7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Sumida and his schoolmate Keiko are 14 year old school kids living a dystopian existence where each of their parents' hopes and encourages them to die. Set in tsunami-hit areas of Japan about May 2011, which is used as a backdrop, the story follows roughly that of the manga of the same name wherein Sumida fights frequently with his father, is abandoned by his mother and tends to reject friendly advances of others. Eventually, he kills his father and then, assuming his life is ruined, attempts to improve society by killing "bad" people. Although not immediately obvious, what instead happens is that he attacks psychotic and violent characters, while he instead learns from Keiko and the Yakuza and people who befriended him that he himself has become "sick", eventually breaking free of the cycle of violence, but without a complete resolution of the issues raised during the movie before its end.
Starring: Shôta Sometani, Fumi Nikaidô, Tetsu Watanabe, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Megumi KagurazakaForeign | 100% |
Drama | 44% |
Coming of age | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Winner of Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival, Japanese director Sion Sono's "Himizu" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent U.S. distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray release. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Yuichi
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Sion Sono's Himizu arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.
The high-definition transfer appears to have been sourced from the same master British distributors Third Window Films accessed when they prepared their Bluray release of Himizu for the UK market. Indeed, excluding a very small discrepancy in the brightness settings -- the UK high-definition transfer is slightly darker -- detail, clarity and fluidity are essentially identical. Because the film was shot with the Red One Camera, shadow definition occasionally fluctuates. Perhaps the black levels could have been adjusted a bit to make up for the fact that light, as captured by the digital camera, could create some unevenness, but when viewed on a big screen the film does look very good. Overall image stability is excellent. Lastly, there are no encoding anomalies to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. For the record, Olive Films have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature. They cannot be turned off from the disc's main menu or via the remote control.
Depth and clarity are outstanding (listen to the strong wind at the 93-minute mark). There is a very good range of nuanced dynamics as well. It is not difficult to tell, however, that the film was shot with a very modest budget as dynamic intensity is limited and different organic sounds occasionally stick out (random noises). The dialog is crisp, stable, and very easy to follow. The English translation is very good.
There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray release.
The more films I see from Japanese auteur Sion Sono, the more I find myself comparing his work to that of Seijun Suzuki. Obviously, they belong to two completely different eras, but their films have an edge that immediately separates them from the crowd. The manner in which they blend violence and humor is particularly interesting, as it reveals a lot about past and current Japanese social and cultural values. Sono initially scripted Himizu as a straightforward adaptation of Minoru Furuya's manga, but he made numerous corrections after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated his country in 2011. RECOMMENDED.
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