New DVD -- Masumura's Kyojin to gangu

[David N. Averbach]

I was so excited about this post that I did a search: Actually, Blind Beast
(Moju, 1969) is out on DVD already.  Region 1 with English subtitles.  Maybe
they'll be ongoing releases!!

> 
> I must say I've never heard of either the film or the director.  Is this
> actually more signifcant than all the Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse  (et al)
> classics that are NOT coming out on DVD?
> 
Please forgive my bluntness, but for people not lucky enough to live near
the few places in this country (US) where they have retrospectives of
Japanese films that are not available on VHS or DVD at all, this comment
itself is actually a great reason why it is significant to release directors
like Masumura, even if it is before more well-known directors get released.
Masumura is becoming more and more widely known for his importance as a
pre-new wave director.  A couple of film professors in Japan laughed when I
said I was writing on Masumura for my dissertation, but it's really hard to
envision the change between the so-called classics and 1960s films by
directors like Oshima, Shinoda, Imamura, Suzuki Seijun without directors
like Masumura--and a whole bunch of others.  (Can we please finally show
some of the sun tribe films in a Japanese film survey course?)   In general,
I think that whole period from about 1955 and 1960 really needs to be more
internationally available.  This notwithstanding, Moju, even though it's one
of his later films, is remarkable in many ways.  Worth seeing if for nothing
else but the art direction--but it's over the top, to be sure.  Kyojin to
Gangu is great as well, but totally different, of course.

David Averbach
East Asian Languages
UC Berkeley