New DVD -- Masumura's Kyojin to gangu

[Joseph Murphy]

>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?
>
>Michael Kerpan

Maybe, maybe not, but it's certainly a significant addition to the 
picture of Japanese film you get through subtitled formats.  I can 
think of some Masumura films I would have picked before Kyojin to 
Gangu, particularly Black Test Car (Kuro no tesuto kaa, 1962) or 
Counterfeit College Student (Nise Daigakusei, 1957), but no question 
Masumura's work deserves the audience.  He's the kind of director 
that lavished an extraordinary visual intelligence and political 
sophistication on tight commercial formats.  The films don't say, 
"European-Festival-Auteur," but you experience the same sense of 
discovery as seeing a Douglas Sirk film.  Masumura, along with Uchida 
Tomu from the 1930's are to my mind two glaring gaps in the picture 
of Japanese film you get through subtitled formats.  So I guess I 
don't mind that they use this opportunity to introduce something less 
well-known.  It's a good choice.
J. Murphy
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*	Joseph A. Murphy			?
$	East Asian Lang. and Lit.		?
#	University of Florida			?
*	<www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jmurphy>	?
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