Notizie

Masaki Kobayashi’s six-part adaptation of the book by Jumpei Gomikawa may be the most ambitious, most truthful film about the big-picture reality of war. Idealist Tatsuya Nakadai thinks he can avoid complicity in human evil by volunteering as a civilian to manage a work camp in occupied Manchuria, only to find that he’s expected to starve and torture Chinese slave laborers. Resistance leads to his conscription in a brutal boot camp, and his deployment on the Northern front as the Russians invade leads to an extended struggle to survive amid mounting horrors. There’s no escape: the ‘human condition’ is that barbarity is a given, a constant. It’s nine hours of suffering that can change one’s world view.

The Human Condition

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 480

1959-61 / B&w / 2:39 anamorphic widescreen / 575 min. / Ningen no jôken / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 8, 2021 / 59.95

Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai,...

Masaki Kobayashi is one of the most internationally recognized Japanese directors of his era, with many of his films still receiving continued and undiminished critical acclaim. The ghost anthology “Kwaidan”, the samurai films “Samurai Rebellion” and “Harakiri” and the anti-war epic “The Human Condition” are some of his films to remain highly regarded. In 1956, Kobayashi tackled the businesslike nature of Japan’s sports industry in a film with an extremely provoking title: “I Will Buy You”.

Daisuke Kishimoto is a talent scout working for the professional baseball team Toyo Flowers. He is sharp, no-nonsense and relentless in his ways to acquire new players for the team. His latest target is a promising pitcher, but the assignment fails when he finds out that the promising talent is recovering from losing a finger in an accident at the factory he works in. Kishimoto’s character is revealed further when...

The first film in Ozu’s oeuvre shot in colour, “Equinox Flower” depicts the younger generation in a more sympathetic light than the earlier works of the Japanese master. Based on the novel by Ton Satomi under the same title, “Equinox Flower” touches upon the typical Ozu themes of generation clashes and the omnipresent tensions between tradition and modernity.

Wataru Hirayama (Shin Saburi) is a businessman who looks for a proper husband for his daughter. In a speech at a friend’s wedding, he addresses the issue of arranged marriages. “You are lucky this is not happening in your generation” he seems to say to the newlyweds. Ironically, when later in the film a young man, Masahiko Taniguchi (Keiji Sada) enters his office to ask him for his daughter’s hand, Hirayama is conflicted, to say the least. Because Hirayama didn’t get to choose his daughter’s husband,...

When an insurance company makes the announcement that the business is folding and they are letting the staff go, employee Takashi Kiguchi pleads for the future of his co-workers by putting a gun to his head and threatening suicide. However, before he can pull the trigger a work friend reaches for the gun, causing Takashi to only injure himself. The act of defiance does not go unnoticed though, and the press soon flock to meet the man who offered up his life for his fellow workers. When an insurance company hears about this story, they decide that he would be the ideal representative of their new ad campaign. Somewhat hesitant at first, Takashi soon becomes obsessed with the stardom that his new role is offering. Trying to use his voice for positive platform, he becomes obsessed with ensuring that everyone respects him and his actions.

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It’s Yasujiro Ozu in light mode, except that his insights into the human social mechanism make this cheerful neighborhood comedy as meaningful as his dramas. Two boys go on a ‘talk strike’ because they want a television set, a choice that has an effect on everyone around them. And what can you say about a movie with running jokes about flatulence . . . and is still a world-class classic?

Good Morning

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 84

1959 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 94 min. / ohayo / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 16, 2017 / 39.95

Starring: Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishu Ryu, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura, Koji Shitara, Masahiko Shimazu, Isamu Hayashi, Kyoko Izumi, Toyo Takahashi, Sadako Sawamura, Eijiro Tono.

Cinematography: Yushun Atsuta

Film Editor: Yoshiyasu Hamamura

Original Music: Toshiro Mayuzumi

Written by Yasujiro Ozu, Kogo Noda

Produced by Shizuo Yamanouchi

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

Ozu’s Good Morning is a straight-out delight, being both inconsequential and insightful.

Want a nine-hour dose of the truth of existence so harrowing that it will make you feel grateful no matter how humble your situation? Masaki Kobayshi's epic of the real cost of war boggles the mind with its creeping revelations of cosmic bleakness. Yet all the way through you know you're experiencing a truth far beyond slogans and sentiments. The Human Condition Region B Blu-ray Arrow Academy (UK) 1959-61 / B&W / 2:35 anamorphic widescreen / 574 min. / Ningen no jôken / Street Date September 19, 2016 / Available from Amazon UK £ 39.99 Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima, Keiji Sada, So Yamamura, Kunie Tanaka, Kei Sato, Chishu Ryu, Taketoshi Naito. Cinematography Yoshio Miyajima Art Direction Kazue Hirataka <Film Editor Keiichi Uraoka Original Music Chuji Kinoshita Written by Zenzo Matsuyama, Masaki Kobayashi from the novel by Jumpei Gomikawa Produced by Shigeru Wakatsuki Directed by Masaki Kobayashi

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The first Blu-ray of perhaps...