Mikio Naruse 3 Disc Box Set



The BFI presents three of Mikio Naruse's finest films, now regarded as among world cinema's greatest achievements.

Naruse's films celebrate, without extravagance , the lives of ordinary people struggling for something better than the hand fate has dealt them. Performed with quiet certainty by superb actors, shot and edited with a sure and relentless hand, they raise the ordinary and even the sordid to a quality near sublime. --Audie Bock, Artforum

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Onna ga kaidan o agaru toki)

Naruse's magnificent 1960 melodrama. An elegant essay in black and white Cinemascope and tinkling cocktail jazz, this tale of a bar hostess' attempt to escape her lot could give heartbreak lessons to Fassbinder and Sirk. --J Hoberman, The Village Voice

Floating Clouds (Ukigumo)

The elegance and indisputable hard punch of Naruse's storytelling become immediately clear the moment the lovers kiss and the director cuts, mid-clinch, to an almost identical shot of them kissing in the past, an edit that suggests this is a passion that transcends even time and space --Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Late Chrysanthemums (Bangiku)

It is something to see Sugimura counting money, and sticking a wad efficiently into her kimono top. When her heart has been broken one last time by an old lover asking for money, she burns his photograph in a scene of chilling finality --Phillip Lopate, A Taste of Naruse

Extras:
- Freda Freiberg, Japanese cinema expert: audio commentaries; video interview with Adrian Martin
- Paul Willeman: video and written essays
- Barnard Eisenschitz: video interview with director Teruo Ishii, Naruse's assistant
- Adrian Martin: new essay
- Theatrical trailer for When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
- Fully illustrated booklet with essays.

Mikio Naruse

Yesterday I sent an email to BFI about their Nakio Naruse DVDs. Here is the very short answer I received : "There will be some Mikio Naruse releases in 2007."

What ? When?...nada

It seems like it's been a LONG time since there has been any update on BFI's Naruse box set. As I recall, it was supposed to also include "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs". I need to start deciding whether to wait for the BFI set -- or order the standalone Criterion. ;~}

Has there ever been any sort of update on this set? February has come and gone -- and soon March will be gone too. ;~{

It's been nearly two years since these films cleared the BBFC, but there is no indication that BFI have submitted the films for video classification.

'When A Woman Ascends The Stairs' will be showing at BFI Southbank NFT from 29th June in an extended run.

So the season of Naruse films will be in June/July. Maybe the DVD's will be released around then or a little later.

Hope this hasn't appeared before in some other part of the forum that I have overlooked, but the NFT's Naruse season in July will include 21 films: Apart from You (33), Nightly Dreams (33), Wife! Be Like a Rose! (35), Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (35), The Whole Family Works (39), The Song Lantern (43), Repast (51), Ginza Cosmetics (51), Mother (52), Lightning (52), Husband and Wife (53), Wife (53), Late Chrysanthemums* (54), Sound of the Mountain (54), Floating Clouds* (55), Flowing (56), Summer Clouds (58), The Approach of Autumn (60), When a Woman Ascends the Stairs* (60), Her Lonely Lane (62), Yearning (64). The asterisked titles are new prints from the BFI and presumably precursors to DVDs from the BFI.

I have the MoC Naruse set and will be getting the BFIs when they are released. Any recommendations and advice on the rest of the season would be much appreciated.

You might want to PM Michael Kerpan - he's the resident Naruse expert.

I'll be trying to catch as much of the Naruse retrospective as I can too, does anyone know what the BFI is going to release on DVD as I don't want to see the film then have to buy the DVD, I'm a poor student unfortunately!

Michael, can you recommend what should be seen at any cost. Also does anyone know what the BFI will be releasing on DVD, I assume A Woman Ascends the Stairs is a certainty?

Apart from You (33) - silent masterpiece -- see my Senses of Cinema article ;~}

Nightly Dreams (33) - silent masterpiece -- at least as good as the above

Wife! Be Like a Rose! (35) -- first Japanese talkie to be shown in the US -- Sadly, US critics brushed it off -- wonderful film

Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (35) -- very good

The Whole Family Works (39) -- very good

The Song Lantern (43) -- Naruse's closest approach to a "fairy tale" film -- has some of his most visually stunning scenes -- even if it is not a masterpiece, I love it as much as if it were one

Repast (51) -- masterpiece -- in my personal top 2 Setsuko Hara and Ken Uehara are superb (maybe his best performance)

Ginza Cosmetics (51) -- transitional film (made right before Repast) , Naruse hasn't quite got his newer style all together yet -- but very good performances

Mother (52) -- when I first saw this, the opening narration put me off a bit, it was overly sentimental - and colored my view of the whole film. Only later did I really notice just how much humor was blended with the sadness. Wonderful work for Tanaka and Kagawa and Daisuke Kato, especially.

