Persona

Amazon.com essential video

Ingmar Bergman's 1966 film, photographed by Sven Nykvist, begins when famous actress Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann) freezes on stage in the middle of a performance. Struck dumb by an unknown cause, she winds up in the care of young inexperienced nurse Alma (Bibi Andersson), and together they retreat to the seaside for the summer, where they enter into an uncommon intimacy and clash of wills. Bergman's study of the fragility of the human being and the treachery of life is incredibly moving in its perception and unrivaled imagery. And as always with Bergman and his reappearing ensemble of actors, the performances are flawless. Especially notable is the scene in which Alma recounts for the silent Elisabeth a morally and emotionally ambivalent erotic encounter she had experienced on a beach with a friend and two teenage boys. It is one of the most strangely erotic scenes ever filmed, and not a stitch of clothing is removed. Also of interest, and one of the most intriguing scenes in the film, perhaps among the most intriguing in all of cinema, is when Elisabeth paces barefooted back and forth over a patio on which we know there to be broken glass. It is an achievement in simple suspense from which many an aspiring director of thrillers could learn a bit. For those who've had their fill of predictable plots, irrelevant matter, and apish acting and are looking for something a little more sensual, poetic, and relevant to what life is about beyond the daily grind, this may be a good place to start. --James McGrath

Description

With some of the most iconic imagery ever committed to film, this exceptionally beautiful specimenof movie-making (The New Yorker) is recognized as a modern masterpiece and a landmark in late twentieth-century art (Time Out London). Actress Elisabet Vogler (Liv Ullmann) has stopped speaking and withdrawn completely. Under doctor's orders, she's taken to a remote seaside cottage by a nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson). Alma chats to fill the silence and gradually begins to lay bareher entire identity until she discovers it is being coolly sucked away from her. As the women battle for control and sanity, the question becomes not which of them is patient and which is caregiver, but are they two separate women at all?

Customer Reviews:

Persona: One of the great contributions to film........2007-07-05

As a student of film for some ten years, I've seen over 40 of Bergman's films. Of them, Persona is one of about 4 out of something like 50 that stand out as absolutely crucial in the development of film. There might not be the ostensible progress in film, and especially TV we see today without the few films like Persona. Historically it's very important, but for someone interested in seeing Bergman's best. Persona, Cries and Whispers, The Silence, Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries, and just to be thorough, The Seventh Seal, are the ones to see. Persona itself will live on in the annals of film as one of it's greatest and most daring achievements.

Persona.......2007-06-28

One of the director's more surreal, experimental works, "Persona" is an intriguing study of mental illness, role reversal, and the somewhat hazy boundary separating one individual identity from another. In the poetic opening shots culled from old reels, Bergman makes us aware we are watching a film, but the story itself derives emotional intensity from Bibi Andersson's Alma, who becomes ever more vulnerable the deeper she plumbs her life experience. "Persona" is a spooky, mind-bending film that casts a unique spell.

master of tedium strikes again.......2007-06-05

Incomprehensible tripe about a couple of troubled women at a mental health worker's seaside summer cottage. One of the actresses (when interviewed for the supplements) is asked to describe the film--and guess what? She couldn't. I guarantee you, not even the "writer/director" could explain what in hell he was trying to get across.

Worse than that even, the commentary consists of some guy saying things like: "Now we have a close up..."
"It's dark now...wait, now it's light..."
Huh? This individual is supposed to be a film historian! He couldn't figure out what was going on either, so he makes above useless comments throughout. Any wonder why college grads are dumb-as-dirt these days?

Film historian? Oh yeah. Sure, baby.

What was the writer/director on when he put pen to paper?

I have sat through my share of slower-paced films (ie: Polanski's The Tenant, Repulsion, The Pianist; Chabrol's The Unfathful Wife; Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru; Henning Carlsen's Hunger; various Fassbinder flicks; various slower-paced films by both American and Euro director's, etc.) So long as there is some semblance of story there, so long as the tale is about something and goes somewhere...I don't have a problem and can sit still long enough to see the entire film. But here? With this "masterpiece?" Painful--is about the only word that fits.

