Actor : Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, So Yamamura, Keiji Sada, Chikage Awashima Director: Masaki Kobayashi Genre: Foreign Video - Japanese Year: N/A Studio:Criterion Length: 574 Released:September 8, 2009 Rating: Unrated (Video) Format: DVD Misc: Black & White Language:Japanese Subtitles :English
DESCRIPTION:
Masaki Kobayashi’s mammoth humanist drama is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three parts, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition (Ningen no joken), adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji (handsome Japanese superstar Tatsuya Nakadai) from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet POW. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of its nation’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best.
Special Features
New, restored high-definition digital transfer Excerpt from a rare Directors Guild of Japan video interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, conducted by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda (Double Suicide) New video interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai Video appreciation of Kobayashi and The Human Condition featuring Shinoda Japanese theatrical trailers New and improved English subtitle translation A booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp
Actor : Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, So Yamamura, Keiji Sada, Chikage Awashima Director: Masaki Kobayashi Genre: Foreign Video - Japanese Year: N/A Studio:Criterion Length: 574 Released:September 8, 2009 Rating: Unrated (Video) Format: DVD Misc: Black & White Language:Japanese Subtitles :English
DESCRIPTION:
Masaki Kobayashi’s mammoth humanist drama is one of the most staggering achievements of Japanese cinema. Originally filmed and released in three parts, the nine-and-a-half-hour The Human Condition (Ningen no joken), adapted from Junpei Gomikawa’s six-volume novel, tells of the journey of the well-intentioned yet naive Kaji (handsome Japanese superstar Tatsuya Nakadai) from labor camp supervisor to Imperial Army soldier to Soviet POW. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and again finds his morals an impediment rather than an advantage. A raw indictment of its nation’s wartime mentality as well as a personal existential tragedy, Kobayashi’s riveting, gorgeously filmed epic is novelistic cinema at its best.
Special Features
New, restored high-definition digital transfer Excerpt from a rare Directors Guild of Japan video interview with director Masaki Kobayashi, conducted by filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda (Double Suicide) New video interview with actor Tatsuya Nakadai Video appreciation of Kobayashi and The Human Condition featuring Shinoda Japanese theatrical trailers New and improved English subtitle translation A booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp
