7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.
Starring: Shirô Sano, Akira Ôizumi, Kyôko Kusajima, Yoshio Yoshida, Fujiko FukamizuForeign | 100% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Quick! — name a film which came out in the mid-eighties which featured as least one character who could either break out from or return to a movie he or she was ostensibly appearing in. Of course virtually everyone with even a passing knowledge of films from that general time frame will probably instantly come up with The Purple Rose of Cairo. Those who like to seek out arguably more obscure titles may still not have heard of To Sleep So as to Dream, a fascinating Japanese film that came out just one year after the aforementioned Woody Allen opus, and which, like The Purple Rose of Cairo, erases an already blurry line ostensibly separating cinema from "real life", but which perhaps plays like the veritable "flip side" of Allen's postulation, since it features a female who is potentially "stuck" in a film from Japan's silent era, rather than the "escapee" in The Purple Rose of Cairo from the supposedly early days of talkies.
To Sleep So as to Dream is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:
To Sleep So as to Dream is presented in 1.37:1 with mono sound. The film was restored by Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc.With an understanding that there are intentional variations between the supposed 1915 silent and the events happening in "contemporary" time. There is in fact a kind of remarkable uptick in both contrast and especially fine detail levels when the story cuts away from the film within a film. Near chiaroscuro lighting techniques offer sumptuously deep blacks and some very nicely modulated gray scale. Detail levels are typically excellent on all of the "real life" sequences, though some "arty" effects like backlighting can tend to give a somewhat diffused, soft appearance on occasion.
The original 16mm Kodak black and white camera negative reels were scanned in 2K on a DFT Scanity. The 2K grade and restoration were supervised by director Kaizo Hayashi and cinematographer Yuichi Nagata.
The mono soundtrack was remastered from 16mm original sound negative and a 16mm screening print by Reproducer / Magna-Tech Electronic.
The restoration was financed by the Kickstarter campaign launched in 2019* and runs three minutes longer than the original 80 minute theatrical release due to the extended end credits.
To Sleep So as to Dream features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track ostensibly in Japanese, though the spoken word is not especially prevalent in this presentation, which is just one of the elements that gives the film such a distinctive flavor. Instead, effects like the whir of an old style film projector or an unexpected crowing of a rooster fill the soundstage, with occasional music and other effects added to the mix. An interesting score which is often rather percussive also is rendered with excellent fidelity. Optional English subtitles are available, but are probably more helpful in terms of intertitles than any so-called "dialogue".
- Original Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:38)
- English Language Restored Re-release Trailer (HD; 2:38)
Commentators Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp make the case that Japanese cinema of the 1980s has kind of been strangely overlooked for one reason or another, and for those who feel a bit of self improvement in that regard might be in order, there is probably no more distinctive place to start than with To Sleep So as to Dream. The "meta" aspects give this film a decidedly intellectual flavor, but it's also an intriguing mystery with a broad swath of humor added as well. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very appealing. Highly recommended.
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