392-395 Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

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eez28
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#101 Post by eez28 » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:40 pm

I'm glad I sold off my r2 discs and will definitely be getting this for my birthday at the end of the month.

Hashi
Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:39 am

#102 Post by Hashi » Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:10 am

I kind of knew to expect this from Criterion. They look absolutely marvellous =D> Gary's initial reviews of the MoC discs' picture quality had huge overpraise like "amazingly sharp" etc. which they really weren't in the first place - at least according to my eyes - thank God for screencaptures. I was also similarly disappointed with the even softer Naruse discs. But anyway, such a shame with the Crit pictureboxing... it's almost a dealbreaker.

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daniel p
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#103 Post by daniel p » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:26 pm

Criterion always have a sharper more detailed image than MoC, but they also have a lot more money to put towards restorations.

This instance though, is an incredible improvement, according to those screen caps. The amount of extra detail compared to the R2 discs is going to make it feel like watching the films for the first time again, well almost... it looks like a Blu-ray/HDDVD vs SDDVD comparison.

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colinr0380
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#104 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:05 pm


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criterionsnob
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#105 Post by criterionsnob » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:51 pm

I'm really enjoying the James Quandt video essays. He really packs a lot of information into a short period of time. I hope Criterion continues this trend in other DVD packages. They're a nice alternative to full length commentaries and they offer concise comments on the films.

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miless
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#106 Post by miless » Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:02 pm

criterionsnob wrote:I'm really enjoying the James Quandt video essays. He really packs a lot of information into a short period of time. I hope Criterion continues this trend in other DVD packages. They're a nice alternative to full length commentaries and they offer concise comments on the films.
Yeah, and because of his video essay, I really gained an appreciation for Pitfall.

I see quite a few similarities between this set and the Wajda one... where there was a marked improvement from the first film to the second. And there are some similar qualities between A Generation and Pitfall (the way it's shot, and how not everything really comes together)

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pauling
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#107 Post by pauling » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:48 pm

I also enjoyed the Quandt video essays but there seemed to be a lot of information overlap with the written essay in the booklet and the video essay of Face of Another. Good stuff, though.

I'd seen Woman in the Dunes years ago and absolutely loved it. I picked up the MoC edition of Pitfall and found it to be interesting as well. but Face of Another was absolutely fantastic. What a great set.

I'd like to learn more about Teshigahara and have orderd Ashton's, The Delicate Thread: Teshigahara's Life in Art. I'm wondering if there are any other English-friendly books that I might be able to find that could enlighten me. Any suggestions?

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blindside8zao
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#108 Post by blindside8zao » Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:12 pm

Good god, I just watched pitfall and I thought my eyes were going to melt out of my face. The high contrast is beautiful. Seeing the detail of the wood as it rushes by in close up was beautiful. I'm not sure I was even aware that a movie could look so real. I felt like I was going to fall into the screen at any moment.

I made the mistake of watching the BFI's WitD several months ago with a small TV. It didn't have nearly the impact that Pitfall had. I can't wait to rewatch Woman on a bigger screen, now.

There are now on the top of my list for seeing in a retrospective. I can't imagine surviving that big of an image. Edit: I'd love to see those animal shots, like the ants, blown up to such a gigantic size, maybe that's just the american in me getting excited.

you gotta be kidding me

#109 Post by you gotta be kidding me » Thu Aug 02, 2007 9:28 am

Does anyone else's book from the set suffer from printing errors? My copy has about a dozen pages printed so off center (vertically) that several lines of text are missing. Specifically pages 17, 20, 21 (pic only), 24, 25 (pic), 28, 29 & 32.

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kinjitsu
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#110 Post by kinjitsu » Thu Aug 02, 2007 11:29 am

you gotta be kidding me wrote:Does anyone else's book from the set suffer from printing errors? My copy has about a dozen pages printed so off center (vertically) that several lines of text are missing. Specifically pages 17, 20, 21 (pic only), 24, 25 (pic), 28, 29 & 32.
Not in my copy. You should write to Criterion and ask for a replacement.

It's surprising that no one has commented on the appearance of a very young Donald Richie in the first scene of Tokyo 1958.

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miless
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#111 Post by miless » Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:07 pm

you gotta be kidding me wrote:Does anyone else's book from the set suffer from printing errors? My copy has about a dozen pages printed so off center (vertically) that several lines of text are missing. Specifically pages 17, 20, 21 (pic only), 24, 25 (pic), 28, 29 & 32.
not in mine... but my book from the Cassavetes set has 20 pages inserted upside down.
It always sucks when stuff like that happens.
kinjitsu wrote:It's surprising that no one has commented on the appearance of a very young Donald Richie in the first scene of Tokyo 1958.
that was Donald Richie?!

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kinjitsu
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#112 Post by kinjitsu » Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:14 pm

miless wrote:that was Donald Richie?!
None other!

