40 reviews
Disturbing, yes. Captivating, certainly!
This is a film about a culture that has evolved to deal with food scarcity. The people of the village have taken their choices to the extreme. Food is so hard to get (and keep) that the very old and very young must leave. Babiy boys are left to die in the snow, baby girls are raised only to be sold, and the old are brought to the mountain to die. The only thing there is plenty of is sex, for all but one man called Stinker by his peers.
The villagers are intent to secure life for themselves and their family and will do anything necessary. In the middle of this all lives an old lady, almost 70 (the dying age) but healthy and strong. She does not want to burden the family, so she gives up her place in order for the young ones to live.
Imamura registers all this without judgment. This is a lesson to most people, filmmakers in particular. See, feel, but don't judge right away. See, feel, think, and then try to understand.
The villagers are intent to secure life for themselves and their family and will do anything necessary. In the middle of this all lives an old lady, almost 70 (the dying age) but healthy and strong. She does not want to burden the family, so she gives up her place in order for the young ones to live.
Imamura registers all this without judgment. This is a lesson to most people, filmmakers in particular. See, feel, but don't judge right away. See, feel, think, and then try to understand.
Tough stuff but asks the basic questions
I was a little surprised by a few of the negative comments below since I don't consider this film to be at all slow or dull. Many foreign and Asian films (Tsai Ming-Liang, Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, Hou Hsiao-Hsien for example)are far more grueling and slow whereas this film is loaded with narrative events, humor, eroticism (of various sorts, not all involving contact between humans and other humans)and a profound meditation on community, responsibility and mortality. If one finds this slow then I'd imagine most foreign films besides Amelie would be off-limits. I have rarely seen a film that forces one to confront such disturbing yet important subjects. In this village where scarcity forces all over 70 to be taken to Narayama mountain to die, a 69 year old woman who is still energetic and capable must settle her son's affairs before taking her final journey. Pondering how one would live in a place where for years one would know that at 70 this would happen is one key question. Further, what are the final things one must do before dying. Finally, the film makes us confront the literal truth of bodily decay and corruption in the scenes at Narayama Mountain.
A universal story of human obsolescence...
... in this Japanese period drama from Shochiku and writer-director Keisuke Kinoshita. In a poor farming village, old woman Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) is feeling the pressure, both from her ingrate grandson, and her own conscience and adherence to tradition, to commit obasute, wherein elderly people travel to the top of nearby Narayama mountain and wait to die from starvation or exposure. Orin is the strongest, most productive member of the family, but youth trumps utility, and Orin prepares to make her final journey.
Using widescreen and color film, director Kinoshita uniquely melds the cinematic with the theatrical, as the story is told in near kabuki fashion, with a singing narrator and traditional Japanese musical instrumentation. The sets are stylized and deliberately artificial, with realistic settings in the foreground, and miniature or painted backdrops behind them. There is also repeated use of monochromatic lighting, from red filters to green filters, to accentuate the mood of the scene.
The performances are equally stylized in the kabuki manner, and as such may be off-putting to Western audiences unused to the style. I thought the film was tremendous, an artistically challenging production with a very striking audio and visual presentation, and a moving, universal story touching on aging and obsolescence forming the bedrock. Recommended.
Using widescreen and color film, director Kinoshita uniquely melds the cinematic with the theatrical, as the story is told in near kabuki fashion, with a singing narrator and traditional Japanese musical instrumentation. The sets are stylized and deliberately artificial, with realistic settings in the foreground, and miniature or painted backdrops behind them. There is also repeated use of monochromatic lighting, from red filters to green filters, to accentuate the mood of the scene.
The performances are equally stylized in the kabuki manner, and as such may be off-putting to Western audiences unused to the style. I thought the film was tremendous, an artistically challenging production with a very striking audio and visual presentation, and a moving, universal story touching on aging and obsolescence forming the bedrock. Recommended.
A Truly Unforgettable Film
- howard.schumann
- Aug 11, 2002
- Permalink
One of my five favorite movies ever - What is uniquely human
With beautiful photography and sensitive, elegant acting, this is perhaps the best exploration of what it means to be human. As usual, Shohei Imamura draws direct parallels between the basic drives & instincts (hunger, greed, lust, anger, envy) of people and other animals. I have friends who have walked out of this movie because they found these comparisons so depressing when shown in the desperately poor rural Japan during the late 19th century. What they missed was the core intelligence, caring, self sacrifice, clear thinking and love that enabled that community, and by extension the human race, to survive such difficult times.
