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Nabaza.net-The MarketPlace - The Ballad of Narayama
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List Price: $24.98
Our Price: $21.99
Your Save: $ 2.99 ( 12% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Animeigo
Starring: Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Aki Takejo, Tonpei Hidari, Seiji Kurasaki
Directed By: Shohei Imamura
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Koch International
EAN: 0737187011955
Format: Color
Label: Animeigo
Manufacturer: Animeigo
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Animeigo
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-06-10
Running Time: 130
Studio: Animeigo
Theatrical Release Date: 1983
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Editorial Reviews:
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In a small village in a remote valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 is banished to the top of Mt. Narayama to die so as not to be a burden on the village and bring disgrace upon their family. Old Orin is 69 and despite being in good health in the coming winter it will be her turn to leave. But first there are things to do and a score or two to settle.System Requirements:Running Time: 130 minutes Language: Japanese Subtitles: EnglishFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â DRAMA/REDEMPTION UPC:Â 737187011955 Manufacturer No:Â ANM-DV1195
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A new meaning to "going up to the mountain"...
Comment: Definitely got my attention since I'm 69, and if I were living in the poor little village, I'd have to be packing my final bags. Except that I wouldn't be allowed any bags..it would be just me and the snow up there all alone to wait for the end. BUT I'll enjoy life while I can right now and that includes watching this beautiful film...the cinamatography is terrific, the actors are super, the footnotes include education on Japanese folkways and language...all in all a film to remember and recommend.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What is the meaning of life...or death?
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Starkness And Beauty Of Mortality
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: FINALLY! I HAVE WAITED FOR 20 YEARS FOR THIS MOVIE TO COME TO DVD
Comment: I have collected thousands of movies of all genre, and perhaps 2-300 are Japanese films. I have whined and nagged Amazon to list a DVD edition of THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA. It is simply the best movie I have ever seen.
I'm pre-ordering it, praying that the print is worthy of
this masterpiece. If it is, I'm ordering more for friends.
If you go see my other reviews, you'll see I don't rave; rather, most- often, I am sharply critical. But here there is not one filmic aspect - direction, photography, concept, execution, characters, suspense, acting, poignancy, adventure, humor, pathos and on and on that isn't superb..
My collecting days are complete. Sell short your Amazon stock; No movies are necessary after this ultimate cinematic high. Sorry, Amazon. Nirvana!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A true masterpiece,
Comment: *** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Based of the old and unusual Japanese legend, Shohei Imamura's "The Ballad of Narayama" won the Golden Palm in 1983 Cannes Festival. Set in the 19th century in a remote mountain village in the north of the country, it tells of the custom according to which when a person reached 70 years old they were taken to the top of Mount Narayama and left there to die.
When I saw "The Ballad of Narayama" back in the 80s, I did not know anything about it. There were no commercials; the film was not widely released. I think it was only two shows in the theater near our house in Moscow. All we knew that the film was a Cannes Festival winner. Our sons were little then, we did not have a babysitter, and we bought tickets to two different shows. My husband went first, and when he came back, I waited for him at the door, ready to leave. He looked quiet, serious and withdrawn when he returned home. I asked him how the movie was and he said to me to go and see it, and then we'd talk...After I came home, I did not want to talk, I did not know what to say, I was overwhelmed - with the unique style of film-making that I did not know even existed, with the images, but also with the very simplicity of the story and with the whole concept of surviving above everything else. Among the most devastating scenes for me was the old woman readily and happily accepting her turn to be taken to Narayma. The woman of perfect health and mind, the one who is perhaps the sanest in her family is so tired of this life that she on purpose knocks out one of her teeth just to seem older, more fragile, helpless, and ill and to be taken to the long -awaited rest. But before she is taken to Naryama, she will take care of her three grown sons' problems.
There are many unforgettable scenes in the film, both bleak and life-affirming. One stands out after all these years. There is a shining brilliant spring day, and every living creature in sight is engaged in love, young couple on the swing, birds, animals, and snakes - the whole nature celebrates life and longing and love. And soon after that, as the contrast, the horrifying scene where the family of thieves who had stolen some food from the neighbors are buried alive.
And there is the final part - the ascent to Narayama, the middle-aged son carries his mother to her final resting place, the last minutes between a son and his mother, and then, the snow in the end, white and pure, covering the earth and preparing it for the long sleep, and covering the old Orin, comforting her softly and preparing her for eternity...
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