Image

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Nihonophile
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#113 Post by Nihonophile » Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:35 pm

Thank you for that screen cap, that image will be recalled each time I hear Richie's name. Do you think his blank expression and slack jaw are from him seeing The Hidden Fortress for the first time or does he always look that way?

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filmghost
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#114 Post by filmghost » Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:05 pm

you gotta be kidding me wrote:Does anyone else's book from the set suffer from printing errors?
Mine has a completely different problem. I just received it and half of the pages are repeated and others are totally missing... The first essay is printed twice, while the one about Woman in the Dunes, is not at all there! It's a pity since the hole package is fantastic. From your experience, does anybody know if they send replacements outside the USA. I live in Greece...

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Paul Moran
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#115 Post by Paul Moran » Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:41 pm

filmghost wrote:...From your experience, does anybody know if they send replacements outside the USA. I live in Greece...
Yes, they sent me a replacement slipcase for the Rohmer box set, and a booklet for "Clean, Shaven" (missing from original DVD).

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dadaistnun
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#116 Post by dadaistnun » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:52 pm


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Steven H
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#117 Post by Steven H » Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:08 pm

FilmFanSea wrote:
Preceded by filmmaker Charlotte Zwerin's behind-the-scenes look at the celebrated composer, focusing on his film work and intercutting excerpts from his films with interviews with Takemitsu and many of the Japanese directors he worked with (including Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Oshima, Masahiro Shinoda and Hiroshi Teshigahara).
That would be the hour-long documentary, Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu (1994), which will make a nice supplement for the DVD.
Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu just came out on DVD in the US (amazon.com, dvdasian) from Kultur. No word on the quality, but this would still be an interesting purchase for fans of these films and others from this period.

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GringoTex
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#118 Post by GringoTex » Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:56 pm

This set was my intro to Teshigahara and I'm very disappointed. I found it badly dated with its clumsy grasping of literary chic abstraction. Loved the Arthur Schlesinger shredding of Woman in the Dunes as "totalitarian nonsense" in the excellent Quandt video essay.

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blindside8zao
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#119 Post by blindside8zao » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:07 am

This set was my introduction too and I'm blown away by each film. I think they're some of the best adaptation films I've ever seen (though I've only read Woman in the Dunes so I guess I can't comment on the others as literary adaptations). I haven't been this enthralled by a filmmaker's style in a long time, this along with M's Sansho Dayu, which I watched around the same time. I haven't gotten this much excitement/joy from films in a long time. Maybe I just need a break, though.

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GringoTex
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#120 Post by GringoTex » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:57 am

So having slept on it, I recognize that Teshigahara is an extremely talented filmmaker who achieves exactly what he sets out to do. His images are that precise and his tone his uber-consistent.

I just have zero interest in what it is he's doing.

John Bored
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:13 pm

#121 Post by John Bored » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:12 am

I'm with you blindside8zao, few unknown filmmakers have been such a raw punch in the face as Teshigahara. All three films have such artistic and thematic ambition that they're on the verge of overflowing, and I think The Face of Another is the only one that does-- but it's a masterpiece all the same. How insightful Abe/Teshigahara were to pick up on all those subtleties of identity, and the infrangible relationship between surface and inner realities using the best possible symbol, the face. In the end the two artists don't draw any conclusions about how the man can be reintegrated into society, the pretty scarred girl is a red herring in this sense; but they're content to show the worst of what can happen in his circumstances. I was disappointed with the ending until that reasoning came to mind, that this film's only vector is toward self-destruction, and what good arises throughout only serves to accelerate the downward motion. The increasing use of self-conscious 'avant-garde' techniques toward the end would make sense; to me it feels as if the film is collapsing into itself as much as the character is. Everything from the start supports this, there's no peaceful interim showing the character before the accident-- and any objects of hope, his wife, and the doctor with his bizarre lab, promise more misfortune than anything.

Pitfall I actually enjoyed most, but all three are so consistent. Truly this is one of the great cinematic artists, and this box is the best criterion has produced-- I'm stunned that it didn't arrive until 2007.

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colinr0380
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#122 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:00 pm

Jeremy Richey's response to seeing Woman In The Dunes is up on his Moon In The Gutter blog.

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godardslave
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Location: Confusing and open ended = high art.

#123 Post by godardslave » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:00 pm

whats the situation with The Ruined Map (1968), is it on dvd anywhere?

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Steven H
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#124 Post by Steven H » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:31 am

godardslave wrote:whats the situation with The Ruined Map (1968), is it on dvd anywhere?
It's on DVD in Japan without subtitles (there are rights issues.) I find it pretty difficult to believe this hasn't come out anywhere in the world with subtitles in any language at all.

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TheRanchHand
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#125 Post by TheRanchHand » Tue Dec 25, 2007 3:44 pm

I just got the set for Christmas. I had forgot I had it in my wishlist on Amazon :D

I look forward to watching them though and seeing which side of the camp I fall in on here.

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