Before starting the final disc in Arrow's early works of Seijun Suzuki,I took a glance at the back cover. Having the Arrow set of Suzuki's Taisho trilogy waiting to be played, I was interested to learn of Suzuki's earlier exploration of the period, leading to me finding out how incorrigible things could get.
Note:Review contains spoilers.
View on the film:
Building up to the final title in both sets, Arrow present a good transfer, with lines and spots of dirt only appearing on the very few moments where the film fades to black, and the soundtrack being kept clean.
For his first historical production set in the Taisho period, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki continues his long collaborations with editor Akira Suzuki & cinematographer Shigeyoshi Mine,whilst at the same time starting a future long-term collaboration with art director Takeo Kimura, all of which builds a rich lyrical atmosphere, as Suzuki continues to expand his eye for outdoor location shooting, with beautifully composed raining set-pieces scanned in Suzuki's long wide-angle shots.
Getting inside away from the rain, Suzuki continues to build on his surrealist stylisation flourishes in long, stilted shots framed to keep the characters backs to the audience or partly obscured by them standing in the shadowy corners of rooms.crafting a mood of the audience listening in on private conversations.
The first of two times he would work with Suzuki,Ryozo Kasahara's adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel by Toko Kon (who would later work with the duo) takes the rebellious teenage man Togo Konno (played with a thoughtful quality by Ken Yamauchi) who finds himself in the middle of a huge cultural shift taking place, (a major recurring theme of Suzuki)and instead of moving him towards Noir, delicately places Konno in understated Melodrama.
Kasahara wonderfully draws Konno's rebellious edge with a blossoming romance Konno forms with Emiko Okumura (played by a enticing Masako Izumi) over a love of the newly translated Western books entering Japan during the Taisho period,turning the pages to a divide between the traditionalist locals,and the free-spirited incorrigibles.
Note:Review contains spoilers.
View on the film:
Building up to the final title in both sets, Arrow present a good transfer, with lines and spots of dirt only appearing on the very few moments where the film fades to black, and the soundtrack being kept clean.
For his first historical production set in the Taisho period, directing auteur Seijun Suzuki continues his long collaborations with editor Akira Suzuki & cinematographer Shigeyoshi Mine,whilst at the same time starting a future long-term collaboration with art director Takeo Kimura, all of which builds a rich lyrical atmosphere, as Suzuki continues to expand his eye for outdoor location shooting, with beautifully composed raining set-pieces scanned in Suzuki's long wide-angle shots.
Getting inside away from the rain, Suzuki continues to build on his surrealist stylisation flourishes in long, stilted shots framed to keep the characters backs to the audience or partly obscured by them standing in the shadowy corners of rooms.crafting a mood of the audience listening in on private conversations.
The first of two times he would work with Suzuki,Ryozo Kasahara's adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel by Toko Kon (who would later work with the duo) takes the rebellious teenage man Togo Konno (played with a thoughtful quality by Ken Yamauchi) who finds himself in the middle of a huge cultural shift taking place, (a major recurring theme of Suzuki)and instead of moving him towards Noir, delicately places Konno in understated Melodrama.
Kasahara wonderfully draws Konno's rebellious edge with a blossoming romance Konno forms with Emiko Okumura (played by a enticing Masako Izumi) over a love of the newly translated Western books entering Japan during the Taisho period,turning the pages to a divide between the traditionalist locals,and the free-spirited incorrigibles.
