Criterion's release of Masaki Kobayashi's
Kwaidan doesn't make for a bad DVD, but
it leaves some to be desired from the current
standards set for Toho films on the format. To
the company's credit, the video presentation here
is quite nice, but the title really suffers from
the lackluster audio presentation and the bare
bones selection of complimentary material. |
Video: |
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The video presentation on this release tends
to fare well, although it still presents some
noticeable blemishes. These lesser points tend
to be confined to the shape of the actual print,
which shows some noticeable wear and tear. For
example, scratches are fairly frequent, while
there are also moments where lines can be seen
traveling the height of the picture. Grain is
also fairly apparent through out as well, going a tad higher than what I would consider to be a natural look for something created on film stock.
On the bright side, the colors on this release
are fantastic, and make good work of the color
rich set designs in the film. The movie also looks
very sharp, presenting a wealth of detail to the
eye while also avoiding any heavy signs of edge
enhancement. Other digital inconsistencies, like
shimmering or artifacting, are also nonexistent
on this release
Sadly, this is not the uncut version of the movie,
as it's missing a huge chunk of around 20 minutes
of running time from the original version.
Kwaidan is presented in its original
aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is Anamorphic for widescreen
TVs. |
Audio: |
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Criterion kind of dropped the ball here. There
is only one audio track present, which is the
original 1.0 monaural format for the film. Unfortunately,
this mono track has probably seen better days,
as it sounds rather scratchy at points, and I'm
not refereeing to the intentional audio distortions
present in Kobayashi's film. Of course it's not
bad enough to detract much from the overall experience,
but the lack of quality should still be noticeable
to even the most casual viewer.
The audio can be accompanied by, removable, English
subtitles that correspond to the Japanese track. |
Extras: |
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Sadly, Criterion pulls through here with a
fairly bare bones release. The trailer is present,
but its condition does leave some to be desired
as it contains numerous scratches and other signs
of print damage. Other than that, there unfortunately
isn't anything here to keep the viewer's interest
beyond the main film.
On a side note, at least the menu presentation
is nice, especially the separate themes being
constructed around the chapters for each of the
four stories. |
Overview: |
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Bottom line, the disc was noteworthy back when
it was released in 2000, but standards have improved
so significantly since then that it only manages
to be an adequate title against recent DVDs. The
video presentation is good enough, though, that
it's still highly suggested for those with an
interest in the film, especially since there aren't
any other region 1 alternatives to experience
Kobayashi's award winning production. The cut
nature of the movie here is very disheartening,
though, and hopefully someone will release another
DVD of the movie in the states that restores the
entire feature. |
- Anthony Romero |