Mandala Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Mandala Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 18, 2019

Note: This film is available as part of Akio Jissoji: The Buddhist Trilogy.

This provocative triptych by Akio Jissôji may have attained the sobriquet The Buddhist Trilogy, but that may in turn beg the question of whether Jissôji might be subliminally proferring Heraclitus and/or the Marquis de Sade as proponents of the religion. Hercalitus famously (supposedly) proclaimed that it’s impossible to step in the same river twice, giving philosophers a nice visual trope for the evanescence of life, something Japanese New Wave expert David Desser, who is on hand here as a commentator, mentions is a key element of Jissôji’s work. But as Desser also gets into in one of his introductions to the films which are included as bonus features, there’s also a fairly kinky sex aspect to these films that some may feel arguably places them pretty squarely in what Desser refers to as the “Roman porno” genre. That may not mesh especially well with the vaunted Buddhist concept of non-attachment, since several pairs of lovers in these films are very attached to each other (so to speak), in sometimes shocking ways. The Buddhist Trilogy was released courtesy of the Art Theater Guild, a production house noted for its contributions to the Japanese New Wave, and as Desser also gets into, some of Jissôji's stylistic flourishes at least if not always all of his content "qualify" him for membership in that movement. One of the kind of funny things about Jissôji, though, is that for many Western fans, and for fans of another kind of Japanese entertainment, he'll be forever celebrated as the creator of Ultraman, which in and of itself probably speaks as well as anything to Jissôji's versatility.

Note: The cover and literature for this release list the title as Mandala instead of Mandara, and so this review will follow that choice.

If This Transient Life could be seen as an example of what I called the "Heraclitean" aspects of Jissôji, we arguably move much more firmly in to Marquis de Sade territory with regard to Mandala, a film which rather prominently features rape, torture and a sort of sexual slavery in its tale of two couples exploring their sexuality (which may hilariously remind some as it did me of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice). Add that to a subplot that actually involved a de Sade like cult devoted to the hedonistic pleasures of the flesh, and you have some idea of the more graphic nature of this arresting if disturbing film. This was Jissôji's first film in color, and he uses some beachside locations to good effect.

Mandala Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mandala is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow really hasn't provided my technical information on the transfer, other than some generic verbiage that masters were provided by Toho and that addtional grading work was done by R3Store. This is one release where I frankly wouldn't have minded a bit more information on the provenance of whatever element or elements were used for this transfer, for this has some pretty wide variances in detail levels and (in particular) thickness of the grain field. The high contrast opening understandably doesn't offer much in the way of fine detail, with whites that come close to blooming, but the main part of the film often offers secure, more "normalized", contrast and a generally healthy looking palette, albeit one that is arguably a bit faded and brownish at times. However, there are pretty wide variances between scenes and even within scenes, with some of the bedroom and beach material almost resembling 16mm at times. At other moments, there's a much finer and better resolved grain field and clarity and detail levels improve. Interestingly, some of the interstitial black and white material doesn't have much noticeable grain at all, making it look more like video at times. There is some minor damage along the way, but nothing very distracting.

Mandala Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mandala features an LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese. This has a somewhat boxy sound throughout, with a "dry" (i.e., little to no reverb or hall acoustics) sound permeating the dialogue in particular. Ambient environmental sounds in the many outdoor scenes are realistically rendered without any major issues.

Mandala Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All three of the films in this set feature audio introductions (that play like commentaries to scenes from the film) and selected scene commentaries by David Desser. Kind of oddly, the selected scene commentaries have all been authored separately and there's no Play All option.

• Introduction by David Desser (1080p; 10:39)


• Selected Scene Commentaries feature 10 scenes.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:36)

Mandala Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The treatment of women in this film in particular may raise some serious hackles in some viewers, and so this is probably not a film for those with more squeamish tendencies. Video has some fairly wide variances in general clarity and grain resolution, for those who are considering a purchase.