Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

An Actor's Revenge Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 26, 2018

Kon Ichikawa's "An Actor's Revenge" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new interview with critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns and lengthy archival interview with the director. The release also arrives with a 30-lage illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragow, reprinted archival article by the director, and technical credits. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The seducer

In the West, there are still numerous Kon Ichikawa films that are virtually unknown because they have never seen an official release. Naturally, there are very few people there that can produce a legit complete summation of the evolution of the director’s style. However, if one were to compare only the films that have been made available to see, one can legitimately speculate that An Actor’s Revenge might be the oddest film in Ichikawa’s oeuvre. There is just nothing else even remotely similar to it, which is why it sticks out like a sore thumb.

The events that are chronicled in the film take place in Japan sometime during the nineteenth-century when despite some evolutionary trends the division between the different classes is still on full display. So people are very much expected to respect a wide range of traditional codes and rules that essentially define their exact placement in the existing social system. However, the character that Ichikawa’s camera follows closely, Yukinojo (Kazuo Hasegawa), ignores many of them because he is on a mission to destroy three influential men that a long time ago humiliated his parents and forced them to commit suicide. He is an aging actor who has had a long career in what appears to be a well-respected kabuki theater, but as it quickly becomes obvious also a brilliant female impersonator with a seemingly endless bag of tricks. Through a few short but crucial flashbacks the film also reveals that the pain from the loss that the man still carries with him is so intense that he would instantly sacrifice his life if it were necessary to achieve his ultimate goal.

Ichikawa’s film was apparently a loose remake of another film with a similar title that was directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa in 1935. However, it appears that the Japanese title of the original film was translated differently by multiple international distributors and as a result today there are some older references of it that could be slightly confusing. What is important to underscore is that Hasegawa also played the main character in the original film and that Ichikawa’s remake was largely conceived and funded as a tribute to the veteran actor.

The manner in which Yukinojo’s story is told is very unusual. On one hand, Ichikawa merges the expressiveness of the kabuki plays that the actor is seen performing with the period reality outside of the theater and this basically shifts the film in an entirely new poetic reality of the type that a few years earlier Keisuke Kinoshita had introduced in the classic stunner The Ballad of Narayama. On the other hand, plenty of the dramatic action is infused with smoky jazz tunes that one would expect to hear in a pulpy gangster thriller like Seijun Suzuki’s Tokyo Drifter. So not only there are some very unusual visual contrasts, but in the background there is a distinct contemporary ambience that actually does not jibe with them at all. It is a very, very bold film.

Ultimately, however, it is also a very difficult film to get used to and like. After Yukinojo’s goes to work to punish his targets it seems like Ichikawa routinely veers off in different directions for no other reason but to craft dazzling sequences that promote the newly-invented cinematic style. The best sequences are of course unforgettable, but after a while even they tire the eyes and the mind slowly begins to drift away.

An Actor's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Kon Ichikawa's An Actor's Revenge arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital restoration was undertaken from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative by Kadokawa Corporation at Imagica in Tokyo. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm original camera negative at Nikkatsu in Tokyo. Additional restoration was performed by the Criterion Collection using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

Image supervisor: Massahiro Miyajima.
Sound supervisor: Masatsugu Hayashi."

I have never owned a copy of this film in my library and do not have anything to compare the current presentation to, but it is easy to tell that the restoration has produced marvelous results because the entire film looks spotless and density is as good as one can expect it to be. On a large screen the visuals really are quite striking. Generally speaking, clarity and depth are exceptional, though because there are some unique lighting choices some extremely small fluctuations can be observed. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. The color scheme boasts a solid range of very healthy primaries and equally pleasing nuances, though I have to say that there are a few segments where I felt that the primaries are perhaps a bit too cool. The overall balance, however, remains very good. Image stability is excellent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

An Actor's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The audio is stable, crisp, and with a nicely rounded. There is proper depth for a film of the era as well. As expected, overall dynamic intensity is limited, but there is still a good range of nuanced dynamics. There are no pops, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in our review.

An Actor's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Tony Rayns - in this new video interview, critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns discusses the unique narrative construction of An Actor's Revenge, its visual appearance, and production history. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 1080p).

• Kon Inchikawa - presented here is an archival interview with director Kon Ichikawa in which he discusses his lengthy career and the evolution of his style with critic Yuki Mori. The interview was conducted in 1999 for the Directors Guild of Japan. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (58 min, 1080i).

• Booklet - 30-page illustrated booklet featuring:
  
  
  • "An Actor's Revenge and a Director's Triumph" by Michael Sragow
  • "Cinemascope and Me" by Kon Ichikawa
  • Technical credits

An Actor's Revenge Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I wanted to like this film a lot because Ayako Wakao, in my humble opinion the most beautiful Japanese actress of her generation, has a major role in it, but I just could not get used to the unusual blending of its poetic reality and 'cool' contemporary ambience. There are some absolutely stunning visuals, but they frequently feel like prolonged distractions rather than essential parts of the narrative. I am sure that there will be plenty of people that will fall in love with the film precisely because of its carefully crafted stylized appearance, but I found it difficult to like. Criterion's recent release is sourced from a strong new 4K restoration that was completed by the Kadokawa Corporation at Imagica in Tokyo. If possible, RENT FIRST, then consider a purchase.