hollywood storytelling at its finest.1939 • 96 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.37:1 aspect ratio
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary by noted western authority Jim Kitses
• Bucking Broadway (1917), a fifty-four-minute silent western by John Ford, with new music by Donald Sosin
• Extensive video interview with Ford from 1968
• New video interview with Dan Ford, biographer and grandson of the director, about Ford’s home movies
• New video interview with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
• New video essay by writer Tag Gallagher
• New video feature about Monument Valley
• New video interview with stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong about Stagecoach’s stuntman Yakima Canutt
• Radio dramatization of Stagecoach from 1949
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by David Cairns and the short story that inspired the filmTITLE: Stagecoach – BLU-RAY
CAT. NO: CC1864BD
UPC: 7-15515-05251-1
ISBN: 978-1-60465-231-4
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 4/27/10
STREET: 5/25/10TITLE: Stagecoach - DVD
CAT. NO: CC1857D
UPC: 7-15515-05191-0
ISBN: 978-1-60465-225-3
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 4/27/10
STREET: 5/25/10WALKABOUT – DVD & BLU-RAY
A young sister and brother are abandoned in the harsh Australian outback and must learn to exist in the natural world, without their usual comforts, in this hypnotic masterpiece from Nicolas Roeg (Don’t Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth). Along the way, they meet a young aborigine on his “walkabout,” a rite of passage in which adolescent boys are initiated into manhood by journeying into the wilderness alone. Walkabout is a thrilling adventure as well as a provocative rumination on time and civilization.1971 • 100 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.78:1 aspect ratio
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, from a newly manufactured restoration element, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring director Nicolas Roeg and actress Jenny Agutter
• Video interviews with Agutter and actor Luc Roeg
• Gulpilil—One Red Blood (2002), an hour-long documentary on the life and career of actor David Gulpilil
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by author Paul RyanTITLE: Walkabout – BLU-RAY
CAT. NO: CC1893BD
UPC: 7-15515-05801-8
ISBN: 978-1-60465-275-8
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 4/20/10
STREET: 5/18/10TITLE: Walkabout - DVD
CAT. NO: CC1892D
UPC: 7-15515-05791-2
ISBN: 978-1-60465-274-1
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 4/20/10
STREET: 5/18/10ECLIPSE SERIES 21: OSHIMA’S OUTLAW SIXTIES
Often called the Godard of the East, Japanese director Nagisa Oshima was one of the most provocative film artists of the twentieth century, and his works challenged and shocked the cinematic world for decades. Following his rise to prominence at Shochiku, Oshima struck out to form his own production company, Sozosha, in 1961. That move ushered in the prolific period of his career that gave birth to the five films collected here. Unsurprisingly, this studio renegade was fascinated by stories of outsiders—serial killers, rabid hedonists, and stowaway misfits are just some of the social castoffs you’ll meet in these audacious, cerebral entries in the New Wave surge that made Japan a hub of truly daredevil moviemaking.FIVE-DVD BOX SET INCLUDES:
Pleasures of the Flesh (Etsuraku)
A corrupt businessman blackmails a lovelorn murderer, Atsushi, into watching over his suitcase full of embezzled cash while he serves a jail sentence. Rather than wait for the man to retrieve his money, however, Atsushi decides to spend it all in one libidinous rush—fully expecting to be tracked down and killed. Oshima’s dip into the waters of the popular soft-core, or “pink film,” genre is a compelling journey into excess.1965 • 91 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Violence at Noon (Hakuchu no torima)
Oshima’s disturbing tale concerns the odd circumstances surrounding a horrific murder and rape spree. In an unexpected twist, the film is as much about the two women who protect the violent man—his wife and a former victim—as it is about him. Containing more than two thousand cuts and a wealth of inventive widescreen compositions, this coolly fragmented character study is a mesmerizing investigation of criminality and social decay.1966 • 98 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Sing a Song of Sex (Nihon shunka-ko)
