7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
In the midst of epic, violent intrigue in twelfth-century Japan, an imperial warrior falls for a lady-in-waiting; after he discovers she is married, he becomes frenzied in his attempts to win her love.
Starring: Kazuo Hasegawa, Machiko Kyô, Isao Yamagata, Yataro Kurokawa, Kôtarô BandôForeign | 100% |
Drama | 66% |
Romance | 9% |
War | 5% |
History | 4% |
Period | 3% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Japanese: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Winner of the prestigious Grand Prix Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Japanese director Teinosuke Kinugasa's "Jigokumon" a.k.a "Gate of Hell" (1953) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. There are no supplemental features included on this release. Included is a 24-page illustrated booklet featuring film critic and historian Philip Kemp's essay "Jigokumon" and Carl Theodor Dreyer's "On Gate of Hell". In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Morito
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.
Digitally restored in 2011 by The National Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kadokawa Shoten Co., LTD. in cooperation with NHK, Gate of Hell looks simply beautiful on Blu-ray. Throughout the entire film close-ups boast fantastic depth (see screencaptures #1 and #13), while clarity is consistently pleasing. Contrast levels are also stable. Colors are rich and well saturated, looking healthy and stable. Furthermore, there are no traces of excessive degraining corrections. There are absolutely no traces of post-production sharpening either. Unsurprisingly, the film boasts a wonderful organic look. Finally, there are no serious stability issues. Also, there are no large damage marks, cuts, stains, or warps to report in this review. To sum it all up, this is indeed a very impressive restoration, arguably one of the very best done for an Asian film in Eureka Entertainment's catalog. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese LPCM 2.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
The dialog is stable and easy to follow. Occasionally there is some light background hiss that sneaks in, primarily where the music is prominent, but it is never distracting. Rather predictably for a film from the early '50s, dynamic movement is quite limited (even during the horse race). There are no serious distortions or audio dropouts.
Japanese director Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell is a simple but very effective film about a great warrior obsessed with a married woman. Described by director Martin Scorsese as one of the ten most beautiful color films ever made, Gate of Hell looks spectacular on Blu-ray. In fact, I would argue that this is the best looking period Asian film Eureka Entertainment have released to date. Don't miss it, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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