bagloon 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.

zlovc There are many glorious, wonderful movies celebrating the courage, honor and spirit of the Japanese peasant in the face of overwhelming adversity. This is not one of them. Where to begin. Well, at the beginning, where we are treated to the bloated body of a dead child, left by its parents to rot in a rice paddy. This is followed by multiple variations on the same theme: patricide, matricide, and further infanticide. At least two innocent children are buried alive. Daughters are raised to be sold into slavery. There is a little self-mutilation. Add in some gleeful animal cruelty - beating a horse and bestiality with a dog, the latter intended as comic relief. The "wise" old matriarch of the central family intentionally, by trickery and without a shred of remorse, causes the murder of one son's pregnant "wife." This is a masterpiece? This depravity won the Palme d'Or? And don't tell me "You just don't understand." I understand it completely. I "get" it. One commenter states "See, feel, don't judge." Are you kidding me? I saw it and I felt ashamed. I will grant that the acting job by Ken Ogata as the eldest son was terrific. His was the only character with an iota of conscience. And yes, the mountains and the snow were beautiful during the main title sequence and at the conclusion. However, they amounted to nothing more than fancy bookends for two hours of inhumanity and cruelty. No thanks. Give me Messrs. Ozu and Mizoguchi. Please.

Galina Based of the old and unusual Japanese legend, Shohei Imamura's "The Ballade of Narayama" won the Golden Palm in 1983 Cannes Festival. Set in the 19th century in a remote mountain village in the north of the country, it tells of the custom according to which when a person reached 70 years old they were taken to the top of Mount Narayama and left there to die.When I saw "The Ballade of Narayama" back in the 80s, I did not know anything about it. There were no commercials; the film was not widely released. I think it was only two shows in the theater near our house in Moscow. All we knew that the film was a Cannes Festival winner. Our sons were little then, we did not have a babysitter, and we bought tickets to two different shows. My husband went first, and when he came back, I waited for him at the door, ready to leave. He looked quiet, serious and withdrawn when he returned home. I asked him how the movie was and he said to me to go and see it, and then we'd talk...After I came home, I did not want to talk, I did not know what to say, I was overwhelmed - with the unique style of film-making that I did not know even existed, with the images, but also with the very simplicity of the story and with the whole concept of surviving above everything else. Among the most devastating scenes for me was the old woman readily and happily accepting her turn to be taken to Narayma. The woman of perfect health and mind, the one who is perhaps the sanest in her family is so tired of this life that she on purpose knocks out one of her teeth just to seem older, more fragile, helpless, and ill and to be taken to the long -awaited rest. But before she is taken to Naryama, she will take care of her three grown sons' problems.There are many unforgettable scenes in the film, both bleak and life-affirming. One stands out after all these years. There is a shining brilliant spring day, and every living creature in sight is engaged in love, young couple on the swing, birds, animals, and snakes - the whole nature celebrates life and longing and love. And soon after that, as the contrast, the horrifying scene where the family of thieves who had stolen some food from the neighbors are buried alive.And there is the final part - the ascent to Narayama, the middle-aged son carries his mother to her final resting place, the last minutes between a son and his mother, and then, the snow in the end, white and pure, covering the earth and preparing it for the long sleep, and covering the old Orin, comforting her softly and preparing her for eternity...

flautist_englishdork 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.