Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10) stars; subtitles =eight (8) stars. Director Shouhei Imamura's imaginative view of what life might have been like in a dirt-poor, isolated, small village during Japan's feudal era. The film operates at two basic levels: entertainment and cultural analysis. The Director introduces and nourishes a pretty full range of very fundamental human emotions and life conditions in this cinematic Petri Dish including superstitious behavior and sexual worship. Acting is a bit on the hammy side and some scenes are too long. The latter is especially the case for the sequence depicting the village's solution to the problem of an aging population: haul/backpack healthy seniors to a distant mountain bone yard and leave them there to die from starvation and the elements. Cinematography (wide screen, color) and set design are good given that exteriors seem to have been shot entirely on location (often in what seems to be five feet--or more--of snow). The overly-long opening sequence shot from a helicopter, though, is a bit shaky. Jump-cut editing can be sloppy with snow banks incredulously appearing in or disappearing from contiguous scenes. Subtitles consist of two information streams: at the top of the screen appear thoughtful notes on culture and language while the bottom presents reasonably edited translations of dialog (either or both streams can be turned off). Score is sporadic but okay. Interior scene lighting can be on the dim side. Recommend viewing this gem a couple of times to discover all it has to offer. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, Ph.D.
Review of The Ballad of Narayama