Lightning (52) -- one of my favorite Naruse films -- Hideko Takamine and Kumeko Urabe (playing her mother) are great -- a little more hope here than normal at the end

Husband and Wife (53) -- very good -- a combination of bleakness and humor, following the difficulties of a young couple ---also a glimpse of Japan at Christmas and New Years.

Wife (53) -- darker than average, a rare chance to see the great Mieko Takamine (as jealous wife)

Late Chrysanthemums (54) -- on first viewing I focused on the seeming main character Haruko Sugimura (in one of her most impressive -- if least lovable -- performances). On revisiting, I paid as much attention to her former cronies, who are delights. Part bleak -- but still full of life.

Sound of the Mountain (54) -- masterpiece -- Setsuko Hara is great -- and so is So Yamamura (as her father-in-law). Probably Yamamura's best performance ever.

Floating Clouds (55) -- masterpiece -- some of the best work of Takamine and Masayuki Mori

Flowing (56) -- masterpiece

Summer Clouds (58) -- a bit diffuse, but still quite impressive -- Chikage Awashima is very fine as a city girl who married a farmer -- and although widowed can't escape her ties to the land she (here young son) has inherited.

The Approach of Autumn (60) - a remarkable film focused around two children. If the kids spoke a bit less, it might have been better yet -- but still quite impressive. Probably a partial inspiration for Oguri's "Muddy River".

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (60) -- masterpiece

Her Lonely Lane (62) -- based on autobiography of great writer Fumiko Hayashi, whose stories formed the basis for five other Naruse films. One of Takamine's most extraordinary performances (possibly the fact that Tanaka is her mother here provided some inspiration).

Yearning (64) -- almost like two films, the first half is quite interesting but more mundane -- a family store (largely run by a widowed daughter-in-law, Takamine) is facing dangerous competition from a moder "supermarket". Then this shifts gears into romantic tragedy -- as Takamine's younger brother-in-law escorts her home when returning to her own family (on the other side of Japan). The ending of the film is as visually stunning as Naruse ever got (and that's a pretty high level)

Lots of archived discussions, etc. here.

(note: because of a weirdness of that site, discussions of several of the films are split between multiple threads)

Michael, many many thanks for the extremely careful and detailed guide. I will rely on it to steer me through the season.

FSimeoni, the films marked new print from the BFI (the ones I asterisked) are the ones they will be putting out on DVD, if their past practice is anything to go by.

Once again, that Naruse retro has been curated by Toronto's James Quandt - he seems to be the motivating hand behind almost everything in the world of international retrospectives (the Rossellini one too). Seems the BFI itself lacks someone with a comparable expertise in Japanese cinema.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), every one of the films being shown is well worth seeing. I had to miss a few of the Naruse films shown here in Boston (due to irresolvable conflicts) and the fact that I might be missing my only chance to ever those films screened caused me severe pangs. ;~{

At London ticket rates, seeing all those screenings would work out at about the equivalent of $300.

Holy cow! ;~}

I wonder if the three Naruse films will come out as a set -- or as separates? And I wonder how long the wait will be now?

;~}

I would expect separates - the BFI tends not to release boxed sets (cf. its trilogies of Dreyer and Jarman releases).

If this is right, they've left that policy.

They're probably taking a leaf out of MoC's book then.

Any specs available for the upcoming Naruse box?

I'm itching to know if I'll be spending an extra $60 by the end of the year.

Moviemail has posted some kind of cover, confirming the mentioned titles.

Nice to see the BFI releasing a box of features. I wonder if they'll be made available individually, the Kurosawa were, I think.

I'm not completely sure but I think the BFI released their Kurosawa films separately and then later on put them together into a collectors edition, similar to Criterion and their gift sets.

I quite like the cover with Naruse looking quizzically over his shoulder at the BFI logo in the corner!

I hope they do release individually just because I already have the Criterion Woman. Figures that the one time the BFI does a box set is the one time I'd rather them not.

Extras on the BFI Naruse box - I've just ordered this and the MoC box having just read Philip Lopate's great piece 'A Taste of Naruse'....