6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In an impoverished Tokyo neighborhood that has been partly destroyed in bombing raids, a hard-hearted middle-aged widow reluctantly takes in a child abandoned by his father. Bitter at first, she soon finds herself growing fond of the boy.
Starring: Chishû Ryû, Hohi Aoki, Eitarô Ozawa, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Reikichi KawamuraForeign | 100% |
Drama | 66% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (A, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) is being released as part of the BFI's two-disc set, Three Films by Yasujirō Ozu.
Many years ago when I tried to obtain a copy of Ozu's fortieth feature Record of a Tenement Gentleman, I read a quote on New Yorker Video's VHS cover that read: "If Ozu had made only this seventy-two minute film, he would have to be considered one of the world’s great directors." Years later, I forgot who made that declaration and much to my great surprise, it was David Bordwell, who I've sometimes cited in my reviews of this collection. Known for critical lenses such as Russian formalism and narrative theory that he applies to analyzing films, Bordwell seldom resorts to editorializing or giving his subjective views of movies in his books so the quote raised my eyebrows.
Record of a Tenement Gentleman more correctly translates from the original Japanese title Nagaya shinshiroku to A Who's Who of the Tenements. As Tony Rayns notes in the booklet, the term "tenements" has a different conception for a westerner than it does for a Japanese citizen. For the latter, Rayns describes it to signify "low-rise wooden houses in the area of Tokyo around Ueno." This is the setting for Ozu's 1947 film, one of the director's "smaller" dramas. It concerns a boy kindergarten-age whose father left him in Chigasaki south of Tokyo on the coast. The dad of Kohei (Hôhi Aoki) left for Tokyo to look for a new job. Tashiro (Chishû Ryû), a fortune-teller, discovers Kohei and brings him to the house of Tamekichi (Reikichi Kawamura), a struggling actor and repairman. Tashiro asks Tamekichi if he'd like to take him in but the latter declines, saying he doesn't really like kids. Tashiro takes Kohei to his neighbor Otane (Chôko Iida), a widow who operates a kitchenware shop. Otane is also resistant but Tashiro leaves the boy with her anyway. "Shoo! Shoo!" Otane snaps at Kohei. The audience instantly identifies with the sadness and neglect on Kohei's face. Otane nonetheless lets Kohei stay the night with her, but the boy wets the futon out of nervousness. The scene where Otane instructs Kohei to fan his damp blanket on the clothesline is one of several humorous scenes Ozu injects into the picture. Otane brings Kohei on a stroll to Chigasaki to see if they can locate his father but he isn't around. Otane tries to separate from Kohei but ends up using him to haul back some sweet potatoes. Record is about Otane's growing acceptance and affection for Kohei.
The BFI's Blu-ray of Record of a Tenement Gentleman represents a significant achievement for where the film was restoration-wise earlier in the millennium compared to what has recently been done to it. The movie has been available on Blu-ray before in an eleven-disc set French label Carlotta Films released in 2019, but the transfer was apparently struck from a SD source. I first owned Record in the mid-2000s when Tartan UK released it in the label's Ozu: Volume Two set, which also came with Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (1952). Tartan recorded a most interesting note about the film's restoration in a leaflet. It's worth quoting in full:
Record of a Tenement Gentleman was originally shot and edited on film and mastered to analogue videotape. However, analogue master tapes have a relatively short lifespan, and the image quality significantly deteriorates with the passage of time. Also, due to technical inadequacies inherent in this particular transfer, the presence of regular jumping frames and a constant "weaving" have rendered this master almost unusable.
With access limited to the aforementioned analogue master, Tartan Video decided to undertake a full digital restoration of this classic in an attempt to bring it up to a standard acceptable to today's audiences, whilst still preserving as much of the historical detail as possible.
Using the very latest digital restoration technology, available at The Machine Room in London, Tartan Video processed the film via the Archangel digital restoration system, which allows picture movement to be stabilised, picture noise to be reduced and a certain level of film dirt and scratches inherited from the original film to tape transfer to be removed. The settings on this process have to be very exact in order to achieve the required effect without adversely affecting the quality of the existing picture.
Record of a Tenement Gentleman was digitally restored in 2023. The 4K restoration was managed by Shochiku and conducted by IMAGICA Entertainment Services, Inc. with the support of J-LOD. Colour correction supervised by Masashi Chikamori and sound restoration supervised by Kazunori Shimizu.
The BFI has supplied two uncompressed tracks: a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (897 kbps, 16-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1570 kbps, 24-bit). One is a restored audio mix and the other an unrestored mix. The restored sound track is even crisper and cleaner than the one the BFI did for A Hen in the Wind. Hiss is kept to a bare minimum. The unrestored mix reveals some crackles and pops to go with continuous audible hiss throughout the track's presentation. Dialogue and music register well on the decibel level but pitch fluctuates at times. Composer Ichiro Saito wrote a very good score that's laden with strings and other orchestral elements. My score of 5.0/5.0 reflects the restored audio track's performance.
The white optional English subtitles are clear and legible at the bottom of the screen.
Tartan included a commentary track with the recently departed film critic Derek Malcolm. The BFI did not license it. Malcolm basically offers a general overview of Ozu's filmmaking style with not much in the way of historical tidbits on Record or Japan in the postwar years. There are several gaps in between his fairly brief remarks. The commentary gets a little better in the second half but overall, it's below average. Tartan also put a still gallery of eighteen snapshots from Record on the disc that look much clearer and cleaner than the transfer it did. Lastly, there's a bifurcated image restoration demo that diagonally shows an unrestored print on one half of the plane and a "restored" version on the other.
Record of a Tenement Gentleman presents a simple and straightforward story that's emotionally impactful as the relationship between Otane and Kohei deepens. The BFI's transfer, which is sourced from a 4K scan, is practically a miracle considering what shape the film was in during the mid-2000s. This goes to show how far digital restoration of older movies has come. Jasper Sharp's commentary is solid and worth a listen. DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1942
1932
彼岸花 / Higanbana / The Ozu Collection
1958
一人息子 / Hitori musuko
1936
秋日和 / Akibiyori | The Ozu Collection
1960
麦秋 / Bakushū / The Ozu Collection
1951
お茶漬けの味 / Ochazuke no aji
1952
秋刀魚の味 / Sanma no aji | The Ozu Collection
1962
お早よう / Ohayō / The Ozu Collection
1959
晩春 / Banshun
1949
Remastered | 東京物語 / Tôkyô monogatari
1953
浮草 / Ukigusa / Masters of Cinema
1959
そして父になる / Soshite chichi ni naru
2013
誰も知らない / Dare mo shiranai
2004
万引き家族 / Manbiki kazoku
2018
Gion no shimai
1936
海よりもまだ深く/ Umi yori mo mada fukaku / Arrow Academy
2016
非常線の女 / Hijôsen no onna
1933
神々の深き欲望 / Kamigami no Fukaki Yokubo / Masters of Cinema
1968
歩いても 歩いても / Aruitemo aruitemo
2008