This sympathetic portrayal of a family in a rural village is the best of ten films I have seen from Imamura, with an epic scale of Akira Kurosawa and all of the subtlety of Ozu.
This sympathetic portrayal of a family in a rural village is the best of ten films I have seen from Imamura, with an epic scale of Akira Kurosawa and all of the subtlety of Ozu.
A Nutshell Review: Ballad of Narayama
- DICK STEEL
- Sep 14, 2007
- Permalink
Shohei Imamura : A true master of human emotions.
On numerous occasions Japanese filmmaker Shohei Imamura has confessed that he is more interested in filming tales of despicable low lives than narrating stories of hypocrite Japanese middle class.This is precisely what makes his film special.It must be mentioned that an earlier version of this film was made in 1958 by veteran Japanese film maker Kinoshita Keisuke.Imamura has often stated that his film is more sensual than that of Kinoshita as it featured a Kabuki style narration of events.Ballad of Narayama is a film about ancient traditions which are hard to follow.It takes place in a Japanese village where a majority of inhabitants are low lives who lead a not so decent life.As traditions are to be respected there is a lot of respect for elders. The highlight of the film is the existential dilemma of a Japanese man whose task consists of leaving his old mother in the mountains of Narayama to be eaten alive by vultures.It is believed that forthcoming generations will live when sacrifices are made by old people.It is amazing how Imamura has managed to recreate a vivid life of ancient Japanese village.Ken Ogata is a joy to watch as an obedient son who hesitates to see his old mother die.A truly great film to learn about the eccentricities of human mind especially of the oriental kind.
- FilmCriticLalitRao
- Aug 12, 2008
- Permalink
Too much sex, not enough character development
Having watched both versions of Ballad of Narayama I came to the conclusion that neither movie is truly great but if elements of both were to be combined it would create the perfect blend. I still enjoy both films quite a lot, it's just that they could've been more. The main advantage of this version is the great cinematography and the use of real life locations. The 1958 movie looks great too and the sets are fantastic in it but this version in my opinion is more impressive with the beautiful shots of real scenery. Additionally, I enjoyed the often metaphorical footage of animals and nature. On top of that I much prefer the way that this story was told as the main drawback of the original Ballad to me was the kabuki style storytelling which thankfully the newer one dispenses with.
However, what the first Ballad did much, much better was that it made me feel for its characters a lot more. That movie is shorter and yet the characters are more realised and when the ending comes and the inevitable has to happen it made me really sad. In this 1983 version the final choice didn't have the same impact due to me not caring as much about the people. On top of that the main matriarch was played much more sympathetically in the older film, thanks to the actress which helped to add to the emotional punch that the movie was aiming for. Instead of focusing on doing more to make the viewer care for the inhabitants of the village the newer Ballad instead opts for the inclusion of a plethora of mostly comedic sex scenes which whilst often amusing can be a bit too much. I understand that it's a bit of a trademark of director Imamura to do this and I don't have a problem with it but I just wish he substituted some of those scenes with others or made the movie longer to add more of the much needed emotion. All in all this is a very good movie, as is the first one but I still think there is room for another go at this story which if done right has the potential to be better than both its predecessors.
However, what the first Ballad did much, much better was that it made me feel for its characters a lot more. That movie is shorter and yet the characters are more realised and when the ending comes and the inevitable has to happen it made me really sad. In this 1983 version the final choice didn't have the same impact due to me not caring as much about the people. On top of that the main matriarch was played much more sympathetically in the older film, thanks to the actress which helped to add to the emotional punch that the movie was aiming for. Instead of focusing on doing more to make the viewer care for the inhabitants of the village the newer Ballad instead opts for the inclusion of a plethora of mostly comedic sex scenes which whilst often amusing can be a bit too much. I understand that it's a bit of a trademark of director Imamura to do this and I don't have a problem with it but I just wish he substituted some of those scenes with others or made the movie longer to add more of the much needed emotion. All in all this is a very good movie, as is the first one but I still think there is room for another go at this story which if done right has the potential to be better than both its predecessors.
