Passion Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Passion Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 16, 2023

Passion was a student film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, a director who is arguably best known to Western audiences for Drive My Car, which at least according to some prognosticators was a surprise winner for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards for 2021. As those acqauinted with Hamaguchi's still relatively nascent oeuvre may be aware, the Japanese auteur takes a kind of relaxed approach toward narrative, resulting in films that are, as in the case of Drive My Car and especially efforts like 2015's Happy Hour, rather long and arguably languorous if not outright lethargic. Perhaps interestingly, then, this early work by Hamaguchi may suffer from some "equal but opposite" issues, with peripatetic handheld cameras jiggling to and fro, and quick cut editing techniques, both of which may chafe against what is evidently Hamaguchi's almost genetic propensity toward letting scenes play out in rather unexpected lengths.

If Hamaguchi has been noted for his ability to mine the female psyche for some especially visceral material, as some of the bonus material on this disc gets into, this is at least as much a film about some occasionally less than well behaved men as it is about women. In that regard, Hamaguchi is evidently on record as stating that John Cassavetes' Husbands may have provided some inspiration for the project, though some may feel that some of the soap operatic interactions between a gaggle of, well, friends may move this somewhat precariously close to thirtysomething territory at times.

This is a somewhat sprawling ensemble piece that has a number of intersecting storylines, with what could at least be argued is a central conceit of two of that aforementioned gaggle, Kaho (Aoba Kawai) and Tomoya (Ryuta Okamoto) announcing their engagement, which then unleashes a whole host of unexpected reactions and consequences. This brief summary may sound like there's a traditional narrative on tap, and while that may be relatively the case, at least with regard to some of Hamaguchi's more loosely plotted outings, it's probably misleading in a way, because one of the things that gives Passion its flavor is its frankly bizarre detours into what would probably charitably be termed sidebars.

Passion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Passion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. There's a brief allusion to "videotape" in the piece by Kenji Fujishima included on this disc as a supplement, but I haven't been able to authoritatively determine exactly what kind of camera may have been utilized for this 2008 production, other than to say as can probably be gleaned by the screenshots accompanying this review, it frankly doesn't offer the crystal clarity of newer digital capture technologies. There a noticeable softness to quite a bit of the imagery, though detail levels can still be rather commendable overall, especially on things like fabric textures. This is another Film Movement release where I feel someone bumped a gamma or luma setting, and some of the outdoor material in particular looks a bit to bright and blanched to my eyes. That anomaly is counterweighed by more naturalistic looking moments in a lot of the interior locations, where colors pop with more authority.

Passion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Passion features an LPCM 2.0 track in the original Japanese that offers a completely fine rendering of what is really a frankly fairly undemanding sound design that utilizes some ambient environmental effects in the outdoor scenes, but which otherwise tends to be quite "talky", and while not exclusively the domain of two characters, often in smaller groupings where even overlapping dialogue isn't that frequent. All elements are presented cleanly and clearly without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

Passion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction by Ryusuke Hamaguchi is subtitled in English. (HD; 2:57)


• From Passion to Fortune (HD; 9:03) is an interesting visual essay by film and theatre writer Kenji Fujishima.


• Passion Trailer (HD; 1:55)


• Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy Trailer (HD; 1:45)


• Warm Water Under a Red Bridge Trailer (HD; 1:41)

As with most Film Movement releases, the disc also offers an About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which leads to text about and a trailer for Film Movement.

Passion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a fan of Ryusuke Hamaguchi, you will probably want to check out this early work, as it is both prophetic of what's to come while also offering some rather piquant differences when compared to Hamaguchi's later efforts. Technical merits are reasonable in the video department considering the source, and audio is fine, and the visual essay included a supplement is interesting, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.