Mastering the Art of Image .......2007-05-18

If you have not seen Persona you are a lucky person .
You will have the ocasion of still HAVING A UNIC EXPERIENCE IN THE MOVIE WORLD.
The first time you watch "Persona" , Igmar Bergman masterpeace, is a unic ocasion of universal culture.
From there on, your undersanting of film making,your undersanting of how to watch cimema, will reach a new standing.
Undersantig ,the drama, the plesure, the sorrow ....that all emotion of human beings can be expressed on a moving image ! Whooo...

This is a mature film.....were the adulthood o film making was reached .

One of the very best... .......2007-03-27

Where to begin with a film like Ingmar Bergman's PERSONA? It's both a famous and infamous example of world cinema in its heyday (the 1960's, mostly), working hard to stretch the medium past traditional or straightforward storytelling. It's famous, of course, because it was directed by Ingmar Bergman, the legendary Swedish film director (THE SEVENTH SEAL, WILD STRAWBERRIES), featured two of his acting mainstays Bibi Andersson and Gunnar Bjornstrand and introduced Liv Ullmann, who would figure prominently in both Bergman's personal life and professional career. It's infamous because it is usually regarded as a "difficult" film, subject to much critical commentary and debate (which is exactly the kind of response a great film should generate, right?). Was it Susan Sontag who said this was, by and large, a modernist vampire story? I don't know if I agree, but this gives some idea of the range of critical dispute.

After a short but enigmatic prologue, the film opens up into a accessible narrative: that of an actress named Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullman) who mysteriously falls silent during a stage performance of Medea (a meaningful play choice in the context of the film) and thereafter will not speak. She is sent to a hospital/clinic where she is assigned to an enthusiastic, inexperienced nurse named Alma (Bibi Andersson). The doctor sends Alma and Elisabeth to her seaside home as a sort of "therapy," where their new friendship gathers an intensity which leads, ultimately, to psychological warfare and strange and symbolic happenings. If this sounds vague, well, that's mainly because the latter part of the film is difficult to summarize (especially without including one's own interpretation of what's "actually" going on).

One thing to notice in PERSONA is its indebtedness to dramatic forms: that is, stage performance. It is certainly no accident how much of the film feels very spare and theatrical. In the hospital, for instance, we see only three persons, Elisabeth, Alma, and the doctor. The hospital rooms are very empty and look, quite consciously, like a stage set. Although the prologue and epilogue include, fleetingly, a few other actors, only four actors have significant roles in the film--two of which dwarf the other two. All of this points very specifically to the notions of art and drama, and more generally, to the that of artifice versus truth; we are intended to sense the artificial structures of the film because they contribute largely to the film's meaning: What constitutes truth? Are we ever, properly speaking, not acting in some way? Can we refuse to participate in the drama of life or are we actors, whether willingly or not?

Let me add that PERSONA is not a characteristic Bergman film by any means. It is far more stylistically adventurous than most of his other films and seems to mark a break of sorts with the chamber dramas of the early 1960's, although there is a certain affinity with THE SILENCE, the final enigmatic film in the "religious trilogy." What I am saying is that, if you know and like THE SEVENTH SEAL or MONIKA or SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, don't expect such austere storytelling in PERSONA, which is a forceful film partially because it can't quite be critically resolved.

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Beautiful music and great photography
Tim Janis, Coastal America, DVD
Excellent Scenery matched to Spectacular Shorelines.

Coastal America
Starring: George Clooney
Manufacturer: Tim Janis Ensemble
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ASIN: B000CSUNSO
Release Date: 2006-03-21

Description

The Companion DVD to the brand new National Public Television special Coastal America. Tim Janis's previous PBS Special, Beautiful America, was broadcast over 1300 times on over 300 PBS stations, and was seen by millions of viewers. Coastal America will be broadcast on PBS over the first three weeks in March.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful music and great photography.......2007-03-25

Another top notch DVD by Tim Janis. The music by Tim Janis and his ensemble nicely compliments the beautiful photographic depictions of America's coastlines. The commentary by George Clooney is good but at times rather indistinct and soft.

Tim Janis, Coastal America, DVD.......2006-09-01

This DVD is high quality video as well as sound. Most enjoyable! I highly recomment this DVD.

