Chicago – The Criterion Collection attempts to shine a brighter light on a Japanese director once considered a national treasure but too ignored by history in favor of internationally recognized names like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu — Kenji Mizoguchi, with his accomplished and remarkable “Sansho the Bailiff,” recently upgraded from Criterion DVD to Criterion Blu-ray.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
“Sansho the Bailiff” is a brutal, dark, historical epic with a human tone in the way it reflects the impact of the power of evil on the will of the good. “Sansho” is a story of unspeakable horror and the survival of the human spirit but that might make it sound more sentimental than it is. The film is darker than most of Mizoguchi’s contemporaries, which could be one of the reasons it hasn’t had the same international acclaim over the decades since its release. It’s not an easy film to experience.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
“Sansho the Bailiff” is a brutal, dark, historical epic with a human tone in the way it reflects the impact of the power of evil on the will of the good. “Sansho” is a story of unspeakable horror and the survival of the human spirit but that might make it sound more sentimental than it is. The film is darker than most of Mizoguchi’s contemporaries, which could be one of the reasons it hasn’t had the same international acclaim over the decades since its release. It’s not an easy film to experience.
- 3/18/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
While less known than his equally revered contemporaries Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, the filmography of Kenji Mizoguchi may arguably be the more successfully varied. Criterion remasters his 1954 title, Sansho the Bailiff for Blu-ray this month, one of the auteur’s most celebrated works, and one that ends his three year succession of winning the top prize at the Venice Film Festival (he also won for The Life of Oharu in 1952 and Ugetsu in 1953). This was his eighty-first feature film, and he would make only five more features due to his death in 1956. While this is considered one of his top works, Mizoguchi apparently didn’t think the same, citing studio interference in not being able to make the film he had set out to create. Despite its powerfully resonant emotional content, there does seem to be an odd struggle at work in regards to the focus of the film,...
- 2/26/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray Release Date: Feb. 26, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The 1954 Japanese film Sansho The Bailiff is a classic drama based on a Japanese folk tale crafted by one of the country’s great directors, Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu).
When an idealistic governor Masao Shimiz disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife (Kinoyu Tanaka) and children (Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa) left to fend for themselves and eventually separated by vicious slave traders. One of them, the villainous Sansho (Eitarô Shindô), is the brutal owner of a slave camp.
Under Mizoguchi’s direction, Sansho is regarded as one of world cinema’s greatest pieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil.
Criterion previously released a DVD edition of Sansho in 2007, which contained only a booklet as a bonus. The new Blu-ray offers the following bonus features:
· Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack...
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The 1954 Japanese film Sansho The Bailiff is a classic drama based on a Japanese folk tale crafted by one of the country’s great directors, Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu).
When an idealistic governor Masao Shimiz disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife (Kinoyu Tanaka) and children (Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa) left to fend for themselves and eventually separated by vicious slave traders. One of them, the villainous Sansho (Eitarô Shindô), is the brutal owner of a slave camp.
Under Mizoguchi’s direction, Sansho is regarded as one of world cinema’s greatest pieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil.
Criterion previously released a DVD edition of Sansho in 2007, which contained only a booklet as a bonus. The new Blu-ray offers the following bonus features:
· Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack...
- 12/27/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
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