7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A satirical look at Japan's prewar colonial expansion through the unscrupulous eyes of its flesh-peddler antihero as he establishes a prostitution enterprise across Southeast Asia.
Starring: Ken Ogata, Mitsuko Baishô, Chun Hsiung Ko, Norihei Miki, Hiroyuki KonishiForeign | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura.
Despite being the only Japanese director to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival twice, Shōhei Imamura hasn’t seemed to
penetrate
into general public consciousness in quite the same way that, say, Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese director who won the Palme d’Or a couple of years
before Imamura’s first win, has. As much as France tends to be associated with the phrase “New Wave” (and/or nouvelle vague, as the
case
may be), Japan itself probably unsurprisingly had its own New Wave, and Imamura is often cited as one of its leading proponents. The fact that
one
of Imamura’s first independent features made without studio meddling was entitled The Pornographers may give some indication of how provocative Imamura’s content can be, but in some ways
Imamura is not the stylistic enfant terrible that some of his counterparts in France like Jean-Luc Godard and/or François Truffaut often
were.
Arrow Video’s Arrow Academy imprint has released three of Imamura’s fascinating films, and while some might have preferred that his “other”
Palme
d’Or winner, The Eel, might have been included along with his first film to take
home that prize, The Ballad of Narayama, this trifecta is certainly a fantastic introduction to Imamura for those previously unacquainted
with
him, and it’s also a worthy collection in its own right for those who are already fans of Imamura.
Zegen is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy, an imprint of Arrow Video, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While Arrow's insert booklet offers a full page devoted to the restorations, because all three films in this are lumped in together, there's really not a ton of information offered other than the following:
Zegen appears in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound.Zegen is probably the least pleasing looking transfer in this set, but it's not unpleasing by any major stretch. While there's a somewhat "dupey" quality to some of the presentation (see screenshot 3 for just one example), and the palette can occasionally skew slightly toward a kind of orangish or peach colored tone, on the whole things look nicely suffused and detail levels are generally quite commendable. There is some noticeable crush in darker scenes, where things like jet black hair on some characters can disappear into surrounding shadows (you can note this as early as the opening scene on the boat and in the water). Grain resolves naturally, but definitely has moments of spiking not necessarily tied to anything like opticals or general lighting conditions.
Zegen was restored by Arrow Films. A 35mm interpositive was scanned in 2K resolution by Toei. The film was graded and restored in 2K at R3Store Studios in London
The original mono soundtracks were remastered from the original sound elements by Toie.
Zegen features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track in the original Japanese. This is a film which, like The Ballad of Narayama, mixes outdoor ambient environmental sounds rather subtly into the mix, offering things like the gentle lapping of water in some seaside scenes into the background quite winningly. The film has a rather interesting score by Shin'ichirō Ikebe which also sounds bright without tipping over into brashness, especially in some of the cues that combine winds and percussion. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track. Optional English subtitles are available.
Zegen evidently shocked audiences at Cannes when it was screened, since people were reportedly kind of expecting The Ballad of Narayama 2. The film is definitely a rather odd "follow up" to what was Imamura's most significant international success story up to that point, and it's a tonal mishmash that probably never quite hits the bullseye even if some of its scenes are effective and well done. While video is a little variable, it's never overly problematic, and both audio and the supplemental package are fine, for those who are considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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