Excellent Scenery matched to Spectacular Shorelines........2006-04-21

Another wonderful production by an extremely talented musician Tim Janis and his ensemble. I've been listening and watching this continuously on DVD for the last 5 hours as the new tunes soak into my being. I must say, I feel refreshed. Simply a masterpiece like Beautiful America. Thanks Tim.

Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood (Special Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

Plays better As Theatre
Three Stars for Dylan's Glorious Language, But....
Praise the Lord we are a musical nation !
Confused
Our Town

Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood (Special Collector's Edition)
Starring: Richard Burton , Elizabeth Taylor , Peter O'Toole , Glynis Johns , and Vivien Merchant
Director: Andrew Sinclair
Manufacturer: Sundance Channel Home Entertainment
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ASIN: B0009WFFHM
Release Date: 2005-08-09

Amazon.com

Under Milk Wood is an imaginative, cinematic rendering of Dylan Thomas's famous "play for voices," typically read on stage by a handful of actors expressing the dialogue of more than 50 characters living in a small, Welsh fishing village. Filmmaker Andrew Sinclair sets the story in a real seaside community and visually complements the text's lengthy, opening narration by enlisting Richard Burton both for his brooding voiceover and a mysterious, on-screen role as a drunken gadabout soaking in the very soul of the town Thomas' words describe. Once the narration ends, the film breathes freely with a succession of lively vignettes, some funny, some dramatic, but all rooted in the peculiar circumstances of characters who either feel trapped by or ensconced in their home. Peter O'Toole plays the wizened, blind Captain Cat, haunted by memories of drowned sailors but so attuned to the sounds of village life outside his window he can identify the children screaming in a park. Elizabeth Taylor (Burton's wife at the time) makes a brief appearance as Rosie Probert, and the other players include Glynis Johns, Vivien Merchant, and Victor Spinetti. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Plays better As Theatre.......2007-08-06

Cast and production are fine given the material which still doesnt stand up in time to the medium of film.
Having portrayed parts in same production for stage it played much better even though the dialouge for a just trained actor caused me much greif until finally by performance night it took-off and an extended season ensued. A Successful financial-run in 95'@www.darlinghursttheatre.com I feel based on the originalmaterial that was somewhat edited down was far superior albeit in theater form with cast of unknowns and expertly directed by Glenn Terry whom knew and understood the script, while I had never read nor was familiar with the lyrical and poetic dialouge just how well it has been done since.
But Film is a different medium and therfore by comparrison only still has this been done more successfully on stage and it goes without saying no big names are required to breathe life into this somewhat repressed and semi-dark daydreams of a small-village town druggery gone mad if not the dialouge is beautifully spouted if not harder to enact and speak to audiences unfamiliar with Dylan Thomas works of "Under Milkwood"

Three Stars for Dylan's Glorious Language, But...........2007-05-16

This adaptation itself is a pretty soggy affair. Ploddingly literal more often than not, giving you an image that matches exactly what the text is describing, though the occasional bad idea from director Andrew Sinclair makes you wish he'd stuck to ploddingly literal. The design of the film's a mess, as well; the villagers seem to wear fashions from 1918 or so through the 60's, with the latter hideous beyond belief. As in the equally misguided Burton/Taylor FAUSTUS, La Liz doesn't bother with period hair, make-up, costume, or an attempt at a characterization (although her Welsh gurgle has to be heard to be believed -- sounds like someone's strangling a cat). Presumably she had a nice location holiday during the shoot (although even that's not apparent from her dim, studio-bound scenes on display here). Veteran favorites like Vivien Merchant, Victor Spinetti, Sian Phillips and Glynis Johns aren't onscreen long enough to brighten the proceedings much. And the top-billed stars, Burton and O'Toole, alternate between blank stares and bouts of scenery-chewing. In spite of all these negatives, the film can't completely choke the life out of Thomas. His wit, poetry and passion for the smallest detail of everyday existence poke through, perhaps here with the bedraggled air of a daisy growing in a cement sidewalk, but bringing pleasure nonetheless. At least, the film's likely to send anyone stumbling across it at their DVD rental outlet racing to the library shelf to try and figure out what the devil THAT was supposed to be. And for such crumbs, we must be grateful.

