6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The inner workings of the human psyche are featured in this study of relationships between different leading characters. The action weaves around playwright Matsuzaki (Yusaku Matsuda) -- who is sleeping with Shinako (Michio Okusu), a married woman -- and his other "lover," Ine (Eriko Kasuda), a fairly corporeal spirit. The film is set in 1926, when cinema was silent -- and that era is evoked in Kagero-za.
Starring: Yűsaku Matsuda, Michiyo Ohkusu, Mariko Kaga, Katsuo Nakamura, Yoshio HaradaForeign | 100% |
Romance | 7% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Japanese: LPCM 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of
Seijun Suzuki's The Taisho Trilogy.
Have you ever had a dream where something significant within it changed, and yet the dream and its internal logic seemed to continue unabated?
I’ve had dreams were either I or someone else in the dream changed into someone else, and yet it was always clear who was whom and what was
going on (again within the generally incomprehensible context of some of my dreams). I’m sure many of you have had a similar experience,
maybe where a location in a dream suddenly morphs into someplace else, with no real concern resulting as far as the dreamer’s understanding
goes. If you’re one of those rare people who have never had anything like these experiences, I need only suggest you spend a few minutes with
Seijun Suzuki’s The Taishō Trilogy to get at least a hint of the feeling that ensues when a dream bizarrely transforms and yet just as
bizarrely remains an organic whole unto itself. Suzuki had forged a long if not especially notable career churning out B movies for Nikkatsu,
though his nascent auteur tendencies made him a bit of a persona non grata, ultimately leading to his firing (more or less, anyway) after
Branded to Kill pushed the conservative studio bigwigs too far. A
lawsuit
and then ten years of more or less exile followed for Suzuki, but when he returned with The Taishō Trilogy, it was with those previously
dismissed surreal tendencies not only intact, but arguably reinforced by his trek in the cinematic wilderness. The Taishō Trilogy takes its
name from the Taishō Period in Japanese history, an era which stretched roughly from 1912 to 1926, though all three films in this set,
Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991), are so intentionally mythic or at least folkloristic that they
often seemed to be divorced from any specific timeframe — much as with many dreams. Also as with the type of dreams referenced above, all
three films waft in and out of general narrative coherence, with striking shifts in perspective and odd visual and verbal non sequiturs that may
speak directly to the subconscious but which (perhaps unavoidably) present certain obstacles to the rational mind.
All three of the films in Seijun Suzuki's The Taishō Trilogy are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with AVC encoded 1080p transfers. Despite the verbiage reproduced from the insert booklet (below), Zigeunerweisen is in 1:34, Kagero-za is in 1.33:1 and Yumeji is in 1.66:1. While not quite as informative as some Arrow comments about their transfers, the insert booklet for the trilogy contains the following:
The films in The Taishō Trilogy have been restored by Free Stone Productions in Japan using the original film and audio elements. Zeigeunerweisen and Kageroza are presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.37:1. Yumeji is presented in it original aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The films contain their original mono soundtracks.Because all three of these transfer share certain characteristics, I'm going to make some general comments about all of them before moving on to each individual film. While all three boast elements that are either in excellent shape or have been digitally restored to appear so, I personally wished for just a bit more energy in the palette, will all three looking slightly anemic and in some cases skewed toward brown. Grain is very well resolved on all three features and the overall look of the transfers is commendably organic and stable.
All three films in The Taishō Trilogy sport fine sounding LPCM 2.0 mono tracks in the original Japanese. The films all have rather interesting sound designs, with natural ambient environmental effects merging with sometimes detached feeling dialogue, and with sometimes unusual score choices added into the proceedings as well. All three tracks are unavoidably narrow sounding, but offer fine fidelity and no problems. Occasional "damage" creeps in with regard to things like the archival recording used in Zigeunerweisen.
Much like Zigeunerweisen, Kagero-za requires the viewer to simply let go and let Suzuki go where he wills. The film has a somewhat more (ostensibly) logical ambience than the previous film, but only by a matter of degrees. This is another exercise in dreamlike filmmaking that seems to want to subvert the rational mind and appeal to something more atavistic. Kagero-za does offer some of the best stylistic flourishes of the three films in this set, and one way or the other, it's a completely unique and memorable viewing experience. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1980
1991
Spione
1928
夜叉ヶ池 / Yasha-ga-ike
1979
Fando and Lis
1968
2016
1967
Trollflöjten
1975
L'uomo della CIA | Limited Edition
1977
Slipcover in Original Pressing
2019
1984
The Sword & the Dragon / Slipcover in Original Pressing
1956
Yang Guo yu Xiao Long Nu / Yeung Goh yue Siu Lung Lui / 楊過與小龍女
1983
La Fille du puisatier
2011
The Magic Serpent / 怪竜大決戦
1966
Nadie oyó gritar
1973
The Assassination / L'attentat
1972
La maison des filles perdues
1974
A doppia faccia
1969
Mind Field / Slipcover in Original Pressing
1989