In Oshima’s enigmatic tale, four sexually hungry high school students preparing for their university entrance exams meet up with an inebriated teacher singing bawdy drinking songs. This encounter sets them on a less than academic path. Oshima’s hypnotic, free-form depiction of generational political apathy features stunning color cinematography.1967 • 103 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (Muri shinju: Nihon no natsu)
A sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal young man she meets on the street, a gun-crazy wannabe gangster—these are just three of the irrational, oddball anarchists trapped in an underground hideaway in Oshima’s devilish, absurdist portrait of what he deemed the “death drive” in Japanese youth culture.1967 • 99 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio
Three Resurrected Drunkards (Kaette kita yopparai)
A trio of bumbling young men frolic at the beach. While they swim, their clothes are stolen and replaced with new outfits. Having donned these, they are mistaken for undocumented Koreans and end up on the run from comically outraged authorities. A cutting commentary on Japan’s treatment of its Korean immigrants, this is Oshima at both his most politically engaged and madcap.1968 • 80 minutes • Color • Monaural • In Japanese with English subtitles • 2.35:1 aspect ratio
TITLE: Eclipse Series 21: Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties
CAT. NO: ECL093
UPC: 7-15515-05961-9
ISBN: 978-1-60465-294-9
SRP: $69.95
PREBOOK: 4/20/10
STREET: 5/18/10Attention Canada: BY BRAKHAGE: AN ANTHOLOGY, VOLUME 2 & BY BRAKHAGE: AN ANTHOLOGY, VOLUMES ONE AND TWO BD are available in all Canada. WALKABOUT & ECLIPSE SERIES 21: OSHIMA’S OUTLAW SIXTIES, are available in English Speaking Canada only. STAGECOACH & M Blu-ray are available in the US only.
I Was Born, But… (part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10) (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
December 25, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
Another fantastic family driven silent film by Yasujiro Ozu. The 1932 film “I Was Born, But…” is an excellent film that depicts childhood bullying, family, career and relationship between parents and children. An effective story that works well for this silent film due to its talent, acting and editing. One of the three fantastic silent films included in “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″ from The Criterion Collection. Definitely recommended!
Image courtesy of All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: I Was Born, But… (part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10)
DURATION: 90 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Silent with optional score, Japanese Intertitles with Optional English Subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio
COMPANY: The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: 2008
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Adaptation by Akira Fushimi
Scenario by Akira Fushimi
Music by Donald Sosin
Cinematography by Hideo Shigehara
Edited by Hideo Shigahara
Art Direction by Yoshiro Kimura, Takejiro Tsunoda
Starring:
Tatsuo Saito as Chichi (father – Yoshi-san)
Mitsuko Yoshikawa as Haha (Yoshi’s Wife)
Hideo Sugawara as Ryoichi (older brother)
Tomio Aoki as Keiji (younger brother)
Takeshi Sakamoto as Juuyaku (Iwasaki, Executive)
Teruyo Hayami as Fuji (Iwasaki’s Wife)
Seiichi Kato as Kodomo (Taro)
Shoichi Kofujita as Kozou (Delivery Boy)
Seiji Nishimura as Sensei (Teacher)
Zentaro Iijima, Shotaro Fujimatsu, Masao Hayama, Michio Sato, Kuniyasu Hayashi, Akio Nomura, Teruaki Ishiwatari as The Boys in the neighborhood
One of Ozu’s most popular films, I Was Born, But . . . is a blithe portrait of the financial and psychological toils of one family, as told from the rascally point of view of a couple of stubborn little boys. For two brothers, the daily struggles of bullies and mean teachers is nothing next to the mortification they feel when they realize their good-natured father’s low-rung social status. Reworked decades later as Ozu’s Technicolor comedy Good Morning, it’s a poignant evocation of the tumult of childhood, as well as a showcase for Ozu’s expertly timed comedy editing.
Yasujiro Ozu is one of the world’s beloved directors. Having made many films since the 1920′s up to his final film “An Autumn Afternoon” in 1962, his works have been appreciated by viewers and critics for his family comedies but also his serious family storylines such as “Late Spring”, “Early Summer” and “Tokyo Story” (to name a few).
