Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Shape of Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 26, 2024

It's perhaps instructive to note how almost shockingly different the depictions of prostitution were in two films released barely a year or so apart from each other. Billy Wilder's 1963 adaptation of Irma la Douce , despite being shorn of almost all of its original musical comedy score, was a rather jaunty, farcical look at the "world's oldest profession". 1964's The Shape of Water, on the other hand, is a much more desperate feeling account, offering an almost fatalistic and probably undeniably melodramatic story involving a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). The film opens with Yoshie already seemingly decently adjusted to being a streetwalker, which is how she meets Hiroshi Fujii (Keisuke Sonoi). While there is still a transactional aspect to their relationship, perhaps just the slightest tinge of romantic feelings intrude, at least on Hiroshi's part, and his continued interest in Yoshie leads to a flashback detailing Yoshie's transition from an everyday factory worker who seeks to escape that rut to someone who ultimately is forced into prostitution, with a little "help" from an abusive pimp named Eiji Kitami (Mikijirô Hira)

If, as the front cover verbiage of this release suggests, there's a certain Sirkian ambience to the tale, presentationally The Shape of Night is a fascinating viewing experience, especially when seen through the filter of some of the aspects of the roiling waters of the Shochiku studio documented by Tom Mes in an appealing supplement on this disc. The underlying sadness of Yoshie's experiences, where she is repeatedly almost literally confined by an absence of choices and increasing layers of potential threat due to Eiji's Yakuza connections, is almost willfully at odds with an often quite stylized palette and framing choices. As odd as it may sound, there's an almost Bava-esque quality of virtually lurid hues that are utilized and which give the film a rather evocative look. If The Shape of Night is, to quote a venerable Jerome Kern-Dorothy Fields tune, lovely to look at, the inexorable sadness of Yoshie's story almost acts as a weight grounding the gorgeous visuals.

The Shape of Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Shape of Night is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Radiance tends not to provide a ton of technical information in its insert booklets, and that's once again the case here, with only the following information offered:

The Shape of Night was transferred in high definition by Shochiku Co. Ltd. and supplied to Radiance Films as a high definition digital file. Additional restoration was performed by Radiance Films in 2024.

The film's evocative use of color is frequently very well supported here, though my hunch is some may some passing scenes to be just a bit on the blue - green side, if almost subliminally at times. That said, warmer tones like pops of red or purple can resonate very effectively. Detail levels are excellent throughout, and fine detail on admittedly minor items like furniture fabrics or the really almost baroque looking screens in a very late scene, as well as on costumes, is precise. There are some passing anamorphic oddities and occasional softness, as well as some very minor signs of age related wear and tear. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

The Shape of Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Shape of Night features an LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Japanese. Perhaps surprisingly for such an "intimate" (in more ways than one) drama, the sound design can offer at least some scenes featuring some ambient environmental effects, and those, along with the score by Masanobu Higure, as presented with fluidity. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Shape of Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Yoshio Nakamura (HD; 15:45) features a lovely reminiscence of director Noboru Nakamura by his son. Subtitled in English.


• Major Changes: Shochiku in the 1960s (HD; 13:15) is, as alluded to above in the main body of the review, a fantastically interesting piece by Tom Mes that contextualizes this film within the rather epochal changes that were buffeting the entire Japanese film industry in general and Shochiku in particular.

Additionally Radiance provides a nicely appointed insert booklet, with an essay bearing the apt name Beautiful Downer by Chuck Stephens and an archival piece on the filming by Toichiro Narushima, along with cast and crew information and transfer notes and credits. Packaging features a reversible sleeve and Radiance's Obi strip.

The Shape of Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rarely has such a sad, even maybe slightly tawdry, story been presented with such ravishing visuals, but that gives The Shape of Night an almost dialectical presentation that arguably makes it even more viscerally effective. Kuwano is both lovely and tragically affecting as Yoshie, and the film's luscious cinematography by Tôichirô Narushima is another undeniable asset. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements are especially enjoyable. Recommended.