Praise the Lord we are a musical nation !.......2007-02-01

One day in a small village along the coast of Wales, a fishing harbour that is surviving in coming modernity that is going to destroy it and later on transform it. The film enables the director to create a real world extracted from Dylan Thomas's words, and the general description of the historical heritage of the village can be uttered by some guide on a bus half full of old ladies touristing around the country and the conclusion is the village can get levelled down no one would protest. That was a long time ago. Since then these small fishing villages on the Welsh coast have become seaside resorts for all kinds of rich people. Dylan Thomas tries to recreate the life of the village the way he remembers it. The film shifts the observing eye from the author to first a couple of unnamed male strangers going through the village and saying absolutely nothing, hence being pure creations in this film to focus especially on one observer, through whose ears and blind eyes we can discover everything, Captain Cap. This is also a great shift in the point of view of the poem. The medium is the message and the camera imposes its own point of view. I will definitely say it is a good thing to visualize the poem that is otherwise difficult to follow, but at the very same time it is imposing one interpretation, one reading onto the poem, a linear reading that does not accept contradictions and multifariousness. Personally I think a poem should not be visualized on a screen. It must remain language. A recording of this language is already reducing the number of possible readings, but it cannot really reduce it to one reading. Images often do because no matter what you may say, it is them that will come out first and last, dominant, number one. You may call a fish a cat, it will be what the image says and if the image is that of a fish, it will not be a cat. Whereas the word can accept metaphorical transpositions and displacements and even distortions. Images do not accept metaphors very easily except through ellipses, which are more metonymies than matephors, whereas words can easily express sleepless green ideas that sleep furiously. Yet the film is interesting because the editing makes us jump from one place to so many others with hardly one blink of one eye that we get a little bit dizzy and that is supposed to create in us a certain nostalgic feeling for the past, the long gone and forgotten and lost past.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Confused.......2007-01-21

I am supposed to have received a credit on this item which I returned about 4 weeks ago.

Our Town.......2007-01-20

This film adaptation of Dylan Thomas' wonderful "Under Milkwood" has dozens of characters, the most famous of whom are Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O'Toole-- one of the problems with this production. There are simply too many characters to keep up with. The other problem is that the Welsh accents are difficult to understand. The play works better when performed on stage with a few characters reading several parts. On the other hand, the photography of the village and seacost is beautiful beyond words. And speaking of words, hearing Thomas' alliterative plumy language makes up for whatever failings this film may have otherwise: "the dawn inches up," "the tidy wives," and the village at night described as "a hill of windows," etc., will make your heart leap up. Mr. Burton's delivery of the long narrative passages is not to be missed.

The CD has a short interview with Mr. Burton and a longer biography of Dylan Thomas, constructed in most part from his beautiful poems. Both inclusions are an added bonus.

Average customer rating:

Good movie about childhood innocence and corruption
great for fans of foreign cinema

Hollow City
Starring: João Roldan , Domingos Fernandes Fonseca , Júlia Botelho , Ana Bustorff , and Raúl Rosário
Director: Maria João Ganga
Manufacturer: First Run Features
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ASIN: B000F6IHQS
Release Date: 2006-06-20

Customer Reviews:

Good movie about childhood innocence and corruption.......2007-08-20

I fully agree with reviewer Richard Jones that the ending is totally unexpected. It is as if the author or script writer of the story suddenly ran out of time, was given a sudden deadline to end it or just simply didn't know or wasn't sure how to end it. But that's just a speculation. I'm sure the ending was purposely done that way. Otherwise, the begining and the middle of the movie were engrossing enough to make it basically a fine movie. Perhaps others may give their judgement of this otherwise good movie based on their interpretation of the ending.The film is about a young Angolan boy,a war orphan, who ran away from his caretakers to try to find his way back to his village of origin. He had to go through Luanda,the Angolan capital, realizing the risks and dangers of the city particularly for his very young age alone. The story goes with the Missionary nun who noted the missing orphan and began her desperate search to find him. Meanwhile,the boy became more and more exposed to the
vices of a big city and thus increasing the risk of getting dangerously involved with the wrong people. It is a good movie,pretty fast paced, but be prepared for the ending.

great for fans of foreign cinema.......2007-06-29

I initially ordered this film to add to my already 300+ DVD collection.

