*** EI SUOMITEKSTEJÄ ***

Criterion R "A" Blu-Ray (Vaatii aluevapaan soittimen)

Japan

1958

98 minutes

Color

2.35:1

Japanese

Spine #645

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

2K digital master, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

Trailer and teaser

PLUS: An essay by critic Philip Kemp

KEISUKE KINOSHITA

The Ballad of Narayama

This haunting, kabuki-inflected version of a Japanese folk legend is set in a remote mountain village where food is scarce and tradition dictates that citizens who have reached their seventieth year must be carried to the summit of Mount Narayama and left there to die. The sacrificial elder at the center of the tale is Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka), a dignified and dutiful woman who spends her dwindling days securing the happiness of her loyal widowed son with a respectable new wife. Filmed almost entirely on cunningly designed studio sets, in brilliant color and widescreen, The Ballad of Narayama is a stylish and vividly formal work from Japan’s cinematic golden age, directed by the dynamic Keisuke Kinoshita.