8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders.
Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Kyôko Kagawa, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Akitake Kôno, Masao ShimizuForeign | 100% |
Drama | 83% |
Period | 8% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Japanese: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Winner of Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi's "Sanshô Dayû" a.k.a "Sansho the Bailiff" (1954) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include a video interview with actress Kyoko Kagawa; video interview with first assistant director Tokuzo Tanaka; video interview with Japanese film critic and historian Tadao Sato; and audio commentary with Japanese literature scholar Jeffrey Angles; The release also arrives with a booklet featuring an essay by scholar Mark Le Fanu and two versions of the story on which the film is based: Ogai Mori’s 1915 "Sansho the Steward" and an earlier oral variation in written form. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Still hoping
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff
arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray disc:
"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt,
debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker, were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Image Systems'
DVNR was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction.
Transfer supervisors: Masakazu Itsukage/Kadokawa Pictures; Lee Kline.
Colorist: Jun Takada/Imagica, Tokyo."
Criterion's high-definition transfer is not identical to the one Eureka Entertainment used for their Blu-ray release of Sansho the Bailiff in the United
Kingdom. In addition to the insignificant framing discrepancy, brightness levels have been toned down while black levels have been
rebalanced. As a result, shadow definition and contrast are improved, and the more prominent grays from the Eureka Entertainment release
have been replaced with truer blacks (compare screencapture #2 with screencapture #6 from the Eureka Entertainment release). Generally
speaking, grain is also moderately better distributed, but in motion I had a difficult time seeing any real benefits in terms of image depth
(compare screencapture #1 with the corresponding screencapture from the UK release). The improved contrast and the rebalanced black
levels have contributed a lot more to the overall tighter image, especially with panoramic shots. There are no traces of excessive sharpening
corrections. Compression is excellent, though some extremely light noise is again noticeable. There are no large damage marks, cuts, debris,
or warps to report in this review. All in all, I prefer the overall tighter look and rebalanced black levels of the Criterion release. (Note:
This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles
for the main feature.
The lossless track serves the film well. Some very light background hiss is occasionally present, but it is never distracting while viewing the film.
There is a limited range of nuanced dynamics, but this should not be surprising considering the age and production values of the film. Generally
speaking, the dialog is stable and easy follow. The English translation is very good.
Sansho the Bailiff is one world cinema's great masterpieces. It is the first film by the legendary Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi to appear on Blu-ray in the United States via the Criterion Collection, and I hope that it won't be the last. The equally impressive Ugetsu as well as some of Mizoguchi's early films are already out on Blu-ray in other countries, so perhaps there is a good chance that these films will also eventually reach the United States. I certainly hope so. In the meantime, I urge you to consider adding Sansho the Bailiff to your collections as soon as possible. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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