The Criterion Collection has been one of the major forces in America of bringing Ozu’s films stateside and not just the popular films, Criterion Collection has now offered a few of his silent films and late films through their Eclipse Series line with “Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies” and “Late Ozu”. Although not receiving the Criterion digital remastering or restoration (nor do they include special features), the fact that Ozu fans can now watch these classics with English subtitles is fantastic. And also, the silents include an optional score by Donald Sosin (a pianist known for his work for silent film scores).
I recently started started my viewing of “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies” and absolutely enjoyed “Tokyo Chorus”, this time around, I watched “I Was Born, But…” (a.k.a “Otona no miru ehon – Umarete wa mita keredo”). The Eclipse Series #10 box set also includes two other Ozu silent films “Tokyo Chorus” from 1931 and “Passing Fancy” from 1933.
As for “I Was Born, But…”, the film was Ozu’s 24th film and the first of his six films to win a Kinema Junpo Critics Prize. The film received a loosely made remake in Technicolor by Ozi for the 1959 film “Good Morning” and is regarded as his most popular silent film that continually received circulation since its release.
“I Was Born, But…” focuses on a family from Azabu who has moved to a new home in the Tokyo suburbs. The Yoshi family which include the two parents – Kennosuke (played by Tatsuo Saito) and his wife (played by Mitsuko Yoshikawa), the older son Ryoichi (played by Hideo Sugawara), young son Keiji (played by Tomio Aoki) and their dog.
Life in a new neighborhood is not easy for the children as Keiji quickly learns when the neighborhood kids start picking on him. Keiji quickly goes to his brother Ryoichi and tells him how the kids stole his toy and his bread and immediately Ryoichi goes to confront the children but he is outnumbered and the worst part is one of the neighborhood kids is taller and a little older. And thus, Ryoichi loses the fight.
To make things worst is the kids keep showing up at their front yard taunting both Ryoichi and Keiji and now both fear of going to school as they worry about being bullied. So, for the first week of school, they lie to their parents and pretend they are attending school while the truth is they just sit and have fun at a nearby field. Eventually, their father finds out from their teacher that they haven’t showed up to school which angers their father. Their father continually reminds them that if they can go to school and study hard like he did, they can make something of themselves.
As time passes, eventually things get better for the boys, especially as Ryoichi and Keiji start becoming the toughest in the neighborhood but when they start getting into the discussion of who’s father is better, both brothers don’t understand why their father does everything Taro’s father tells him.
The kids realize for the first time that Taro’s father is much more powerful in status than their father and he is an executive of the company that their father works at and his father is just an employee.
For a child’s perspective, specifically for Ryoichi and Keiji, where they have always thought their father was strong and smart because he went to school and received good grades, Ryoichi can’t bare the thought that their father has a weaker professional status than Taro’s father and is disgusted by that. There is no way Ryoichi would allow Taro to be the boss of him and so, he can’t understand how his father would let Taro’s father be the boss of him.
“I Was Born, But…” continues Ozu’s well-known storylines of focusing on the Japanese family and in 1932, for a film that would seem complex to cover for a silent film, Ozu successfully pulls it off with good storytelling through actions and emotions and definitely is another wonderful film to be included in this Eclipse Series set.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“I Was Born, But…” is featured in 1:33:1 aspect ratio. The film is black and white and as mentioned earlier, Eclipse series are films that do not receive the CRITERION COLLECTION treatment of restoration and remastering. Thus, the scratches and slight warping of the original film are very visible. The good news is that the film, despite being nearly 80 years old is still watchable and are very enjoyable.
As for audio, this is a silent film but there is an option to have a piano score played by Donald Sosin play throughout the film. Similar to “Tokyo Chorus”, Sosin does a fantastic job, as the piano score actually does work with this film and fits the mood throughout the entire film.
Subtitles are in English and are shown during scenes after a dialogue and shows the Japanese intertitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Eclipse Series DVD’s unfortunately do not come with any special features. But with each DVD, there is a single page information (on the interior DVD cover which can be read since the DVD slim cases are clear) on the film.
When it comes to Ozu’s silent films, “I Was Born, But…” is among Yasujiro Ozu’s most popular and is the earliest Ozu print in regular circulation. As mentioned earlier, Ozu successfully pulls of this film that could be seen as complex but with good pacing, storytelling and acting, are we convinced of the relationships between brothers and family as well as the fear the kids have towards the bullying neighborhood kids. And even nearly 80 years later, this storyline continues to be prevalent today as many families are no different today than how the Yoshi family are in this film.
