Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

A Story Written with Water Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 31, 2024

In the "and you thought your family had problems" department, anyone wanting to feel "better" about any dysfunction in their home life interrelationships may want to check out A Story Written With Water, a film which suggests (and not to joke about a very serious matter) that men with Oedipus complexes are definitely not limited to Greece. An almost Douglas Sirk-ian level of soap operatic elements play into this tale involving Shizuo (Yasunori Irikawa), an adult Japanese male who is engaged to Yumiko (Ruriko Asaoka). Unfortunately, Shizuo is roiled by his evidently sexual relationship with his mother Shizuka (Mariko Okada, real life wife of director Kiju Yoshida). While nothing is totally explicitly and/or overtly depicted in this regard, the hints are broad, frequent and unmistakable, especially when the film ventures into flashback territory detailing Shizuo's childhood experiences with Shizuka. In "contemporary time", things become even more convoluted when it's revealed that Shizuka has had a long relationship with Yumiko's father Denzo (Isao Yamagata), something that ends up spilling into the plans for the two young adults to marry in perhaps disastrous ways. Suffice it to say that incest doesn't rear its ugly head only in terms of the relationship between Shizuo and Shizuka.

This is a deliberately nightmarish tale that is highlighted by almost Abstract Expressionist presentational aspects, where troubled interior lives tend to be mirrored in askew framings and almost hallucinatory cinematography. The admittedly provocative subject matter is kind of strangely almost held at arm's lengths, at least considering the fact that this was supposedly Yoshida's attempts to break free of the strictures imposed by the studio system and to go at least relatively "indie" with this effort. An arguably overly slow pace may weigh down the narrative as well, but there is still some visceral material here, especially within what Westerners often perceive as the almost emotionless mien of the Japanese. "Happy" endings may not be in the offing for any of these characters (two of them, at least), and so the film has an almost abrasively melancholic undertow that may be hard to withstand.

A Story Written with Water Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Story Written With Water is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Radiance sent a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any information that might be included in an insert booklet (which tends to be pretty generic in the case of Radiance, one way or the other), but their website at least offers a "high definition digital transfer" description, for whatever that's worth. This is by and large a really ravishing looking transfer in terms of general detail levels and its rendering of Tatsuo Suzuki's really evocative black and white cinematography, but it offers some undeniably peculiar anamorphic anomalies at various points. For whatever reason Asian films in particular, especially those stemming from the sixties, seem to have almost comical anamorphic oddities at times (one thinks especially of efforts like Shaw Brothers films), where the corners of the frame can be pretty drastically squeezed, something that is definitely on tap here as well (see screenshots 6 and 8 for just two examples). But what is even more odd looking is a kind of "tilt" where what should be straight lines or even things like human heads and/or faces tend to curve off in some way, often but not always to the left. Look, for example, at the counter in screenshot 9, where what should be a straight edge curves slightly, but there are more pronounced moments throughout the presentation where everything in the frame (not just the edges) is just slightly "warped" looking, which may be perceptible in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. This anomaly comes and goes, which makes me think there may have been a defective lens in play, but perhaps something happened elsewhere in the workflow. Aside from these intermittently bizarre looking moments, the rest of the transfer offers really lush reproductions of almost chiaroscuro effects, and detail levels on things like costume fabrics tends to be excellent. There is some noticeable wobble during the credits, and small nicks, scratches and other blemishes show up on occasion. Grain resolves naturally.

A Story Written with Water Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Story Written With Water features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in the original Japanese. A rather strikingly atonal and abrasive score by Toshi Ichiyanagi may be the most immediately distinctive aspect to the soundtrack, and it is offered here with excellent if unavoidably strident fidelity. The film is very talk heavy, and all dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

A Story Written with Water Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Kiju Yoshida (HD; 2:46) is featured in an archival introduction to his film. Subtitled in English.


• Mariko Okada (HD; 11:33) is a new interview with the actress. Subtitled in English.


• Jennifer Coates (HD; 21:42) offers her interesting thoughts on the film and the relationship between Yoshida and Okada.


• Trailer (HD; 3:25)

Radiance sent a check disc for purposes of this review, but their website mentions an insert booklet and their Obi strip packaging.

A Story Written with Water Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Radiance continues to curate some exceptional foreign films, and A Story Written With Water should certainly appeal to lovers of what has been called the "Japanese New Wave". In that regard, Yoshida's reported love of Antonioni may be an "entry point" for some unacquainted with Yoshida's own oeuvre, and that linkage probably extends both to a certain opaqueness in narrative elements as well as a decidedly "relaxed" pace. The film may therefore have some structural hurdles to overcome, and there are some passing anamorphic weirdnesses on tap, but otherwise Radiance provides a release with generally solid technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.