Chushingura [VHS]
![Chushingura [VHS]](/images/Chushingura-VHS-B000056PNV-L.jpg)
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.56 You Save: $25.43 (85%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: VHS Video See more movie releases |
|---|
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
VHS Movie Reviews of Chushingura [VHS]
Movie Review: Transfer Really Showing It's Age
Summary: 4 Stars
For a 2001 release, this was a pretty good effort. In 2010 with 40+ inch HDTVs widely available, it's damn near unwatchable. Image should consider transferring this to blu-ray or re-releasing the DVD with a fresh 16:9 anamorphic transfer with player generated subtitles. This version is a 4:3 transfer, with a hard matte of the 16:9 picture. There are only 288 lines of interlaced video out of an available 480. Scaled up to 1080p it looks awful. The remainder of the space is taken up with borders and burned in subtitles. Back in 2001, this was probably done for superior font clarity and readability. If Image isn't interested in doing the work they should sell the rights to someone who would be willing to undertake a preservation project like Criterion.Movie Review: 47 Ronin
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is a well done version of the original story. In Japan the story is a monument to the Samurai Ethos. The word means literally "to serve". This is about a lord who was forced into committing Sepicou (ritual suicide) by another lord.
Masterless Samurai are called Ronin. They could have hired themselves out to other lords but preferred poverty until they could take revenge against the evil lord, then they all committed suicide, too venerate their dead master.
Movie Review: Great Museum Tour, Faulty Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Hiroshi Inagaki let his success as a tour guide smother his instincts as a story teller in this "epic" account of feudal Japan. I saw it decades ago, and I vaguely recall being impressed by its scope and even more by the 'samurai aesthetic' it depicted. It may even have influenced my decision to study Japanese and live in Japan for a year. It certainly covered the ground: calligraphy, koto, cherry blossoms, kyogen and noh theater, Zen gardening, ceramics, paulonia woodwork, screen and scroll painting, etc etc. But it also Disneylanded Japanese history and culture shamelessly, and it featured a "western" sound track so tacky that I winced at not remembering how awful it was. My memory was faulty, however, in a more embarrasing fashion: I remembered Chushingura as a work by Akira Kurosawa, and initially reviewed it as such. I must have been making coffee when the titles and credits were shown.
As theater, Chushingura isn't close to the level of Kurosawa's black-and-white samurai masterpieces - Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai - or to Kobayashi's Harakiri. In fact, I was mildly disappointed, watching it again after so many years. I had just toured through the "Miyamoto Musashi" exhibit at the wonderful Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco. My old fascination with Japan was rekindled and I rented Chushingura. That exhibit is merely a 'teaser' for the rest of the collection, which is worth a trip to SF in itself.
Movie Review: A captivating samurai epic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Chushingura is a historical epic set in the early 1700's in Japan. Despite being filmed in 1962, its use of a classic film style and Japanese artistic sensibility make it accessible to contemporary viewers. The story is well told and engages the viewer immediately in the problems of an honorable man surrounded by corruption.
Lord Asano is pressured to pay bribes to a corrupt court official, Kira, but he refuses and puts himself and his entire clan at risk. His friends and vassals warn him of the dangers of this step but he is determined to do the right thing. Kira is angry that Asano wont payoff and he provokes Asano. Asano loses his temper, draws his sword and attacks Kira at court. Kira is injured and Asano is instructed to commit seppuku, which he performs honorably and dutifully. His successor and vassals meet and construct a plan to complete the killing of Kira attempted by their master.
Asano's property is seized and his samurai become ronin--masterless soldiers. Despite their Ronin status they continue to work towards their goal of revenge. Public opinion is against Kira, as his dishonor and corruption is well known, but he is too powerful to be easily defeated. Many lives are affected by the disgrace of the Asano clan and the plot to assassinate Kira.
This 207 minute epic portrays everyday lives and concerns contrasted with the intrigues of the Japanese court. There are a collection of main characters that are at times difficult to keep track of--this complexity of this movies makes me suspect it improves with multiple viewings. The sets are gorgeous including beautiful houses and mansions with wonderful gardens. The filmmaker takes advantage of natural beauty as well and some of the scenes filmed during the winter snows are particularly stunning. The action scenes are well filmed and exciting but the modern martial arts film aficionado might find them a bit tame. Martial arts choreography and effects of the last ten years are light years beyond the state of the art in 1962.
This film exhibits and attention to detail that is fascinating. The costumes, nuances of facial and vocal expression, and technology of the 1700's all worked together to create another world. Highly recommended.
Movie Review: Like the cherry blossom, this film doth fall from my movie library...
Summary: 2 Stars
A 1963 Japanese film whose title translates into "Loyalty," this movie accounts the famous Japanese legend of 47 ronin who avenge their master who was tricked into committing seppukku for striking a spiteful superior. It is definitely a great tale to show on film, but unfortunately the delivery here is lacking.
I enjoy how every time I read reviews for this film it is called a "deliberately paced drama." This seems to me an apologetic response to the film's incredible and slow-moving running time. It runs at about 206 minutes (that's about three and a half hours) and you feel every minute of it. It's not that I don't like long movies - I loved "Seven Samurai" (which runs almost three hours) and the Civil War epic "Gettysburg." (which runs a whopping 261 minutes, or just about four and a half hours) It's just that this movie runs so incredibly slow it actually gets painful. You lose all track of time. There is so much build-up to moments where nothing happens, and so everything feels wasted. For example, there's a long part where the samurai argue over whether they should give up their castle willingly or fight it out. After deliberations and scenes that make you think they're hiding something, they just give up. Imagine the pain you felt in the last ten minutes of "The Return of the King" and stretch it out for three hours, and you'll know how I felt.
And before any one accuses me of anything, it wasn't because there was very little action until the end. I don't mind sitting for hours watching character development or a great storyline with no sword being drawn or gun being fired, but even here the film drags. There are ridiculous romantic subplots that serve no purpose and are too cliche to be enjoyed, while other times you're waiting thirty minutes just for a character to make a decision about themselves. Apparently they wanted to develop every single one of the 47 ronin, which gives this film the same pain I felt in most Robert Altman movies.
I hate to say it, but this became one of the few movies that became a simple chore to watch. I had to force myself until finally I could no longer stand it, and had to take breaks. A lot of times I've said films were worth watching at least once, but here I don't think I could even stand the single viewing. I couldn't understand why the film was so glorified, as its pacing was incredibly plodding and the overall delivery just average. For me, it's quickly been put into the category of films that will boggle the mind of the casual film viewer but be well defended by critics who accuse other people of not getting the "art."