6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
As a faithful young houseboy fully devotes himself to his spiritual duty, his teacher plans turning over his grandfather's mountain property to realtors for profit.
Starring: Hiroko Sakurai, Saburô Shinoda, Shin Kishida, Ryô Tamura, Eiko YanamiForeign | 100% |
Drama | 59% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: LPCM Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
Poem is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. 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. Like its black and white counterpart This Transient Life in this set, Poem looked slightly dark to me at times, though the grain field doesn't really have the gritty look it does with regard to the other film. The overall dark look of the film tends to result in some significant crush in many dimly lit scenes, and there's one sequence that is set almost entirely in the dark where very little can be made out within the frame. When close-ups are employed, which they are with great regularity, detail levels are often very impressive. As with the other offerings in this set, there is some minor damage in the form of nicks and white specks, the latter of which are probably more noticeable because so much of the film is so dark.
Poem features an LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese, and was to my ears the strongest overall audio presentation in The Buddhist Trilogy set. The film makes copious if unexpected use of Vivaldi's Four Seasons , and the cues sound full bodied, without some of the brashness in the upper registers that can be heard in This Transient Life in particular. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation.
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.
This is another really fascinating film where the presentational aspects may distract from some rather provocative content. Perhaps less immediately "objectionable" in some ways than Mandala in particular, this is still a compelling and even at times disturbing film. Technical merits are generally solid, and the added attraction of a fourth feature is appreciated. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Mandara / 曼陀羅
1971
無常 / Mujō
1970
煉獄エロイカ
1970
エロス+虐殺
1969
戒厳令
1973
Narayama-bushi kô
1983
1991
海よりもまだ深く / Umi yori mo mada fukaku
2016
幻の光 / Maboroshi no hikari
1995
1973
Miracle / 奇跡 | Kiseki
2011
여자는 남자의 미래다 / Yeojaneun namjaui miraeda
2004
2013
2018
1955
歩いても 歩いても / Aruitemo aruitemo
2008
Die Ehe der Maria Braun
1978
万引き家族 / Manbiki kazoku
2018
2016
Goto, l'île d'amour
1969