12 / BD 54 The Naked Island

[tristan]

The Naked Island



Filmed on the virtually deserted Setonaikai archipelago in south-west Japan, The Naked Island was made — in the words of its director — "as a 'cinematic poem' to try and capture the life of human beings struggling like ants against the forces of nature". Kaneto Shindo, director of Onibaba (MoC #13) and Kuroneko (MoC #14), made the film with his own production company, Kindaï Eiga Kyokai, who were facing financial ruin at the time. Using one-tenth of the average budget, Shindo took one last impassioned risk to make this film. With his small crew, they relocated to an inn on the island of Mihari where, for two months in early 1960, they would make what they considered to be their last film.

The Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid, sun-baked island. Daily chores, captured as a series of cyclical events, result in a hypnotising, moving, and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era. With hardly any dialogue, Shindo combines the stark 'Scope cinematography of Kiyoshi Kuroda with the memorable score of his constant collaborator Hikaru Hayashi, to make a unique cinematic document.

Shindo, who had worked with both Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa, shot to international fame with the astounding Children of Hiroshima (1952). Eight years later, the BAFTA-nominated The Naked Island won the Grand Prix at Moscow International Film Festival (where Luchino Visconti was a jury member). It is now considered to be one of Shindo's major works, and its success saved his film company from bankruptcy. The experience of making The Naked Island led Shindo to appreciate 'collective film production', and has been his preferred method of making films ever since. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to release The Naked Island for the first time on home video in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Gorgeous new 1080p HD transfer
• Full-length audio commentary by director Kaneto Shindo and composer Hikaru Hayashi
• Video introduction by Alex Cox
• Optional English subtitles
• 32-PAGE BOOKLET with an essay by Acquarello; a 1972 interview with Shindô conducted by Joan Mellen; and rare imagery.

[kiddish]

I almost fainted.

I wish they had more information on the website.

[Pinback]

I almost fainted.

I wish they had more information on the website.

It's going to have a commentary track by Kaneto Shindo...what more do you need to know?! =D>

NAKED ISLAND and ONIBABA will have Shindo commentaries.

[Lino]

A summary of the film:

http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/shindo.html

Kaneto Shindo creates a visually distilled, minimalist, and understated, yet compelling and profoundly expressive portrait of human struggle, perseverance, and survival in Naked Island. Crafting a remarkably fluid and tightly edited film that is entirely devoid of dialogue, Shindo effectively exploits the characters' silence in order to capture an organic rhythm that, in turn, reflects the cycle and ritual of human experience: the repetition of daily tasks that begin and end in darkness; the evocative, cross-cut shots of the father watering the wilting crops as the mother arduously transports water barrels; the cadence of displaced water from a rowing oar; the allusive depiction of seasonal change through images of harvested fields, village festivals, cherry blossoms, land tilling, and crop seeding. Recalling contemporary filmmaker Robert Bresson's presentation of impassive characters, extended silences, and ambient sound, Shindo similarly evokes a sense of transcendence from an oppressive existence through the performance of manual ritual. In the end, the silently suffering inhabitants of the austere island achieve their own poetic and natural state of grace, not through overt contemplation and spiritual enlightenment, but through the humble acknowledgement of a universal sense of place and the resilient acceptance for the unknown - and unknowable - travails of human existance.

[Pinback]

There's an interesting interview with Kaneto Shindo in Joan Mellen's long out-of-print Voices from the Japanese Cinema, in which he admits to being embarrassed by the huge international reputation this film had on its initial release outside Japan. Apparently, everyone outside Japan that Shindo spoke to about the film was under the impression that almost all Japanese people lived like the family in Naked Island. It will be interesting to hear Shindo's commentary on the film, and to see how he feels about the film today...

[Lino]

Cover and partial specs are up:

http://www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/012.htm

MoC #12
NAKED ISLAND
(Kaneto Shindo, 1960)

Japan | 2.35:1 OAR (anamorphic) | Date of release: June 2005

Filmed on the virtually deserted Setonaikai archipelago in south-east Japan, Naked Island was made — in the words of its director — "as a 'cinematic poem' to try and capture the life of human beings struggling like ants against the forces of nature". Kaneto Shindo, director of Onibaba (MoC #13) and Kuroneko (MoC #14), made the film with his own production company, Kindaï Eiga Kyokai, who were facing financial ruin at the time. Using one-tenth of the average budget, Shindo took one last impassioned risk to make this film. With his small crew, they relocated to an inn on the island of Mihari where, for two months in early 1964, they would make what they considered to be their last film.

Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid, sun-baked island. Daily chores, captured as a series of cyclical events, result in a hypnotising, moving, and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era. With hardly any dialogue, Shindo combines the stark 'Scope cinematography of Kiyoshi Kuroda with the memorable score of his constant collaborator Hikaru Hayashi, to make a unique cinematic document.

Shindo, who had worked with both Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa, shot to international fame with the astounding Children of Hiroshima (1952). Eight years later, the BAFTA-nominated Naked Island won the Grand Prix at Moscow International Film Festival (where Luchino Visconti was a jury member). It is now considered to be one of Shindo's major works, and its success saved his film company from bankruptcy. The experience of making Naked Island led Shindo to appreciate 'collective film production', and has been his preferred method of making films ever since. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to release Naked Island for the first time on home video in the UK.



S P E C I A L F E A T U R E S
# Newly restored transfer
# Full-length audio commentary by Kaneto Shindo and Hikaru Hayashi
# Optional English subtitles
# Production stills gallery
# 16-page booklet with reprints of Joan Mellen's interviews with Shindo
# Plus more!

[Pinback]

MoC #12 NAKED ISLAND (Kaneto Shindo, 1960)

SPECIAL FEATURES:
# 16-page booklet with reprints of Joan Mellen's interviews with Shindo

I assume this will contain a reprint of the Voices from the Japanese Cinema interview that I mentioned above. It's an excellent inclusion, as the interview was a fascinating read, and probabaly an essential contextual companion to the film...

[whaaat]

This may be the disc that makes me finally get an all-region player.

Great, great news...

[peerpee]

The final cover?:

[Steven H]

Nice cover. Looks like a lot of work went into it. Is that a collage of film elements, production stills, or both? Pretty similar in concept to this:

[peerpee]

That's lovely. What country is it from? Belgium?

The final (?) MoC cover is a combination of a production still (the main woman) and frame blowups (everything else). We couldn't locate an original Japanese poster via the rightsholder or elsewhere, and we're thinking of doing ONIBABA and KURONEKO in a similar fashion so that all three look slightly related.

[Steven H]

It's Belgian. I would have thought Naked Island to be considered seperately from Kuroneko and Onibaba, for the purposes of cover art at least. I'm really looking forward to the commentary.

[peerpee]

Well. It's tough with these three. We have an original Japanese ONIBABA poster but would prefer for these three titles to look "related".

[Lino]

Peerpee, that final (?) cover for Naked Island deserves a limited poster edition! It's so beautiful! Bravo! Are you the author?

[peerpee]

The Shindo/Hayashi commentary on NAKED ISLAND, and the Shindo/Sato/Yoshimura commentary on ONIBABA were on the Japanese DVDs, so they're not exclusive, but our English translations will be exclusive to the MoC Series.

Annie: yes, I threw the stills together. Glad you like it.

[peerpee]

Toho have urged us to use the definite article.

[Lino]

Final specs for Naked Island:

S P E C I A L F E A T U R E S
# Newly restored transfer, anamorphic 2.35:1 OAR
# Full-length audio commentary by director Kaneto Shindo and composer Hikaru Hayashi
# Optional English subtitles
# Production stills gallery
# A playable archive of the French 7" soundtrack vinyl
# 28-page booklet with a new essay by Acquarello, and a reprint of Joan Mellen's interview with Shindo from Voices from the Japanese Cinema.

[peerpee]

Not final: add "Video introduction by Alex Cox"

[Lino]

Even better (even though I think that man is becoming frightfully overrated these days...)!

Is he a fan of the movie himself or does he simply like being involved in DVD productions? He's been showing up quite often in DVD extras, lately. Or even still, is he raising some money for one of his projects?

[What A Disgrace]

Not final: add "Video introduction by Alex Cox"

Awesome.

[peerpee]

Overrated filmmaker, Annie? -- Perhaps. But I don't think anyone can deny he's a very enthusiastic film fan who loves talking about film. His enthusiasm seeps out of every pore.

[Lino]

he's a very enthusiastic film fan who loves talking about film. His enthusiasm seeps out of every pore.

That part I agree with you. His whole face beams when he's talking about films. Come and think of it, so does mine! But I guess I don't have any of my films in the Criterion Collection to compare (wait a minute...I haven't even made one! )

Anyways, great specs on that disc and can't wait to see what Mr. Cox has to say about this one!

[peerpee]

The Shindo/Hayashi commentary on this one is wonderful. It's been brilliantly and subtly translated to English, and it's a real treat!

[Lino]

Beaver review:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... island.htm

[shirobamba]

=D>

Congrats Nick & the complete MoC team! 5 out of 5 again.
I hope it will reflect in decent sales #s