Sergio Leone Web Board
Other/Miscellaneous => Off-Topic Discussion => Topic started by: T.H. on May 03, 2009, 04:09:10 PM
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/Yasuzo_Masumura.jpg)
I've only seen 5 or 6 of his movies but was very impressed with his work, especially Blind Beast, red angel and Manji. Giants and Toys and afraid to die are worth watching, especially the former. He's like Suzuki in that he works with studios at a feverish pace, yet somehow creates unique movies void of the usual studio trappings.
Update in 2020: Blind Beast (1969) and Giants and Toys (1958) are his masterworks and Black Test Car (1962) and Red Angel (1966) are also very high quality.
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Hmmm, I just saw the trailers for Blind Beast and Red Angel and . . . I don't think I want to go there.
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I think you would really like Red Angel (1966).
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It looked like the better of the two. I might give it a try, although it's never going to be a top priority. To be honest, I'm not all that keen on Seijun Suzuki either.
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It looked like the better of the two. I might give it a try, although it's never going to be a top priority. To be honest, I'm not all that keen on Seijun Suzuki either.
really? I could have sworn you had a youth of the beast picture at one point, or am I wrong?
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Youth of the Beast is the one picture of his I like.
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no love for branded to kill?
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No, I couldn't get through it. I liked Tokyo Drifter the first time I saw it, but trying to watch it again brought little joy. Youth of the Beast, by contrast, has great re-watchability.
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I like TD but admit it's a little ridiculous - that song is just...absurd. you should give Branded another shot, DJ.
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I like TD but admit it's a little ridiculous - that song is just...absurd.
Well, it's enka, or a parody of enka. I usually hate enka, but I kinda enjoy that song. It's the one enka I can imagine myself making an attempt at the next time I visit karaoke box with my Yakuza buddies.
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Well, I've now seen 3 films of his: Black Test Car, The Black Report, and Black Super-express. All three are good, but The Black Report is a cut above, a perfect film. I think all are adapted from novels. All are in b&w and 2.35:1. And man, does Masumura know how to fill a 'scope frame. In The Black Report he'll sometimes put the principal action in the background and then show a character in the foreground commenting on what's happening with a look or laugh or a nod. He likes low angle shots, tight framing, quick-but-not-too-quick cuts. He also likes to show how people do things with (or to) their equipment--in that respect, he's the William Friedkin of Japan. I'm looking forward to watching more of his stuff.
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Giants and Toys, blu debut, May 11: https://www.amazon.com/Giants-Special-Blu-ray-Hiroshi-Kawaguchi/dp/B08XLNTLQV/
Irezumi coming in June . . .
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And now Blind Beast has been announced!
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio
Optional English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson
Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
Blind Beast: Masumura the Supersensualist, a brand new visual essay by Japanese literature and visual studies scholar Seth Jacobowitz
Original Trailer
Image Gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Virginie S?lavy.
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Oh wow. Thanks for the great news DJ. Several years ago, I didn't think most of the 50s-70s Japanese stuff would be released on bluray, so all these releases have been great.
I hope Red Angel is next.
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Oh wow. Thanks for the great news DJ. Several years ago, I didn't think most of the 50s-70s Japanese stuff would be released on bluray, so all these releases have been great.
I hope Red Angel is next.
I'm guessing that either it or Manji will be next. I've been on a Masumura kick lately and have seen several films on the net that I'd like to own on blu: Kisses, Warm Current, Black Super-Express, and The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka.
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Looks great: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film9/blu-ray_review_139/irezumi_blu-ray.htm
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blu-ray.com gives the PQ a 5/5: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Irezumi-Blu-ray/288437/#Review
Ayako Wakao's tattooed back in color! Multiple kimonos! Miyagawa photographs another masterpiece!
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http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film10/blu-ray_review_142/blind_beast_blu-ray.htm
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Blind Beast Blu, the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD3q-0Pli9c&t=2s
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https://trailersfromhell.com/the-blind-beast-moju/
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Not sure when, but the next blu is gonna be Red Angel:
Directed by Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Blind Beast), Red Angel takes an unflinching look at the horror and futility of war through the eyes of a dedicated and selfless young military nurse.
When Sakura Nishi is dispatched in 1939 to a ramshackle field hospital in Tientsin, the frontline of Japan?s war with China, she and her colleagues find themselves fighting a losing battle tending to the war-wounded and emotionally shellshocked soldiers while assisting head surgeon Dr Okabe conduct an unending series of amputations. As the Chinese troops close in, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Okabe who, impotent to stall the mounting piles of cadavers, has retreated into his own private hell of morphine addiction.
Adapted from the novel by Yorichika Arima, Masumura?s harrowing portrait of women and war is considered the finest of his collaborations with Ayako Wakao (A Wife Confesses, Irezumi) and features startling monochrome scope cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi (Fires on the Plain, An Actor?s Revenge).
SPECIAL FEATURES
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio
Optional English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary by Japanese cinema scholar David Desser
Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
Not All Angels Have Wings, a new visual essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Original Trailer
Image Gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Irene Gonz?lez-L?pez
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Manji: https://ok.ru/video/2363132086937
Irezumi: https://ok.ru/video/2514332879513
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Red Angel is incredibly bleak and very dark, but a wonderful movie and much better than Suzuki's similar Story of a Prostitute (1965). I will definitely be making the upgrade.
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Yeah, me too. In January.
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The news is good: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film10/blu-ray_review_158/red_angel_blu-ray.htm
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Just saw Stolen Pleasure from 1962. It may be the most Japanese film ever made: https://ok.ru/video/4251021478510