- Chance_Boudreaux19
- Nov 10, 2022
- Permalink
A must see movie
One of the best films I have ever seen. Teaches you how to love your parents and kids. The cast and photography are amazing. A must see movie. As for the previous comment from US on this film - isn't USA a country where the elderly are sent to nursing homes to die, often stripped off their dignity? So, go visit your granny or mommy...
Not a film about how elderly people die, but about how society values their lifes
"The ballad of Narayama" (1983, Shohei Imamura) is about the custom (called "ubasute" in Japanese) that at reaching the age of 70 parents are carried up a mountain by their eldest son in order to die at the top of that mountain.
There have been times in which "ubasute" was existing practice in some areas of Japan, but it is mostly known as the subject of mythology. I have seen two adaptations of "The ballad of Narayama". The adaptation of Keisuke Kinoshita from 1958 is more close to "ubasute" as a myth. The adaptation of Shohei Imamura from 1983 treats it more as a real existing practice from the past.
According to one review I read the central theme of the film is the way a society thinks about death. In Western societies death has become highly medicalized and as a result less visible (still according to the above mentioned review). In the Japan of the Middle Ages death was much more a simple fact of life.
I am not convinced by this interpretation. In my view the film is not so much about how elderly people die, but how they live and how society thinks about this group of people that inevitably are less productive then they once were.
The film is situated in the Middle Ages and the central problem is food. Society simply cannot afford a large group of people that eat more food than they can produce. Lets not think however that in modern times we have outgrown such Malthusian lines of reasoning. This kind of discussions come back again and again, but always in a slightly modified form. Ten years ago it was not about food but about money. How can society finance a growing group of retirees that are getting older and older. In recent times of the Corona pandemic there are fierce discussions about the claim elderly and vulnerable people are making on the health care system. In this way the theme of the film remains its topicality.
There have been times in which "ubasute" was existing practice in some areas of Japan, but it is mostly known as the subject of mythology. I have seen two adaptations of "The ballad of Narayama". The adaptation of Keisuke Kinoshita from 1958 is more close to "ubasute" as a myth. The adaptation of Shohei Imamura from 1983 treats it more as a real existing practice from the past.
According to one review I read the central theme of the film is the way a society thinks about death. In Western societies death has become highly medicalized and as a result less visible (still according to the above mentioned review). In the Japan of the Middle Ages death was much more a simple fact of life.
I am not convinced by this interpretation. In my view the film is not so much about how elderly people die, but how they live and how society thinks about this group of people that inevitably are less productive then they once were.
The film is situated in the Middle Ages and the central problem is food. Society simply cannot afford a large group of people that eat more food than they can produce. Lets not think however that in modern times we have outgrown such Malthusian lines of reasoning. This kind of discussions come back again and again, but always in a slightly modified form. Ten years ago it was not about food but about money. How can society finance a growing group of retirees that are getting older and older. In recent times of the Corona pandemic there are fierce discussions about the claim elderly and vulnerable people are making on the health care system. In this way the theme of the film remains its topicality.
- frankde-jong
- Nov 26, 2021
- Permalink
Beautiful!
This is one of the most beautiful and moving motion pictures I have ever seen. The extreme hardships faced by the people in this story are presented frankly and unsentimentally. The cinematography is absolutely exquisite, particularly the last 10-15 minutes. Although the film never gives in to or panders to sentimentality (sentimentality, Imamura?), the end is really a tear-jerker. As much as I hate to make lists of my "favorite things", this movie would definitely rate among my top ten of all times. Do yourself a favor and see this movie!
- filho_de_oxum
- Aug 20, 2000
- Permalink
Made it Ma, Top of the Mountain!
"The Ballad of Narayama" had always been presented to me with an aura of mystery tainted with fascination; the story of a son carrying his mother the top of a mountain so she could die in peace. So much poetry in the premise I couldn't resist.
I tried to watch the original but time screwed up my arrangements and put the remake in my hand first and it's within my personal desire to watch Golden Palm winners that I saw it. It's interesting that the previous film I watched in that category was the Turkish "Winter Sleep", a film with the same hivernal setting allowing people to introspect onto their lives. "Nayarama" has the same setting but is less existential and more colorful, to say the least. It's not exactly the picture I expected, and director Shohei Imamura depicted a gallery of peasants with an eagerness to emphasize their crassness that he reminded me of Antonioni and his "Ugly, Dirty and Bad" slum people. I guess I'm still partial to the more poetic flourishes of Kurosawa.
