Ugetsu [DVD video]

Set in 16th century Japan, a period of bloody civil war, the film is rooted in the postwar psyche of 1950s Japan. It focuses on an ambitious potter haunted by a beautiful ghost and a farmer who dreams of becoming a samurai.

General Note:

Region 1; NTSC; Dolby Digital, mono.

Originally released as a motion picture in 1953.

Aspect ratio 1.33:1.

Special features: Disc 1. New restored high-definition digital transfer; audio commentary by critic, filmmaker and festival programmer Tony Rayns; Process and production, a 20-minute video interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director of Ugetsu; 10-minute video interview with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, from 1992; theatrical trailers; new and improved English subtitles -- Disc 2. Kenji Mizoguchi: the life of a film director (1975), a 150-minute documentary by filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, with new and improved English subtitles.

Accompanying booklet features an essay by film critic Phillip Lopate and three short stories that influenced Mizoguchi in making the film: "The house in the thicket" and "A serpent's lust" by Akinara Ueda from his book "Ugetsu monogatari" and "How he got the Legion of Honor" by Guy de Maupassant.

Performers:

Machiko Kyo, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Masayuki Mori, Sakae Ozawa.

Contents:

Disc 1. Ugetsu (97 min.) -- Disc. 2. Kenji Mizoguchi: the life of a film director (150 min.).

Technical Details:

DVD.

Subject Term:

Potters -- Japan -- Drama.

Man-woman relationships -- Drama.

Geographic Term:

Japan -- History -- 1333-1600 -- Drama.

Genre: