The Taisho Trilogy: Three Films by Seijun Suzuki Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Taisho Trilogy: Three Films by Seijun Suzuki Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 18, 2017

Have you ever had a dream where something significant within it changed, and yet the dream and its internal logic seemed to continue unabated? I’ve had dreams were either I or someone else in the dream changed into someone else, and yet it was always clear who was whom and what was going on (again within the generally incomprehensible context of some of my dreams). I’m sure many of you have had a similar experience, maybe where a location in a dream suddenly morphs into someplace else, with no real concern resulting as far as the dreamer’s understanding goes. If you’re one of those rare people who have never had anything like these experiences, I need only suggest you spend a few minutes with Seijun Suzuki’s The Taishō Trilogy to get at least a hint of the feeling that ensues when a dream bizarrely transforms and yet just as bizarrely remains an organic whole unto itself. Suzuki had forged a long if not especially notable career churning out B movies for Nikkatsu, though his nascent auteur tendencies made him a bit of a persona non grata, ultimately leading to his firing (more or less, anyway) after Branded to Kill pushed the conservative studio bigwigs too far. A lawsuit and then ten years of more or less exile followed for Suzuki, but when he returned with The Taishō Trilogy, it was with those previously dismissed surreal tendencies not only intact, but arguably reinforced by his trek in the cinematic wilderness. The Taishō Trilogy takes its name from the Taishō Period in Japanese history, an era which stretched roughly from 1912 to 1926, though all three films in this set, Zigeunerweisen (1980), Kagero-za (1981) and Yumeji (1991), are so intentionally mythic or at least folkloristic that they often seemed to be divorced from any specific timeframe — much as with many dreams. Also as with the type of dreams referenced above, all three films waft in and out of general narrative coherence, with striking shifts in perspective and odd visual and verbal non sequiturs that may speak directly to the subconscious but which (perhaps unavoidably) present certain obstacles to the rational mind.

Reviews of the three films included in this set can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Zigeunerweisen Blu-ray review

Kagero-za Blu-ray review

Yumeji Blu-ray review

The Taisho Trilogy: Three Films by Seijun Suzuki Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

The Taisho Trilogy: Three Films by Seijun Suzuki Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

The Taisho Trilogy: Three Films by Seijun Suzuki Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplementary material included on each disc is detailed in the above linked reviews. While almost all of the supplements are linked to the specific film they share the disc with, note that in the case of Zigeunerweisen there's a generic supplement covering the entire trilogy. Additionally, this is handsomely packaged, as Arrow tends to do, in a sturdy slipbox that also includes a nicely appointed insert booklet.

The Taisho Trilogy: Three Films by Seijun Suzuki Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Anyone who knows Suzuki only through his genre offerings done while he was at Nikkatsu is in for a major surprise with these three films. These are much more provocative, even surreal, offerings, and in a way reminded me of Luis Buñuel, filtered through a Japanese prism and shorn of any scabrous satirical elements. As such, these three are probably going to be acquired tastes, and will most likely appeal to those with pronounced Art House tendencies. Technical merits are generally very good, and the Rayns additions are excellent. Recommended.