Cover Image

Narayamabushi kō /

Show other versions (5)

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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Uniform Title:Narayamabushi kō (Motion picture : 1958)
Main Authors: Fukasawa, Shichirō, 1914-1987 (Author), Kemp, Philip (Author)
Corporate Authors: Criterion Collection (Firm), Janus Films
Other Authors: Tanaka, Kinuyo, 1909-1977 (Actor), Takahashi, Teiji, 1926-1959 (Actor), Mochizuki, Yuko, 1917-1977 (Actor), Kinoshita, Keisuke, 1912-1998 (Screenwriter, Director), Kokaji, Masaharu (Producer)
Format: Video Blu-ray Disc
Language:Japanese
Language Notes:Japanese dialogue; with optional English subtitles.
Published: [Irvington, N.Y.] : The Criterion Collection, [2013]
Edition:Blu-ray ed.
Series:Criterion collection (Blu-ray discs)
Subjects:
Rites and ceremonies > Japan > Drama.
Motion pictures, Japanese.
Japan > Social life and customs > Drama.
Feature films.
Fiction films.
Film adaptations.
Foreign films.
Description
Summary: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, a dignified and dutiful woman who spends her dwindling days securing the happiness of her loyal widowed son with a respectable new wife. Includes bonus features.
Item Description:Originally released as a motion picture in 1958.
Blu-ray disc release date: Feb. 5, 2013.
Booklet ([17] pages ; col. ill.) in English with an essay by Philip Kemp inserted in container.
Special features include: new 4K digital master from the 2011 restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition; new English subtitle translation; booklet with essay by Philip Kemp; trailers.
Videorecording] = The ballad of Narayama.
Physical Description:1 videodisc (98 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Format:Blu-ray disc; region A; aspect ratio: 2:35:1; monoural; requires Blu-ray player.
Audience:Not rated.
Awards:Venice Film Festival, 1958: Golden Lion (Keisuke Kinoshita).
Production Credits:Cinematography, Hiroyuki Kusuda; editing, Yoshi Sugihara; music, Rokuzaemon Kineya, Matsunosuke Nozawa.