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Extras from the Criterion Laserdisc:

The Criterion release of Kenji Mizoguchi's moving, beautifully photographed film features a new transfer. Audio commentary by media artist and critic Norman Yonemoto and Mizoguchi expert Keiko MacDonald analyzes Mizoguchi's artistry and the film's cultural significance. Also includes an interview with Donald Richie, a leading expert on Japanese cinema. Available exclusively on laserdisc from Criterion!

For anyone interested, Beaver's review of Shindo's film (Asmik Ace - R2 Japan DVD).

In other Mizoguchi-related (good) news -- University of California Press is finally shipping Mark LeFanu's new "Mizoguchi and Japan".

Le Fanu's book is a really fine read.

Michael Kerpan wrote:In other Mizoguchi-related (good) news -- University of California Press is finally shipping Mark LeFanu's new "Mizoguchi and Japan".

Thanks--seems like I've had it on preorder forever.

I ordered directly from U. Cal Press -- bookstore orders might take a bit longer. (I got my "Figures Traced in Light" from them a month before this hit bookstores or Amazon.com).

Looks like an excellent release. The extras are looking great; I can't wait to make my way through this release.

This is a shoo-in for the #1 DVD of the Year in the MoC poll. Ran will be 2nd, and the two Criterion Bressons joint 3rd.

I have recently watched this wondrous film on a very battered copy and like matt, I hope that the transfer Criterion are using is really eye-popping. But this being Mr. Becker's pet project, I guess we can only wait for wonders. The film really deserves it as it's an important classic and one I found almost unclassifiable at first (is this a drama or a ghost story? maybe both and something other at the same time).

As always in Mizoguchi, the camera work is exquisite and the acting top-notch. Hmm...as I was writing this, it ocurred to me that most of Japan's mythology and legends and also nightmarish immagery is based in ghost stories and avenging spirits. Does anyone know why? Maybe a bit far-fetched to ask such a thing as the answer probably lies in storytelling traditions and such but does anyone have an idea?

(is this a drama or a ghost story? maybe both and something other at the same time).

I'm still watching it on VHS trying to decide how much i like this film.

Well, it's a combination of two separate unrelated Japanese ghost stories (plus an unrelated non-ghostly tale from Guy de Maupassant).

If the video you're looking at is anything like the one I've seen, it wont do the film much justice. The French DVD is vastly better than the video -- and I would hope Criterion will do at least as well.

Actually "Tales of the Taira Clan" is "shin heike monogatari". "Zangiku monogatari" is "Tale of Late Chrysanthemums". The latter film, by the way, has some of Mizoguchi's most stunning (and radical) cinematography. "Taira Clan" is, on the other hand, pretty much a clinker. The color use in this is pretty uninspiring compared to what one finds in the gorgeous looking "Princess Yang Kwei Fei".

"Chikamatsu monogatari" is another wonderful film, btw. Perhaps my favorite "historical" one.

My VHS of UGETSU MONOGATARI is off air from FILM FOUR... The CC DVD will no doubt be a big improvement...

I particularly like TALE OF LATE CHRYSANTHENUMS, and I certainly eagerly await that title in the CC...

Live and learn.

;~}

MEK

I hope Sansho Dayu is the next...

I can't wait for this release. As I was looking at the back cover, I realized for the first time that this film was made in 1953. Was this film a decade ahead of its time, or am I just dreaming (in reality)?

Although the transfer is not flawless - there are lots of artifacts on the print - this is surely the best-looking UGETSU any of us will ever see.

The extras are typically juicy - interviews with colleagues and crew, and the 150-minute film by Shindo from 1975 is illuminating. Add to that a book of essays and short stories and you have another Criterion winner.

How do you know the transfer isn't great? It's not even out yet.

I found a copy accidently on the shelf tonight and media play and just thought I'd let people know it's packaged like Fanny Och Alexander with Different case for each disc. Very beautiful packaging. They wouldn't sell it, but I wouldn't have bought for 37 dollars anyways. Does anyone know when the exact date for the Deep Discount DVD sale is?

I'll cover this one, tavernier - it must get tiresome after so long.

Tavernier is a reviewer. The lucky bastard gets advance copies and is our window to the (albeit rather immediate) future. We love him for it and do not reply to his remarks in an accusatory manner.

-Toilet Dcuk

P.S. Deep Discount DVD Crazy Fun Mania!

I thought Tavernier just knew a reviewer. Either way, there are probably a few members on the board who get advanced copies of Criterions, either because they are reviewers or know a reviewer.

I'm sure you're right on that one, but tavernier always gives us the goods and also always seems to get questioned.

Although, looking back, I was a bit over-condescending up there - mucho apologies blindside, you got the receiving end of a little "my roommate's a dickweed" rage. I'll try and keep 'er in check next time.

-Toilet Dcuk

Apology accepted and apology extended to tavernier. Sorry, I just want this to be the best release ever, I'm real excited. I tried to go over to Best Buy and see if they had copies in they would sell me in advance, (cause they are mostly dumbasses.) Ex: When the new editions of the Fly came out they had them on sale 2 for 20, from Tuesday to Sunday. I went in Saturday and they hadn't even put the damn things on the shelves yet, they were still in the backrooms. How do you expect to make money off of a new release on a sale if you don't even bother to stock it until the last day of the sale?

DVD Town

DVD Talk

I watched the DVD of Ugetsu last night and was startled by what appears to be a flaw.
The very first shot, that wonderful crane shot, is interrupted by a cut to what looks like a foggy lake. Then it fades back to the opening shot, where it left off. I checked the Criterion LD, and this cutaway is not there, the crane shot is uninterrupted (and far more effective). This cutaway on the DVD is very bizarre, and even my girlfriend, who had never seen the film before, said "what the hell was that?" It definitely seems like a mistake. Has anyone else noticed this? Is it on anyone else's disc? Is there any explanation for it? (I do remember that when I saw a battered print of this film at a revival house, the crane shot was truncated, and the credit sequence was completely Anglicized, and, I think, laid over a different shot, possibly of the lake. I wonder if the shot of the lake included here is the tail end of the alternate title sequence, but it's just a guess.) I hope someone can shed some light on this.

Edit: Upon closer inspection (but not too close), it is POSSIBLE, on the LD version, that there is a cut in the crane shot where the lake shot might be edited out, but overall it looks seamless enough that you would never notice it. Furthermore, the lake shot could not have just been excised, because there's a slow fade back into the crane shot, and there's no fade in the LD version. I really think that the cut to the lake is bizarre. It is clearly layered over the crane shot, so that, if it was removed, the crane shot would still be the same length. Also, both the lake shot itself and the timing of the cut to the shot seem totally random. It cuts to the shot, which lasts maybe two seconds, and then it slowly fades back into the crane shot, just before the shot settles in on the characters. The fade back into to the crane shot looks really suspicious, I think. I'm a Mizoguchi fan, and though I admit that he could have intended this, I have to say it would be the weirdest cut in all his work (that I've seen) for just about every reason.