Let’s Toast the Young Lady (お嬢さん乾杯, 1949) |
To commemorate his 100th anniversary, Shochiku announced the release of Keisuke Kinoshita’s works on Blu-ray and DVD later this month.
Blu-ray
Twenty-Four Eyes (二十四の瞳, 1954)
Carmen Comes Home (カルメン故郷に帰る, 1952)
The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考, 1958)
DVD
Twenty-Four Eyes (二十四の瞳, 1954)
Carmen Comes Home (カルメン故郷に帰る, 1952)
My First Love Affair (野菊のごとき君なりき, 1955)
The Lighthouse (喜びも悲しみも幾歳月, 1957)
The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考, 1958)
The River Fuefuki (笛吹川, 1960)
Tragedy of Japan (日本の悲劇, 1953)
The Garden of Women (女の園, 1954)
Broken Drum (破れ太鼓, 1949)
Let’s Toast the Young Lady (お嬢さん乾杯, 1949)
The Army (陸軍, 1944)
Phoenix (不死鳥, 1947)
The Snow Flurry (風花, 1959)
The Yotsuya Ghost Story (新釈 四谷怪談, 1949)
Port of Flowers (花咲く港, 1943)
Carmen’s Innocent Love (カルメン純情す, 1952)
The Tattered Wings (遠い雲, 1955)
Farewell to Dream (夕やけ雲, 1955)
The Immortal Love (永遠の人, 1961)
The Scent of Incense (香華, 1964)
Oh, My Son! (衝動殺人 息子よ, 1979)
Three Blu-ray titles are digitally restored and remastered from 4K scanning. Last 7 DVD titles are released commercially for the first time. Also, the box set (Twenty Four Eyes Blu-ray and DVD, Carmen Comes Home, My First Love Affair, The Lighthouse DVD and lots of materials) will be available. His TV drama output from sixties to early seventies are also scheduled to be released as a four box sets.
But the real treat is all 49 of Kinoshita’s works on DVD as a 6-volume box sets, if you are ready to spare 1600 dollars for it (this set was already released last month).
Unfortunately, none of these disks appears to contain English subtitles.
I wish they had restored at least several more titles for higher image quality. Like, “Lighthouse” or “Tragedy of Japan”. It is understandable these titles will not make good business sense in domestic market, but it will make much more sense than to have Blu-ray AND DVD of “Twenty Four Eyes” in the same box set.
There will be a series of theater showings globally, as well. In Cannes, they premiered digitally-restored “The Ballad of Narayama”. Later this month in Venice, they will showcase digitally-remastered “Carmen Comes Home” as a part of Venice Film Festival “Venice Classics”.
In case you missed it, Shindo Kaneto was 100 years old this year. Yes, he is senior to Kinoshita by eight months.