Ugetsu /

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.

Bibliographic Details
Uniform Title:	Ugetsu monogatari (Motion picture)
Corporate Authors:	Daiē, Kabushiki Kaisha, Janus Films, Criterion Collection (Firm)
Other Authors:	Mizoguchi, Kenji, 1898-1956, Kawaguchi, Matsutarō, 1899-1985, Yoda, Yoshikata, 1909-1991, Kyo, Machiko, 1924-, Mito, Mitsuko, Tanaka, Kinuyo, 1909-1977, Mori, Masayuki, 1911-1973, Ozawa, Sakae, Aoyama, Sugisaku, Kagawa, Ryosuke, Mori, Kikue, Sawamura, Ichisaburo, Ueda, Akinari, 1734-1809, Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893
Format:	Video DVD
Language:	Japanese
Language Notes:	In Japanese with optional new and improved English subtitles.
Published:	[Irvington, N.Y.] : Criterion Collection, [2005]
Edition:	Special ed. double-disc set.
Series:	Criterion collection (DVD videodiscs) ; 309.
Subjects:	Potters > Japan > Drama. Japan > History > 1333-1600 > Drama. Ghost plays. Man-woman relationships > Drama. Fantasy films. Foreign films. Motion pictures, Japanese. Feature films.

Description
Summary:	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.
Item Description:	"Janus Films." Originally released as a motion picture in 1953. "From Tales of moonlight and rain by Akinari Ueda." A foreign film (Japan) New restored high-definition digital transfer. 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 (stories translated by Anthony Chambers), and How he got the Legion of Honor by Guy de Maupassant (translator unnamed). Full screen presentation. Aspect ratio 1.33:1. Special features: disc 1. Audio commentary by renowned critic, filmmaker, and festival programmer Tony Rayns ; Two worlds intertwined, a new 14-minute appreciation of Ugetsu by director Masahiro Shinoda ; Process and production, a new 20-minute video interview with Tokuzo Tanaka, first assistant director of Ugetsu ; Ten-minute video interview with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, from 1992 ; Theatrical trailers -- disc 2. Kenji Mizoguchi : the life of a film director (1975, col.), a comprehensive 150-minute documentary by filmmaker Kaneto Shindo, with new and improved English subtitles. Videorecording.
Physical Description:	2 videodiscs (97 min.) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet ([72] pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.).
Format:	DVD; region 1; Dolby digital, mono.
Audience:	Not rated.
Production Credits:	Cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa ; music, Fumio Hayasaka.
ISBN:	0780030303