This haunting, kabuki-inflected version of a Japanese folk legend is set in a remote mountain village, where food is scarce and tradition dictates that citizens who have reached their seventieth year must be carried to the summit of Mount Narayama and left there to die. The sacrificial elder at the center of the tale is Orin (Ugetsu’s Kinuyo Tanaka), a dignified and dutiful woman who spends her dwindling days securing the happiness of her loyal widowed son with a respectable new wife. Filmed almost entirely on cunningly designed studio sets, in brilliant color and widescreen, The Ballad of Narayama is a stylish and vividly formal work from Japan’s cinematic golden age, directed by the dynamic Keisuke Kinoshita (Twenty-four Eyes).
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
Product Details
Actors: Kinuyo Tanaka
Directors: Keisuke Kinoshita
Format: NTSC, Widescreen
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion Collection
DVD Release Date: February 5, 2013
Run Time: 98 minutes
Special Features
New 4K digital master from the 2011 restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Trailer and teaser
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp
Cast & Crew
Kinuyo Tanaka Orin
Teiji Takahashi Tatsuhei
Yuko Mochizuki Tama-Yan
Seiji Miyaguchi Mata-Yan
Yunosuke Ito Mata-Yan's son
Danko Ichikawa Kesakichi
Ken Mitsuda Teru-Yan
Keiko Ogasawara Mutsu-Yan
Eijiro Tono
Technical Credits
Keisuke Kinoshita Director, Screenwriter
Tameharu Endo Score Composer
Kisaku Ito Art Director
Hiroyuki Kusuda Cinematographer
M. Nozawa Score Composer
Ryuzo Ohtani Producer
Yoshi Sugihara Editor
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