The film was loosely remade in 1959 for Ozu’s “Good Morning” but as their are similarities, both films are quite different from each other. In “I Was Born, But…”, the children are quick to confront their father about his career situation and what makes it so stingily hurt is that the father knows that the children are right. Even if you give your all in school, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a high level executive and there is this strong connection with the children in this film (especially since television or major technology is not in the forefront of the film). Whereas in “Good Morning”, the two sons confront their father that other kids own a television set except them and the kids go on a hunger strike to get their parents to recognize their anger. There is still a family connection but you notice that in “Good Morning”, technology has started to seep into the family culture and you see the children more drawn towards the television set away from their family. So, both films do have its similarities but also their differences especially of suburban Japan within that 27-year time span.
But what is most interesting is that for Ozu cinema fans, we know how he takes the concept of family especially between parent and children so seriously during the 1950′s and later, so to see something that happened decades earlier in silent form and see where it first started, for fans is quite a treat. Where in his later films, the dialogue is quite important to feel the pain between parents and children, even in these silent films, surprisingly the viewer can feel the sting through the children’s harsh words to their father.
This is the second of the three silent films that I have watched in this set thus far and both “I Was Born, But…” and “Tokyo Chorus” have been nothing but excellent. If you are a Yasujiro Ozu fan or curious about Japanese silent films, “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″ is an excellent set worth owning!
Tokyo Chorus (part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10) (a J!-ENT DVD Review)
November 24, 2009 by Dennis Amith · 1 Comment
A silent Yasujiro Ozu film from 1931 that is relevant today as it was then. An educated father who is unemployed, trying to make ends meet and provide for his family. One of the fantastic silent films included in “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″ from The Criterion Collection. Definitely recommended!
Image courtesy of All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Tokyo Chorus (Part of Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10)
DURATION: 90 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, Silent with optional score, Japanese Intertitles with Optional English Subtitles, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio
COMPANY: The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: 2008
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Adaptation and Story by Komatsu Kitamura and Kogo Noda
Screenplay by Kogo Noda
Cinematography by Hideo Shigehara
Edited by Hideo Shigehara
Set Decoration by Minzo Kakuta, Tsunetaro Kawasaki, Beijiro Tanaka, Yonekazu Wakita
Costume Design by Kurenai Saitou
Makeup Department: Iyono Kikuchi
Starring:
Tokihiko Okada as Shinji Okajima
Emiko Yagumo as Tsuma Sugako (wife)
Hideo Sugawara as Sono Chounana (son)
Hideko Takamine as Sono Choujo (daughter)
Tatsuo Saito – Omura Sensei
Choko Iida – Sensei no Tusma (Mrs. Omura)
Takeshi Sakamoto – Rou-Shain Yamada (old employee)
Reiko Tani – Shachou (boss)
Combining three prevalent genres of the day—the student comedy, the salaryman film, and the domestic drama—Ozu created this warmhearted family comedy, and demonstrated that he was truly coming into his own as a cinema craftsman. The setup is simple: Low wage–earning dad Okajima is depending on his bonus, and so are his wife and children, yet payday doesn’t exactly go as planned. Exquisite and economical, Ozu’s film alternates between brilliantly mounted comic sequences and heartrending working-class realities.
Yasujiro Ozu is one of the world’s beloved directors. Having made many films since the 1920′s up to his final film “An Autumn Afternoon” in 1962, his works have been appreciated by viewers and critics for his family comedies but also his serious family storylines such as “Late Spring”, “Early Summer” and “Tokyo Story” (to name a few).
The Criterion Collection has been one of the major forces in America of bringing Ozu’s films stateside and not just the popular films, Criterion Collection has now offered a few of his silent films and late films through their Eclipse Series line with “Silent Ozu-Three Family Comedies” and “Late Ozu”. Although not receiving the Criterion digital remastering or restoration (nor do they include special features), the fact that Ozu fans can now watch these classics with English subtitles is fantastic.