I understand the positive reception (it's Cannes after all) but I didn't enjoy "Nayarama" even to the degree that I could grasp its inner poetry. Honestly, maybe it's the discontentment brought up by the Covid context but I found the film to be a succession of unpleasant characters indulging to the worst practices. I find myself guilty not to be able to appreciate the social comment and the magic of the camera beneath the ugliness they depict but what can I say about a film that shows a dead baby soaking in a rice field. Scenes of sexual games that involve into rapes or just plain rapes? Of mass lynching consisting of burying people alive, including a pregnant mother and children? Of brutality against animals? Or sons urging their grandmothers to die, same grandmother who lures a woman into a deadly trap... and break his teeth in a very cringe worthy scene.
And so on and so forth. I understand that a film isn't entitled to portray goodness in every frame, maybe the bad is the foil to the good, we're flooded with images of perversion only to highlight in contrast the majesty of nature, or say the purity of the mountain when covered by snow, it hides with its drape of white the sight of skeletons rotting under crows and scavengers... but my issue isn't just with the form. I believe there is a problem with the content too, one that left me confused, to use a neutral term. The film jumps from one barrack of a village to another to another and left me puzzled most the time. I will be honest but at times I couldn't tell the characters apart, except for Ken Ogata who plays the straight and dutiful son Tatsuhei and his mother Orin, played by Sumiko Sakamoto. The colorful and comic relief character named "the stinker" looked a lot like his other sibling and I couldn't recognize many of the female characters.
It was a difficult film to follow and I wish it could take us to one direction, but I wasn't able to follow it until I got to the point where Tatsuhei took his mother to the mountain. Finally I thought and that part, which is only one quarter of the film (maybe less) worked like a relief from all the mess that went before, I didn't feel there was any connection whatsoever with the first, except to show us a slice of life in the ancient Japanese rural town, far from the more forgiving lyricism depiction of Kurosawa (who didn't sugarcoat them in "Seven Samurai"). After the film we understand that there was a time where life and death were handled rather cynically and that could only be shown through the unforgiving eye of Imamura and his documentary-like style of directing.
There are many scenes of people having sex that are intercut with animals, in fact, many shots randomly thrown in the film, seem to magnify the fauna and flora as if the point was to establish the bestiality of men and their being part of the natural cycle, which makes the mountain tradition and understandable necessity and a paradox. Even in times where people indulged to actions we'd deem as savage, there was room for secular traditions and yet these traditions didn't exclude nature. Any deviation or disobedience would bring shame upon a family and let a soul wander in limbo of nothingness. The point isn't that some traditions or superstitions would be pointless (why a woman be taken to a mountain if even at 69 she's in good health?) but that the worse would come from absence of tradition.
It was a long way from these traditions to our modern and civilized societies, but maybe the film shows that thin breach civilization took to find its way despite men's savagery. Still, for all the meaningful richness of the film the whole experience was so unpleasant that there came a moment I couldn't pinpoint exactly and I was like "what am I watching this?". What's the purpose of all these characters? Of having them being so unpleasant. I couldn't tell. There's a point of them acting so ugly but there was a limit to which I could endure this ugliness.
Imamura is one of the few directors with two Golden Palm winners, I liked "The Eel" a bit more but I thought the climax was misplaced, this time, I didn't enjoy "Nayarama" but I'm glad it reached its peak (literally) with the right scene. I'm looking forward to seeing the original but not with the same urge.
I tried to watch the original but time screwed up my arrangements and put the remake in my hand first and it's within my personal desire to watch Golden Palm winners that I saw it. It's interesting that the previous film I watched in that category was the Turkish "Winter Sleep", a film with the same hivernal setting allowing people to introspect onto their lives. "Nayarama" has the same setting but is less existential and more colorful, to say the least. It's not exactly the picture I expected, and director Shohei Imamura depicted a gallery of peasants with an eagerness to emphasize their crassness that he reminded me of Antonioni and his "Ugly, Dirty and Bad" slum people. I guess I'm still partial to the more poetic flourishes of Kurosawa.
I understand the positive reception (it's Cannes after all) but I didn't enjoy "Nayarama" even to the degree that I could grasp its inner poetry. Honestly, maybe it's the discontentment brought up by the Covid context but I found the film to be a succession of unpleasant characters indulging to the worst practices. I find myself guilty not to be able to appreciate the social comment and the magic of the camera beneath the ugliness they depict but what can I say about a film that shows a dead baby soaking in a rice field. Scenes of sexual games that involve into rapes or just plain rapes? Of mass lynching consisting of burying people alive, including a pregnant mother and children? Of brutality against animals? Or sons urging their grandmothers to die, same grandmother who lures a woman into a deadly trap... and break his teeth in a very cringe worthy scene.
And so on and so forth. I understand that a film isn't entitled to portray goodness in every frame, maybe the bad is the foil to the good, we're flooded with images of perversion only to highlight in contrast the majesty of nature, or say the purity of the mountain when covered by snow, it hides with its drape of white the sight of skeletons rotting under crows and scavengers... but my issue isn't just with the form. I believe there is a problem with the content too, one that left me confused, to use a neutral term. The film jumps from one barrack of a village to another to another and left me puzzled most the time. I will be honest but at times I couldn't tell the characters apart, except for Ken Ogata who plays the straight and dutiful son Tatsuhei and his mother Orin, played by Sumiko Sakamoto. The colorful and comic relief character named "the stinker" looked a lot like his other sibling and I couldn't recognize many of the female characters.
It was a difficult film to follow and I wish it could take us to one direction, but I wasn't able to follow it until I got to the point where Tatsuhei took his mother to the mountain. Finally I thought and that part, which is only one quarter of the film (maybe less) worked like a relief from all the mess that went before, I didn't feel there was any connection whatsoever with the first, except to show us a slice of life in the ancient Japanese rural town, far from the more forgiving lyricism depiction of Kurosawa (who didn't sugarcoat them in "Seven Samurai"). After the film we understand that there was a time where life and death were handled rather cynically and that could only be shown through the unforgiving eye of Imamura and his documentary-like style of directing.
There are many scenes of people having sex that are intercut with animals, in fact, many shots randomly thrown in the film, seem to magnify the fauna and flora as if the point was to establish the bestiality of men and their being part of the natural cycle, which makes the mountain tradition and understandable necessity and a paradox. Even in times where people indulged to actions we'd deem as savage, there was room for secular traditions and yet these traditions didn't exclude nature. Any deviation or disobedience would bring shame upon a family and let a soul wander in limbo of nothingness. The point isn't that some traditions or superstitions would be pointless (why a woman be taken to a mountain if even at 69 she's in good health?) but that the worse would come from absence of tradition.
It was a long way from these traditions to our modern and civilized societies, but maybe the film shows that thin breach civilization took to find its way despite men's savagery. Still, for all the meaningful richness of the film the whole experience was so unpleasant that there came a moment I couldn't pinpoint exactly and I was like "what am I watching this?". What's the purpose of all these characters? Of having them being so unpleasant. I couldn't tell. There's a point of them acting so ugly but there was a limit to which I could endure this ugliness.
Imamura is one of the few directors with two Golden Palm winners, I liked "The Eel" a bit more but I thought the climax was misplaced, this time, I didn't enjoy "Nayarama" but I'm glad it reached its peak (literally) with the right scene. I'm looking forward to seeing the original but not with the same urge.
- ElMaruecan82
- Oct 30, 2020
- Permalink
Despite very high ratings, the sledgehammer symbolism and overall unpleasantness are serious problems with this film.
This remake of "The Ballad of Narayama" has a very respectable rating of 7.7 and lots of very positive reviews. However, I found the film to be an endurance contest of unpleasantness. It also made its point through TONS of what my daughter terms 'sledgehammer symbolism'--where the director tries so hard to put forth their symbolism that it all becomes too tiresome and too obvious. Subtle this movie isn't!
