The only one I know of that has surfing is Takeshi Kitano's A Scene At The Sea on third window films.
I really need to watch more Japanese films. I've seen The Hidden Fortress and keep meaning to watch more of Kurosawa. And I must admit, I love Japanese Anime - going to revisit Ghost in the Shell very soon. Must see Ninja Scroll again too. Hayao Miyazaki's works too have been quite spectacular. Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away come to mind... And while a story that follows a video game, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was amazing! Now does 'Letters from Iwo Jima' count at all? Sure, Clint Eastwood was behind this but I found this more interesting than Flags of Our Fathers. It shouldn't count I suppose.
Vengeance is Mine is probably the best Imamura film that I've seen....I could watch it again, whereas all the other ones I've checked out (Insect Woman, Intentions of Murder, Pigs & Battleships, The Pornographers) didn't make much of an impression on me.
The Ballad of Narayama and A Man Vanishes are both excellent, but my favourite Imamura film is probably Profound Desires of the Gods.
I haven't seen that one, but, having visited Hiroshima, I'm keen to. Been tempted to import the DVD a couple of times, but I keep holding out for Criterion or MoC to issue the definitive edition on BD.
Phew! I just finished watching almost all of of the surviving Naruse films. About 70 films between 1931-67! He made a lot of crap in the 30's, but by the end of the 40's he's just as brilliant as Ozu and Mizoguchi. Everything he made between 1950-1967 is excellent, but still not a single one of them has been released on Bluray Mikio Naruse+Hideko Takamine=Magic
Bought the DVD 10 May 2010 still waiting for an upgrade. I just Checked Lluvia negra Blu-ray look at the Rating. You may have a long wait.
I assume this marathon was on home video, unless there was a recent Naruse retrospective on film that I'm unaware of? I have the BFI, Masters of Cinema, and Eclipse DVD sets, as well as Criterion's DVD of When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, but that still leaves a lot of territory unexplored. I believe Toho also released some DVDs in Japan, and there seems to have been a huge (~45GB) torrent floating around several years ago that contained at least 60 of his films, many sourced from TV broadcasts, but I agree it's a shame there haven't been any Blu-ray releases. Something comparable to MoC's Late Mizoguchi set would be excellent. You are likely already aware of Dan Sallitt's site containing his notes on Naruse's extant films, but just in case you haven't seen it previously: A Mikio Naruse Companion
No retrospective (that would never happen here in Sweden), just DVDs+torrent for the lesser known titles in appalling quality. I managed to get one of the last unnumbered Late Mizoguchi sets from the Eureka store before they sold out. Can't wait for Arrow's Seijun Suzuki's The Taisho Trilogy + Criterion BD of the new Ugetsu 4K. My favorite Kitano film
Mizoguchi Box Sets that I have. I have the Eureka! Eight Film Late Mizoguchi 19510 - 1956 Box-set The Artificial Eye Four Film The Mizoguchi Collection Box-set The Criterion Eclipse Four Film Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women (Eclipse Series 13) Box-set
I hesitated for quite a while about the Late Mizoguchi Blu box, as I already had all of the individual DVDs that had been previously released by Eureka. But when it sold out, I regretted not getting it, and took the plunge when I ran across a very reasonably-priced new copy someone had listed on eBay. Arrow's Taisho Trilogy immediately became my most-anticipated release of the year as soon as it was announced. It should be a huge upgrade over both of the earlier DVD releases (the US-market Kino/Kimstim box set and Pioneer's Deep Seijun set pictured below).
My Mizoguchi collection: BD: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Criterion, U.S.A.) The Life of Oharu (Criterion, U.S.A.) The Mizoguchi Collection (Artificial Eye, U.K.) Late Mizoguchi: Eight Films, 1951-1956 (Eureka! The Masters of Cinema Series, U.K.) DVD: Talking Silents 1 [The Water Musician, Tokyo March] (Digital Meme, Japan) Talking Silents 2 [The Downfall of Osen, Tojin Okichi] (Digital Meme, Japan) The Loyal 47 Ronin (Madman, Australia) The Lady of Musashino (Artificial Eye, U.K.) Le Héros Sacrilège [Tales of the Taira Clan] (Films Sans Frontières, France) Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women (Criterion Eclipse Series, U.S.A.) I believe this covers all the official, English-friendly releases available currently, in their best iterations. If anyone knows of any others, I'm happy to be proven wrong. Looking forward to the Criterion BD upgrade of Ugetsu this summer.
Essential Japanese Cinema, basics kurosawa No Regrets for Our Youth Stray Dog Rashomon Ikiru Seven Samurai Throne of Blood High and Low Kagemusha Ran Miyazaki My Neighbor Totoro Princess Mononoke Koreeda Maborosi Nobody Knows Inagaki Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island Teshigahara The Woman in the Dunes The Face of Another Itami Ososhiki (The Funeral) Tampopo A Taxing Woman Shindo Onibaba Mizoguchi The Life of Oharu Ugetsu Monogatari Sansho the Bailiff Chikamatsu Monogatari Ichikawa The Burmese Harp The Hole Enjo Odd Obsession Fires on the Plain The Makioka Sisters Kobayashi The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love The Human Condition Part II: Road to Eternity The Human Condition Part III: A Soldier's Prayer Seppuku (Harakiri) Kwaidan Samurai Rebellion Naruse Repast Sudden Rain When a Woman Ascends the Stairs Daughters, Wives and a Mother Oshima Double Suicide Imamura Pigs and Battleships The Insect Woman Vengeance is Mine Eijanaika The Ballad of Narayama Kitano Hana-bi Zatoichi Kinoshita Twenty-Four Eyes The Ballad of Narayama Kinugasa Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) Suzuki Youth of the Beast Ozu Late Spring Early Summer Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) Early Spring Tokyo Twilight Equinox Flower (Higan-Bana) Floating Weeds Late Autumn End Of Summer An Autumn Afternoon Morita The Family Game
They were all sitting together, at the front of one of my shelves, so it wasn't too difficult. It's a crying shame that so many of Mizoguchi's films are now considered lost. The following still exist, but have never received an English-friendly DVD or BD release: Song of Home The Morning Sun Shines (25-minute fragment) Hometown Oyuki the Virgin The Poppy Straits of Love and Hate Miyamoto Musashi The Famous Sword Bijomaru Victory of Women The Love of the Actress Sumako Flame of My Love a.k.a. My Love Has Been Burning Portrait of Madame Yuki A couple of these titles have been released in France, and there's an Italian DVD of Portrait of Madame Yuki, but sadly my French isn't good enough to follow subtitles, and my Italian is virtually nonexistent. I'd love to see all these films get an English-friendly release, but I'm not holding my breath. Portrait of Madame Yuki is the most likely candidate. Maybe one day.
I've only seen the silent Japanese films that were shown on TCM over the past decade, they were generally excellent and had the added fascination of showing pre-war Japan in the backgrounds. I could get further into it I'm sure... so many interests and not unlimited time/money.
Kinji Fukasaku's Cops vs Thugs I dug out this Kino DVD as I hadn't watched it in years and I'm patiently awaiting the arrival of my ordered Arrow Blu-ray.
Finally got to see Mizoguchi's Portrait of Madame Yuki, with English subtitles, via an unofficial download. Surprisingly good AV quality, actually. The film itself, while not reaching the sublime heights of his very best work, is still excellent; beautifully acted and shot. This one deserves a decent, official release.
