The Ballad of Narayama
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Movie Reviews of The Ballad of Narayama
Movie Review: Life and Death
Summary: 5 Stars
There are some classic images in Japanese film, scenes that stick with you long after the film is over. Takakura Ken, tattooed and brandishing his sword, about to take vengeance for his master. A hill with five mounds, each with a sword sticking from the top. This scene of Ogata Ken carrying his mother on his back, climbing up the mountain where he will leave her to die, has got to be among them. It is a powerful and moving image.
"The Ballad of Narayama" ("Narayama Bushiko") is a re-make of the 1958 film of the same name, which is in turn an adaptation of two books by Fukuzawa Shichiro, "The Ballad of Narayama" and "The Men of Tohoku", which were in turn based on an old folk legend called "The Mountain where Old People were Abandoned" from the 11th Century book Konjaku Monogatari. This is not true history, and there is no evidence that such a tradition ever existed outside of folktales. Life in the mountains was undeniably harsh, but not to the extent that human beings were abandoned like so much garbage.
A film does not have to be historically accurate, however, to have impact. Under the skilled hand of director Imamura Shohei, the story becomes an allegory for the physicality of human life, for the ephemeral nature of being alive. Characters reduced to their most primal aspects of survival do little more than gather food, have sex when they can, making new people to repeat the cycle, then grow old and become a burden with the younger generation silently hoping they would die off and clear some room. I was struck by how little human society has changed over the years, and by how much of my life I spend doing those very same things, just following my instincts and obeying my biological imperative.
"The Ballad of Narayama" is all about the biological imperative, and the conflict involved when animals are allowed to think and feel. Ogata Ken (Vengeance Is Mine) plays Tatsuhei, a strong and gruff man who is the leader of his family. He is a violent and primal character, but even this is mostly bluster. Inside, he is torn up over the ritual of carrying his beloved mother up the mountain to her death. But she will not be shamed, and demands that her son complete his task with dignity. All of the needs of survival and the pressures of survival drive him towards this, but he lacks the strength of will to stand against it.
While a brilliant film, it is not without its faults. Imamura intercuts the film with images of animals procreating, birthing and dieing, but sometimes the metaphor is too heavy handed. We get it, OK? Tone it down a little. Also, during the most dramatic part of the film, the climb up the mountain, the music is a synthesized bass line that does not suit the mood at all. For such a powerful and primal scene, electronic music was not the best choice.
These are minor faults though, and completely overshadowed by the rest of the film. An amazing movie by an amazing director.
Movie Review: Ballad of Narayama
Summary: 5 Stars
The only simple way to sum up this film is to call it a masterpiece, and one that needs to be seen. The Japanese with films like Ikiru, Tokyo Story Maborosi or this years big winner at the academy awards Departures have made a series of films about death that look upon with a caring eye, never going into morbidity or cheesiness that would permeate an American melodrama. Out of those esteemed films directed by the likes of Ozu and Kurosawa I can say that Shohei Imamaura directed the best with this film a movie that isn't about dealing with death in any form but coming to accept that in the end We all die and its something that despite what we may try to do to look away fromt that fact needs to be accepted.
The main story itself concerns a small farming village in Japan where life is tough and peasants live from harvest to harvest. To support themselves better its been decreed that when a person reaches seventy years of age one of their children load them up take them to the top of a mountain where they're left to starve and die. Orin the protagonist of the story is sixty-nine and despite being in general good health starts readying for the trip with one problem in that she's trying to help her sons general problems like finding a wife, or getting woman to sleep with him.
The movies more than just that as it observes this little village over a period of time to the end. Tatsuhito her eldest son is a bit gruff and unfortunately understands what she's doing while his own son falls in love with a girl who's family steals from the village and in the end suffers a horrible fate (pulled off in one shot amazingly well). But in the end with the characters well defined and the story as good as it is what makes the film a masterpiece are the final scenes dialogue free as Tatsuhito loads Orin onto his back and begins the journey up the mountain climaxing in a final shot of Ogatas face sitting before a fire.