This film is set in a time and place in Japan where life is very, very hard and starvation is the norm. To deal with this, the lovely people in these mountains have a tradition--that their elderly should go up in the mountains to die when they reach 70 so that they aren't a burden. Additionally, infanticide, stealing food and all other forms of nastiness abound in this hellish place. But director/writer Shôhei Imamura doesn't stop there--the film also has scenes of bestiality, LOTS of sex scenes (not the sexy kind, either), a family being buried alive, a woman knocking out her own teeth, a guy tossing his father down a mountain and animal abuse! Somehow Imamura seems to have forgotten necrophilia and incest!
As far as the symbolism goes, Imamura shows innumerable scenes of animals eating each other or copulating. It's VERY obvious he's trying to draw a parallel to say that these people are living like animals...too obvious. Plus, call me crazy, but I don't want to see all these scenes of animals killing each other or having sex!! Life is too short to watch stuff like this and although "The Ballad of Narayama" has nice production values, the thoroughly unpleasant nature of the film make it hard to recommend to anyone.
This film is set in a time and place in Japan where life is very, very hard and starvation is the norm. To deal with this, the lovely people in these mountains have a tradition--that their elderly should go up in the mountains to die when they reach 70 so that they aren't a burden. Additionally, infanticide, stealing food and all other forms of nastiness abound in this hellish place. But director/writer Shôhei Imamura doesn't stop there--the film also has scenes of bestiality, LOTS of sex scenes (not the sexy kind, either), a family being buried alive, a woman knocking out her own teeth, a guy tossing his father down a mountain and animal abuse! Somehow Imamura seems to have forgotten necrophilia and incest!
As far as the symbolism goes, Imamura shows innumerable scenes of animals eating each other or copulating. It's VERY obvious he's trying to draw a parallel to say that these people are living like animals...too obvious. Plus, call me crazy, but I don't want to see all these scenes of animals killing each other or having sex!! Life is too short to watch stuff like this and although "The Ballad of Narayama" has nice production values, the thoroughly unpleasant nature of the film make it hard to recommend to anyone.
- planktonrules
- Oct 15, 2013
- Permalink
Harsh yet beautiful
This is actually an extraordinarily beautiful film, if one has even the remotest understanding of Japanese culture around that time period. The harshness of life in Japan made the sort of society in which people went to "be with their loved-ones" and "be with the God of the Mountain" at age 70 completely necessary. The focus of the film is the struggle for survival, and more than that, prospering, in the harsh environment of c. XIX Tohoku. The exploration of this topic takes the viewer into a study of survival through strict rules, and prospering through sexual relationships. The scenes of sexual intercourse serve to portray that even in sexual situations, the Japanese as a people have never viewed nature and animals as separate from ourselves.
- flautist_englishdork
- Jan 27, 2005
- Permalink
A shocking, depressing, and even humorous depiction of a villages efforts to survive.
"Ballad of Narayama" is ultimately a film about survival.
Set during the Meiji Period, the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese farming village are forced to embrace extreme tactics to ensure that they stay alive.
Male babies are instantly killed with hardly any remorse, while females are usually sold. Stealing food is punishable by death, which we see in a very disturbing scene where an entire family are buried alive due their father's crime.
And, ultimately, the elderly are sent to die at the base of a mountain called Narayama when they reach the age of 70.
Despite the depressing tone, there is a lot of humor in this film, as well. The songs that the villagers sing about each other are pretty funny, and it's difficult not to laugh at Old Orin trying to knock her own teeth out with a rock.
Speaking of Old Orin, the actress who player her (Sumiko Sakamoto) gives a wonderful performance in this film. She had her teeth surgically removed for this role, and gives a realistic depiction of a 70-year-old woman even though she was in her 40s when the film was made.
"Ballad of Narayama" is indeed a depressing film in many aspects, but it's also filled with humor and offers a better understanding of what life must be like in these types of situations.
Set during the Meiji Period, the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese farming village are forced to embrace extreme tactics to ensure that they stay alive.
Male babies are instantly killed with hardly any remorse, while females are usually sold. Stealing food is punishable by death, which we see in a very disturbing scene where an entire family are buried alive due their father's crime.
And, ultimately, the elderly are sent to die at the base of a mountain called Narayama when they reach the age of 70.
Despite the depressing tone, there is a lot of humor in this film, as well. The songs that the villagers sing about each other are pretty funny, and it's difficult not to laugh at Old Orin trying to knock her own teeth out with a rock.
