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Twenty-Four Eyes



Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty-Four Eyes — which beat Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai as Kinema Junpo's Best Film of 1954 and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1955 — is one of Japan's most beloved films. In 1999 it was picked by Japanese critics as one of the ten best Japanese films of all time. Both a huge commercial and critical success, this deeply affecting anti-war film has, according to the critic Sato Tadao, "wrung more tears out of Japanese audiences than any other post-war film".

Spanning a twenty-year period, Twenty-Four Eyes tells the story of a bright young teacher, Hisaki Oishi (Hideko Takamine), and the ongoing relationship she has with her first class of twelve children, charmingly played, at various stages of their lives, by non-professional local children and young adults. At first, although the aging schoolmaster (Chishu Ryu) recognizes her talent, Hisaki is mistrusted by the remote island community, however, soon both children and adults fall under the spell of this modern, headstrong, city-girl only to see the impending war irretrievably change their lives for good.

Filming started in 1951 when America was embroiled in the Korean War and Japanese militarism was again on the rise. Twenty-Four Eyes came to redefine Japan's national identity with its cry for pacifism and its reverence for the innocence of youth. As cherished today as it was in 1954, this film is a sublime, emotionally affecting drama skilfully and gracefully directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Twenty-Four Eyes for the first time on home video in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New, progressive high definition transfer
• Optional English subtitles
• Large production stills gallery
• 20-page booklet with a new essay by Joan Mellen

I was wondering when someone would post this. I'll definitely be picking it up sooner or later.

My I ask the good folks at MoC, prematurely, what the final film in the Japanese Summer will be?

A visually beautiful film with some wonderful performances. It is as blatantly emotionally manipulative as a Spielberg film -- but (except for one final utterly gratuitous bit of tragedy which infuriated me) still a wonderful film.

Excellent news

I'd just like to say that I loathe Spielberg, but I love TWENTY-FOUR EYES.

peerpee wrote:I'd just like to say that I loathe Spielberg, but I love TWENTY-FOUR EYES.

Curiously enough, I'd say the same thing. ;~}

Found this on allmovie.com: "in 1999, Nijushi no Hitomi was picked by Japanese critics as one of the ten best Japanese films of all time."

Does someone know where I can find the whole list? Google isn't helping...

Sounds like a pretty important film. Someone who knows something about it should start a Wikipedia article on it. It might generate interest in the dvd, and the dvd will surely generate interest in it.

Jun-Dai wrote:Sounds like a pretty important film. Someone who knows something about it should start a Wikipedia article on it. It might generate interest in the dvd, and the dvd will surely generate interest in it.

I'm not sure how "important" this film actually is. It's interesting viewing for fans of Japanese cinema, to see something from the fifties that is far more of a mainstream studio work than what we're used to seeing from true auteurs like Mizoguchi, Ozu, Naruse, or Kurosawa. But it wasn't really to my taste - I far prefer A Japanese Tragedy, the only other Kinoshita film I've seen.

Is this basically Hideko Takamine's introduction to english subtitled DVD (discounting the Panorama version of this same film.) I look forward to the new audience she'll gather. One of my favorite actresses of all time (Floating Clouds anybody?) I doubt there are many other people that can express all the good and all the bad in the world with a single laconic smirk.

This is a wonderful film indeed. Two and a half hours went by so fast. I had to hold back tears a few times. Are we going to get the restored (cleaned up) version for this MOC release? When will it be released anyway?

iangj wrote: I'm not sure how "important" this film actually is. It's interesting viewing for fans of Japanese cinema, to see something from the fifties that is far more of a mainstream studio work than what we're used to seeing from true auteurs like Mizoguchi, Ozu, Naruse, or Kurosawa. But it wasn't really to my taste - I far prefer A Japanese Tragedy, the only other Kinoshita film I've seen.

This is cheap. Not sure of your definition of a true auteur, and I guess that Kinoshita does not qualify as a true auteur in your book. Kinoshita enjoyed tremendous popularity in Japan in the 40s and 50s and he has made lots of movies that are considered classics in Japan.

Kumai is another Japanese director who might never achieve that mysterious auteur status, especially in the eyes of the Western audience (simply because his movies are rarely screened there). However, that did not prevent him from making "Shinobugawa", one of the most beautiful movies ever made, even if it is rarely screened these days

But it 's true that TWENTY-FOUR EYES is a bit overrated, especially for such an underrated director like Kinoshita Keisuke. Like ianj, I prefer A JAPANESE TRAGEDY, and his controversial ARMY remains one of my favourite Japanese films ever. He'd had a number of distinguished films, from WOMAN, THE RIVER FUEFUKI and BALLAD OF NARAYAMA, all of which I find to be far superior to 24 EYES. Plus, those kids bursting into songs annoys the heck out of me everytime.

Grimfarrow wrote: his controversial ARMY remains one of my favourite Japanese films ever.

Army is also my favorite Kinoshita film so far -- and the best in terms of sheer artistry -- but "Carmen Comes Home" is lots of good fun (so it takes second place).

Michael Kerpan wrote:

Grimfarrow wrote: his controversial ARMY remains one of my favourite Japanese films ever.

Army is also my favorite Kinoshita film so far -- and the best in terms of sheer artistry -- but "Carmen Comes Home" is lots of good fun (so it takes second place).

"Carmen comes Home" was fun, especially the last series of sequences where the audience expected something more dramatic to happen. You know what I mean.

Well, that's true. Even its sequel CARMEN'S PURE LOVE, is well worth watching - if only to see the director go off the deep end with his experimentations! (which were definitely radical at the time).

Nick
just like to say the new cover is wonderful, nice work! (also liked the old one)

The new cover looks nice, but I think the old cover was excellent and would be much better.

Either way, I can't wait to get a hold of the disc.

I don't know, I quite like this cover, especially the color. Post the old one for comparison.

Gentlemen, please:

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vie ... 8&start=50

Finished the disc today. It won't get pushed back again.

What will the street date be?

20/02/2006

Distributors began receiving these last week. It's done and dusted and definitely going to be on shelves for the February 20th release date.