In the end nothing I can say will tell you how great this movie is. But to me the movie is one of those that can easily be qualified as a masterpiece
I will say that its a bit disappointing someone like Criterion didn't handle the release of the film. Not that Animeigos release is bad. In fact it stands with their best work and thankfully didn't recieve a woeful release like Samurai Assassin or Incident at Blood Pass. Its just that a film this good needs some type of extra material.I don't say that a lot but something like a release Criterion did for The Lower Depths or even some archival interview footage would be nice. Despite that complaint its good to have the film on DVD with a great presentation. If you haven't seen it and have an interest in Japanese cinema definitely check it out.
Movie Review: Well worth the long wait
Summary: 5 Stars
I expected Criterion or Kino to release a DVD edition of Imamura's most celebrated film years ago, so I was surprised to see "The Ballad of Narayama" finally released by anime and jidaigeki distributor AnimEigo. In the wake of Ken Ogata's recent death and the film's quarter-century anniversary, "Narayama" is still harrowing, heartbreaking and hilarious, every bit as potent and moving as it ever was after so many repeated viewings.
Transferred from an excellent print, the visuals of this edition are very bright and clear, which accentuates the vivid colors of the movie's beautiful, rustic photography, but also highlights faint artifacts in some of the darker scenes. Fortunately, the scene selection menu consists of title lists in lieu of thumbnail images; I see this often in new DVDs. English subtitles for dialogue, as well as captions that translate onscreen kanji and provide definitions for phrases unique to Japanese, can be enabled independently of one another. The translation of these subtitles is more nuanced and accurate than the two others that I've read.
Three long, melodramatic theatrical trailers and a teaser trailer are included. The teaser and one of the long trailers features brief production footage of Imamura and his crew. The program notes consist of a condensed Imamura bio, an overview of Shichiro Fukazawa's books and career, a summary of the Cannes Film Festival's history and awards procedures and further descriptions of customs, phrases and elements in the film that expand on the abbreviated information of the aforementioned captions. The image gallery includes numerous color, then B&W photographs of the cast that were apparently shot between takes, providing different perspectives for many scenes.
All in all, this is a worthy replacement for my long-depleted Home Vision Cinema VHS edition.
Movie Review: The Starkness And Beauty Of Mortality
Summary: 5 Stars
There is no film quite like this one. It concerns a small village in 18th-19th century northern Japan, where life is indeed a difficult struggle. The necessities of life are so limited and hard to come by (and therefore precious)that, when the grandmother (Orin) of the family reaches age 70, she must, in the tradition of the village, be taken up to the mountaintop to die. Although she is in perfect health, she accepts her fate more readily than does her family (or than other 70 year-olds). She knows that, by dying, she is making room for the next person to be born into the village. She accepts the cycle of birth and death.
The film is one of the most beautifully photographed films that I've seen. Its colours are rich and communicative (the camera shots of winter make one feel cold, the greens of spring make one feel reborn).
Life is precious because it is impermanent. Orin accepts this, so both her life and death are full. Her serenity as she simply sits (in prayer) on the mountain, in the snow, awaiting death is enviable.
Watch this film. Its depiction of the starkness and beauty of life is graphic, hard, humorous, and profound, all at the same time.
I'm happy that it is now being released on DVD.
Movie Review: What is the meaning of life...or death?
Summary: 5 Stars
Quite a few Asian films - Korean, Japanese, Chinese - explore the meaning of old age and specifically the cycle of life. This is one of the great themes of this film. The essential fact of this movie is that, through custom (and religion), the parents who reach age 70 are to leave the society and meet their end on the top of the Mountain Narayama. In a sense, it is both frightening and sacred. The cycle of life continues with the younger generation.
Everyone who sees this provocative movie will talk about its striking visual beauty. But more importantly, it strikes a nerve - how should society allocate its scarce resources. Ironically, the fact that the old are left to die by exposure is not necessarily a statement that the elders are not valued by the society. The old are valued...but they need to recognize their function in letting the young take their place. The act of death, therefore, becomes a sacred rite. This is very vividly presented in the last frames.
This is a thinking person's film. It also depicts in visual form a very primitive society, letting us have a picture of what the world must have looked like 10,000 years ago.
Highly recommended.
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