Speaking of Old Orin, the actress who player her (Sumiko Sakamoto) gives a wonderful performance in this film. She had her teeth surgically removed for this role, and gives a realistic depiction of a 70-year-old woman even though she was in her 40s when the film was made.
"Ballad of Narayama" is indeed a depressing film in many aspects, but it's also filled with humor and offers a better understanding of what life must be like in these types of situations.
A true masterpiece
- Galina_movie_fan
- Mar 5, 2008
- Permalink
Above the normally expected motion picture role
When a person visits cinema to see a movie, he/she usually expects to see filmed version of some story, whatever the film story shall be. So, let's go and see the Narajama story! Well, Legend of Narajama to me was much more than that. It's expressiveness is above the term "story", "film" etc. It is one o the most incredible things I have seen in my life (beside Rodin's Kiss in his Paris museum, and Trier's Dancer in the dark and few more exceptional works of ... let's use the word "art"). Shockingly naturalizing presentation of way of living in rural part of Japan, simpleness of characters' acceptance of facts of life (giving life for others' survival), nativeness of roles are probably main attributes.
I've seen it in the year 1984/85, fortunate me, for until tonight's IMDb's Narajama appearance to me this movie has been totally gone.
Highly recommended!
I've seen it in the year 1984/85, fortunate me, for until tonight's IMDb's Narajama appearance to me this movie has been totally gone.
Highly recommended!
The Ballad of Narayama
- jboothmillard
- Dec 18, 2015
- Permalink
This made me understand a significant moment in my life
- BandSAboutMovies
- Jan 6, 2021
- Permalink
really under Kinoshita's version
if you haven't watch Kinoshita's version (in 1958), go and see > it. It's really a jewel, more poetical and original, even more strange, than this one. You won't be disappointed.
- the_frenchie
- Mar 3, 2000
- Permalink
Be prepared to be haunted by the scenes of brutality and sexual fervor
June 2008 Release by AnimEigo is FAULTY, Do not buy this version!
AnimEigo's June 2008 DVD release of The BALLAD of NARAYAMA has been eagerly awaited for many years. Unfortunately, and for reasons that are as infuriating as they are inexplicable, the company which has released the film (AnimEigo) has issued it in "full screen format" and not in Anamorphic Widescreen. This is particularly annoying for two rather considerable reasons: 1) On the box, it says "Anamorphic Widescreen," - that is "letterboxed" - but it clearly is not; I have checked out the print sent to me by NetFlicks and then at a local Video shop. 2) The film's enormously high reputation is based in great measure on its superlative cinematography and this butchered version released by AnimEigo ruins the imagery and the enjoyment of the film.
The company should not be allowed to assert that the film is in ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN when it is not. This is called bait and switch.
For those who wish to see this film as it was intended, DO NOT BUY THIS VERSION. Write to AnimEgo and get them to release the film properly. Their address (supposedly) is ANIMEIGO / P.O. Box 989 Wilmington, NC 28402-0989. Their phone number is 1.800.24-ANIME.
The company should not be allowed to assert that the film is in ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN when it is not. This is called bait and switch.
For those who wish to see this film as it was intended, DO NOT BUY THIS VERSION. Write to AnimEgo and get them to release the film properly. Their address (supposedly) is ANIMEIGO / P.O. Box 989 Wilmington, NC 28402-0989. Their phone number is 1.800.24-ANIME.
Beautiful but not very watchable
The Ballad of Narayama (Japanese: Narayama bushikô) (1983) (Not to be confused with the superior original version from 1958)
Not my type of film, Cruel ubasute custom, Harsh graphic sex scenes, National Geographic, Cringed through significant film.
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/ubasute/2
(Tanka (短歌 tan-kah) poems are unrhymed short poems that are five lines long, with the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format.
#Tanka #PoemReview
Not my type of film, Cruel ubasute custom, Harsh graphic sex scenes, National Geographic, Cringed through significant film.
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/ubasute/2
(Tanka (短歌 tan-kah) poems are unrhymed short poems that are five lines long, with the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable format.
#Tanka #PoemReview
- ASuiGeneris
- Dec 6, 2017
- Permalink
Vicious, Nasty, Brutal
My Foolishness