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Twenty-four Eyes

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Keisuke Kinoshita’s Twenty-four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi) is an elegant, emotional chronicle of a teacher’s unwavering commitment to her students, her profession, and her sense of morality. Set in a remote, rural island community and spanning decades of Japanese history, from 1928 through World War II and beyond, Kinoshita’s film takes a simultaneously sober and sentimental look at the epic themes of aging, war, and death, all from the lovingly intimate perspective of Hisako Oshi (Hideko Takamine), as she watches her pupils grow and deal with life’s harsh realities. Though little known in the United States, Twenty-four Eyes is one of Japan’s most popular and enduring classics.

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• New video interview with Japanese cinema historian and critic Tadao Sato about the film and its director
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay be renowned film scholar Audie Bock and excerpts from an interview with Kinoshita

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Surely there must be more extras forthcoming to warrant this release being two discs.

This seems like its pretty low on extras for a double-disc set.

[Edit: simultaneous posting]

Well, it *is* a long film, and those special features could be longer than expected. At 156 minutes, I wouldn't want Criterion to put out more than 40 for special features.

I'll probably buy this (in September maybe; August is my import+Shepitko+Small Back Room month), but I hope Kinoshita gets an Eclipse set as well somewhere down the line.

Yeah, there's gotta be more to justify the top tier (BTW, that makes two consecutive months where everything is top tier.) I'm curious to know what, as I'm fond of this film but am for the moment satisfied with my MoC edition.

Also, the specs on the website indicate that this (as well as The Small Back Room) will be picture-boxed.

Methinks Criterion knows they're going to sell all of 5 copies of this, so they want to bleed the most $$$ they can out out of the aforementioned 5 Kinoshita fans who aren't region-free. Well played, Criterion, well played.

I'm guessing that Criterion will use the restored print made in 2006 for this release. But if this doesn't have substantial extras, I will just keep the MoC release of the film

manicsounds wrote:I'm guessing that Criterion will use the restored print made in 2006 for this release. But if this doesn't have substantial extras, I will just keep the MoC release of the film

I wonder how restored the 2006 restoration looks. Did this come out _after_ Shochiku's DVD series? The source available for MOC's version (presumably the same that Shochiku used) wasn't in terribly great shape.

Still, I doubt I need yet another version of this film.

manicsounds wrote:I'm guessing that Criterion will use the restored print made in 2006 for this release. But if this doesn't have substantial extras, I will just keep the MoC release of the film

Only the diehards will upgrade, I think, but it's good to know that there's the potential for superior image quality, even if the features remain so few. Criterion's too little too late with this one, I think, but it's probably more of a contractually obligated title than one they were really itching to release their own version of anyways.

This really doesn't need another DVD release. I think Kinoshita's importance is a little dramatized. Too bad Criterion couldn't get Nagisa Oshima to do a interview. According to his voice-over on 100 Years of Japanese Film, this is the feature that made him want to become a filmmaker.

Too bad Criterion couldn't get Nagisa Oshima to do a interview.

Oshima is in very poor health these days. He recovered a bit from his stroke, but he rarely goes out in public now and never does interviews of any kind (it's apparently become hard for him to speak). Of course, that just reminds me how much more excited I would be by a Criterion Oshima release than yet another DVD release of Kinoshita's important but overrated film (I would have been much happier to see, say, one of Kinoshita's Carmen films getting a release).

I'd be happiest seeing Kinoshita's "Army" released -- possibly as part of a set that contained a couple other major Japanese films relating to the war. With supplemental materials coordinated by Peter High.

I too would be happier if they released another Kinoshita film that is not available anywhere than Twenty Four Eyes, but since this is one of my favorite films I am going to buy it anyway. (Of course I have the MoC).

However, if Criterion wants good sales and since the MoC has been around for 2,5 years now and most people with Region free players that are interested in classic Japanese cinema will already have it, I would strongly advise Criterion to add more extras because these ones look thin.

From the extras that have been announced I find strange the inclusion of an interview with Tadao Sato. I thought that Sato did not like the film.
According to the Joan Mellen liner notes that are included in the MoC, Sato considers the film sentimental.

And I always thought that Richie's comment in his book A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, "The combination of gentle contemplation and fierce opposition make viewing this film as unsettling as it is rewarding. Those who do not like to be so disturbed have called it sentimental" was an attack on Sato.

I suspect that I side with Sato on this. It is probably the most overtly manipulative classic Japanese film I've encountered (out of several hundred seen). If one is not highly allergic to this sort of direction, the film is probably easier to like.

There's a Tatsuya Nakadai retrospective coming this summer in DC and Kinoshita's Immoral Love, currently available only with French subtitles, will be shown. I guess Janus owns distribution of this one? Perhaps Criterion is going to go crazy with Kinoshita in the upcoming months? Just thinking out loud. I'd hate for their only Kinoshita release to be a film that everyone knows about.

Maybe, although there's no indication that it's a Janus title and a lot of times Film Forum obtains or strikes prints for retrospectives that are headed back to archives rather than distributors. Naruse's Untamed is also playing in a new 35mm print but I'll be surprised if that ends up on DVD in the near future.

I will double-dip this title hoping that Criterion will do a more thorough job in cleaning up the picture, as they did with Ugetsu.

bluesea wrote:I will double-dip this title hoping that Criterion will do a more thorough job in cleaning up the picture, as they did with Ugetsu.

If Criterion is using the same source as MOC, I doubt it will be much better. But it is possible that there is a newer, improved source that became available only after the MOC version came out. If so, there might be a significant degree of improvement.

I guess I'll have to wait for a Beaver comparison here. For some reason I didn't get around to buy the MoC yet, so I might well opt for CC for a little bit of extras. On the other hand, if CC use their usual black boosting routine (likely), I might prefer some little more scratches on the MoC compared to the manipulated image.

OTOH, I am completely happy with my MoC ed. The CC will have new translations, although I'm not sure that I noticed any deficiencies in the MoC.

I put off buying the MoC a thousand times after holding it my hand but opting for something else. Now I suspect I'll be grabbing the CC as well.

The MoC print is an older transfer and not the same as the 2006 restored transfer. I seriously doubt Criterion would use the same scratchy print as the MoC.

manicsounds wrote:The MoC print is an older transfer and not the same as the 2006 restored transfer. I seriously doubt Criterion would use the same scratchy print as the MoC.

Looking at Amazon Japan, there seems to be a DVD of the 2006 restoration. I haven't found anything that talks about the improvements to be found in this version, however.

The television interview has been removed from the features and this is now a single-disc, lower tier title and priced accordingly.

Great, instead of adding more extras they remove one and they make the release a single disc. In other words, they did the opposite from what most people here were suggesting. Anyway, I will stll buy it for the improved transfer.

Let's hope they keep the television interview and that they include it in another Kinoshita release.