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The only part of Kwaidan that really doesn't hold up is the final one, "In a Cup of Tea," which is even placed poorly in the film, coming after the very long and partially musical "Hoichi the Earless."

dad1153 wrote:I hated (HATED!) "Fires on the Plain"

I'm tempted to mount a defense for Fire on the Plain. But (given the warm weather and lack of air conditioning), I'll pass. I will agree that the films could hardly be more different, however.

Even if I liked Human Condition, I can't imagine watching it in one session. It certainly wasn't intended (by Kobayashi) to be seen in this fashion.

Just saw Kobayashi's "Hymn of a Tired Man" (1968) at NYC's Film Forum tribute to composer Tore Takemitsu. It's only my second Kobayashi film after "Human Condition" and, in its own quiet way, it blew me away. Imagine if Kaji (who the lead of "Hymn..." resembles character-wise) had lived at the end of "Human Condition" and, 23 years later, Kobayashi had done a soap opera-ish follow-up to this character's life had he (a) married & had kids with someone other than Michiko but then (b) an older Michiko came back into his life.

But in "Hymn..." the soapy antics grow darker, more poignant and gut-wrenching as the story unfolds while brief flashbacks (and often flashbacks-within-flashbacks) fill-in the WWII trauma coloring the traumatized lead's actions as he moves through a modernized Japan burying the sacrifices of the war into the past. The gimmick of having Yosiko Zensaku's (Michiyo Aratama) inner-voice debating between himself with a mocking alter ego (think "Blast of Silence" VO guy in Japanese) works both as comic relief and to tell us what is happening when Yosiko's bland expressions don't clue us in what the hell he's doing (or why). It's a fascinating auto-biographical companion piece to "Human Condition" (and, indirectly, to Kurosawa's "Ikiru") since the WWII scenes are confined to a few select flashbacks (about 10 out of 130 minutes) but the physical/emotional scars as Yosiko runs into his past (older girlfriend, a remorseless Kei Satô as the military man that injured Yosiko) and present (ignored wife, Toshio Kurosawa as Yosiko's politically-rebellious son) could have been lifted straight from Kobayashi's private life. Ample time is given to the parallel story of Zensaku's son becoming his own man, one that is both respectful and resentful of his old man because of the lack (and also because of acquired) knowledge about Japan's political/social reality then (WWII) and now ('68). Personal highlights for me: Zensaku's son confronting his father's WWII abuser (and potential father-in-law) in front of the latter's daughter (again, very soap opera-ish) and Zensaku doing a hilarious march behind his old girlfriend's back when she comes over to his office to drink tea. For a movie dealing with as uncomfortable a subject as the WWII past "Hymn to a Tired Man" is often incredibly moving, inspiring and also hilarious. Ironically, since he's the reason Film Forum organized the festival in the first place, Takemitsu's score was the least interesting part of the movie (mostly because there's so little of it, although what's there is either deliberately OTT sugary or densely complex, the latter only during the brief WWII flashbacks).

Peter Grilli, president of Boston's Japan Society who introduced the movie (and showed snippets of his Takemitsu documentary), says the subtitled print (which looked cleaned-up and gorgeous) was going back immediately and isn't about to be released commercially or on home video any time soon (here or in its native Japan). A shame because, as good and landmark as "Human Condition" is, "Hymn To A Tired Man" drives home even stronger Kobayashi's pacifist ideas and attempts to confront unpleasant history straight-up by exploring how it affects those that lived through it and those brought up afterwards. Running into Hiroshi Teshigahara's daughter in the lobby of Film Forum as a group of us talked to Grilli about Kobayashi's movie (she came to see "Hymn..." on her own) made the experience complete.

i'm 2/3 through this and still digesting, but while I was thinking of it I wanted to ask what the possibility of seeing Thick Walled Room or Black River joining the collection? I'm especially interested in the former, as it is described in the essay for Human Condition as a condemnation of the war crimes trials after the War, where the true criminals went unpunished while underlings were scapegoated - and then many of the worst became powerful members of the new Japanese government. Pretty astounding that anyone in Japan would make such a film in 1953, and i'm dying to see it. Thoughts on this or other early Kobayashi relative to Human Condition?

Haven't seen the films yet so can't answer your other questions, but Black River is a Janus title so that's a possibility...

Great film,

BUT, just wanted to say - The Chinese spoken by the Japanese actors portraying Chinese characters in the first film is simply awful! (the little Chinese heard in the 3rd seems fine by the way) Really awful. I live in China and can speak a fair bit. Just to be sure I ask a Chinese friend to watch one sequence- could only understand about 5%!

I just don't get why Kobayashi didn't pay for some Taiwanese actors to dub those parts. Really strange, I can't imagine any Chinese person taking this film seriously, which is a great pity.

SalParadise wrote:Great film,

BUT, just wanted to say - The Chinese spoken by the Japanese actors portraying Chinese characters in the first film is simply awful! (the little Chinese heard in the 3rd seems fine by the way) Really awful. I live in China and can speak a fair bit. Just to be sure I ask a Chinese friend to watch one sequence- could only understand about 5%!

I just don't get why Kobayashi didn't pay for some Taiwanese actors to dub those parts. Really strange, I can't imagine any Chinese person taking this film seriously, which is a great pity.

Even if they hired Taiwanese actors, the Mandarin they speak still wouldn't be authentic enough to local ears. As a matter of fact China has so many dialects and they vary so much that it is very common that Chinese audience sometimes wouldn't understand the 'Chinese' spoken in a domestic film unless helped by subtitles.

By the way, I know a lot film lovers in China take these films (meaning The Human Condition trilogy) seriously and regard them as masterpieces.

Then again, watch a lot of other Japanese movies or TV series that has supposedly 'American' scenes, which none of the actors sound American at all. The movie was made mostly for Japan.

Even if they hired Taiwanese actors, the Mandarin they speak still wouldn't be authentic enough to local ears. As a matter of fact China has so many dialects and they vary so much that it is very common that Chinese audience sometimes wouldn't understand the 'Chinese' spoken in a domestic film unless helped by subtitles.

BUT, you're forgetting the fact that many mainland actors moved to Taiwan in 1949/50, many of whom would be from the north and could speak proper Mandarin.

Forgot about that! You've got a point there.

I'm quite late to the party, especially since I've had this set for more than 3 years. I'm surprised no one made the comparison of Parts 1&2 to "Schindler's List", but maybe because this one came first.

I also agree that it's strange that the entire cast of Part 1&2 were Japanese, considering the amount of Chinese dialogue in the movie(s), and how many of them were not fluent. I'm quite sure this movie was never released in mainland China, but I could be wrong. If they did, they might have dubbed the Chinese portions to fluent Chinese.

manicsounds wrote:I also agree that it's strange that the entire cast of Part 1&2 were Japanese, considering the amount of Chinese dialogue in the movie(s), and how many of them were not fluent. I'm quite sure this movie was never released in mainland China, but I could be wrong. If they did, they might have dubbed the Chinese portions to fluent Chinese.

Definitely not released in mainland China. Supposedly, the first (or one of the first) Japanese films actually shown in China was a Yoji Yamada film starring Ken Takakura -- most probably the 1980 Haruka naru yama no yobigoe (translation: The Call of Faraway Mountains and NOT A Distant Cry From Spring). ZHANG Yimou was impressed by the film and its star -- which eventually led to his casting Takakura in Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles 25 years later.

Anyone hear of this getting released (or an HD restoration being made) on blu ray anywhere? I saw it at the Pacific Film Archive about a year before the box came out & decided it's a title I'd like to own, but held off on buying because it because of the price & it wasn't on being released on blu-ray. I'm contemplating breaking down & picking it up during the B&N sale, but there are also a number of blu rays I'd also still like to get.

Japan still doesn't have a blu-ray release from Shochiku, so it may be until after that. But then again, Criterion released Toho's Samurai Trilogy recently, and that still doesn't have a blu-ray release in Japan.

aox wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:50 pm I really wish this was blu. ](*,)

I really wish this was 4K UHD.

I will be getting this over the Arrow solely for the correct audio on Part 3 and the superior cover art.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Tue Mar 23, 2021 11:25 am I will be getting this over the Arrow solely for the correct audio on Part 3 and the superior cover art.

What is the audio issue?

Arrow uses a 2.0 channel stereo for part 3, whereas Criterion is using a 4.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio.

I think I must be missing whatever gene is required in order to allow one to appreciate Kobayashi. But I hope this release is flawless for all you folks who DO have whatever I'm missing.

From the Arrow booklet for The Human Condition:

“Part three (parts five and six in the Japanese release version) was the first Japanese film to be presented in stereo on its original release, and the audio was remastered from the original magnetic stems.”

So 2.0 might be more authentic, but if you are not a purist, the surround option may be more appealing.

I don't know if the Arrow is more authentic since the Japanese bluray from Shochiku has a 4.0 audio track.

They're essentially the same thing. On original prints the soundtrack would be 2 channels, which would be processed through a stereo decoder to expand them to the intended 4 channels. A modern day AVR does this job in the home. Practically all 2.0 tracks that are actually stereo and not dual mono, are actually carrying 4 channels of information.

The framing of the Philip Kemp interview on the Arrow edition (reproduced in the Beaver review) always makes me chuckle. It looks like a deliberate creative decision to match the framing of the feature, but in fact it's because his cat was prowling around in front of his sofa, and while I assumed it was off-camera at the time, when I inspected the rushes later I could see its tail bobbing up and down at the bottom of the frame from time to time.

Still, that was a nice easy fix.