I recently started started my viewing of “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies”, starting with “Tokyo Chorus” (Tokyo no Korasu) which was released in 1931. The box set also includes two other films “I was Born, But” (Umarete wa mita keredo) from 1932 and “Passing Fancy” (Dekigokoro) from 1933.
As for “Tokyo Chorus”, Ozu’s 22nd film is considered to be a turning point in the career of Yasujiro Ozu as the film would feature his mature style.
“Tokyo Chorus” is a comedy/drama black and white silent film about Shinji Okajima (played by Tokihiko Okada). The film kicks off with Shinji as a teenager, and we get to see how he was a rebellious teen when it came to his relation with his teacher, Omura sensei (played by Tatsuo Saito).
And then we are taken to his present family life in which he has a loving wife Sugako (played by Emiko Yaguma) and three children which includes his son (Hideko Sugawara), his daughter Miyoko (Hideko Takamine) and a baby. His son has wanted a bike but his parents have not bought him one (Shinji is not exactly making much money at his insurance sales job). But with his father’s bonus coming up, Sugako tells her son that possibly Shinji can finally buy his son a bike and Shinji promises that he will.
While at work, everyone is getting their bonus (and trying to snoop and find out how much everyone else has made) but Shinji finds out that one of the employees (played by Isamu Yamaguchi) is being fired because of his age (and that the people he’s sold life insurance to have died not long after he sold it to them). Shinji is upset that the man is getting fired and decides to argue the situation with the company president (played by Reiko Tani) and because of that, Shinji ends up being the one getting fired.
On the day that Shinji’s son has bragged to his friends that he is getting a bike, his father shows up with a scooter instead. Upset with his father for breaking his promise, his son sulks and starts acting bad in which his father disciplines him with multiple spankings.
When Sugako arrives, she is shocked that her son is crying but more shocked that Shinji is now unemployed. But Shinji, a man of honor decides to buy his son a bike as he had promised but then we see time passing by and Shinji, an educated man being too overqualified for jobs and is unable to find work.
We see the Okajima family struggling but then complications hit the family when one of the children is very ill. With no money, what will Shinji do in order to make sure his child gets proper medical care? And will he be able to find a paying job before its too late?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Tokyo Chorus” is featured in 1:33:1 aspect ratio. The film is black and white and as mentioned earlier, Eclipse series are films that do not receive the CRITERION COLLECTION restoration and remastering. Thus, the scratches and slight warping of the original film are very visible. The good news is that the film, despite being nearly 80 years old is still watchable and very enjoyable.
As for audio, this is a silent film but there is an option to have a piano score played by Donald Sosin play throughout the film. And the piano score actually does work and fits the mood of the entire film. But I do wonder how the original musical score for the film was but not sure if a live orchestra was played during the theatrical screening of the film.
Subtitles are in English and are shown during scenes after a dialogue and shows the Japanese intertitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Eclipse Series DVD’s unfortunately do not come with any special features. But with each DVD, there is a single page information (on the interior DVD cover which can be read since the DVD slim cases are clear) on the film.
“Tokyo Chorus” is my first classic Japanese silent film and the fact that it was directed by Yasujiro Ozu made me want to purchase the “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies” box set. And as expected, even for a silent film, Ozu is able to capture the Japanese family life including the quirks. For example, in one scene, his son who tends to fight with his sister is seen hitting her in the head and she starts crying. Or another scene in which the son tries to climb a clothes shelf and when Shinji comes to pull him off, his records fall down and break.
Because these films were silent, it was so important to communicate visually with the audience and with the son’s antics and his wife’s facial expressions, you don’t need any dialogue to understand what is going on in the film. The way the characters are shot, the emotions they bring to the camera and just the overall pacing of the film is done wonderfully.
Kids are behaving like kids and the parents, played by Tokihiko Okada and Emiko Yaguma do a great job communicating their happiness, sadness and frustrations.
Overall, a wonderful film that is part of the “Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies – Eclipse Series #10″. I definitely look forward to watching the next two silent films in the collection. If you are a big fan of Yasujiro Ozu’s work and have wanted to see his silent work, definitely give this box set a try!