I had the opportunity to introduce this film to an audience at Morehouse College last semester, where it was warmly received.

The ending was totally unexpected and viewers will certainly converse as to why it ended the way it did! The age-old question of nature vs. nurture will be asked and debated for hours after the last frame...

Average customer rating:

One of Rohmer's best
A beautiful film...
what a fresh french movie!!! I'm still in love with it!
A very sweet story
the convolutions of young love

A Summer's Tale
Starring: Melvil Poupaud , Amanda Langlet , Gwenaëlle Simon , Aurelia Nolin , and Aimé Lefèvre
Director: Eric Rohmer
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
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ASIN: B00004U0FL
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Amazon.com

The third of Eric Rohmer's Four Seasons romances follows the indecision of a young man who juggles three women during his final summer between school and work. Drifting along the beaches of Brittany while waiting for his commitment-shy girlfriend, Lena, to meet him, Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud of Diary of a Seducer) becomes fast friends with pretty waitress Margot (Amanda Langlet, the grown-up Pauline of Pauline at the Beach a decade earlier) and has a fling with Margot's aggressive and sexy friend Solene before Lena finally shows. By then, Gaspard has inadvertently committed himself to all three women. It's a lovely portrait of awkwardness and ambivalence set against the gorgeous land and seascape of Brittany, and populated by pretty young performers.

This, the most understated of Rohmer's sex farces, carries a bittersweet sting, but little of the emotional effervescence of his best films. While these characters are no less pretentious or vulnerable than his other lovers (who all seem to be emotionally at sea), Rohmer just skims the surface of their emotional revelation. His greatest achievement is the evocation of young adults caught between their teens and 20s, with little real experience but full of easily sidelined ideals. In the best Rohmer tradition, the circular conversations and solipsistic monologues are neither glib nor pretentious, merely the immature but sincere ramblings of vulnerable youth playing adult games. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

One of Rohmer's best.......2006-12-16

Perhaps the best of Rohmer's season films. Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud) takes a month long vacation to a beach in Normandy, waiting for his more or less official girlfriend, the somewhat snotty Lena (Aurelia Nolin), to come. While waiting for her, he befriends the waitress and aspiring anthropologist Margot (Rohmer regular Amanda Langlet). Eventually, a relationship between the two develops, which seems to consists almost exclusively of long talks in the beach. But this is not all, since he soon also meets the somewhat promiscuous Solene (Gwaenelle Simon) in a disco. When Lena finally arrives to the resort, more than halfway into the movie, he finally finds himself in the position of having to choose one of the three. Rohmer would want us to think that Margot would be the best choice, and is difficult to disagree, since she's so charming and so willing to listen to him and even put up with him. It's amazing how Rohmer (who was in his late 70s when he directed this) is able to portray how young people talk and interact. The final decision by Gaspard was a bit of a disappointment, but it was probably the more realistic possibility.

A beautiful film..........2006-06-20

"A Summer's tale" is the story of a young man and three women. All in all, not much happens, but I simply couldn't help finding this film engaging. The dialogues are beautiful, specially in some scenes, for example when one of the characters says that he can communicate well with others, but that he is not sure of being really himself when interacting with a lot of people.

The main character is a young musician named Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud). Gaspard doesn't know what to do, or whom he would like to be with. He thinks he is in love with capricious Lena (Aurelia Nolin), and goes on holidays to Dinard hoping to find her there. At Dinard, Gaspard meets a young waitress who also happens to be an ethnologist, Margot (Amanda Langlet). Margot quickly becomes his friend, and introduces him to Solene (Gwenaëlle Simon), an attractive and outgoing woman that Gaspard begins to date. Things become complicated when Lena arrives to Dinard, at the same time Gaspard is dating Solene and he realizes he has feelings for Margot. What can a charming but indecisive man do? Well, watch this film and discover it!

On the whole, I can say that I loved "A Summer's tale", the third film in Eric Rohmer's "Four Seasons" cycle. In a nutshell, it is beautiful film, the kind that makes you forget you are watching a movie and turns you into part of whatever is happening. I can only hope that "An Autumn tale" is nearly as good!

Belen Alcat

what a fresh french movie!!! I'm still in love with it!.......2003-06-08

I really don't have words to describe how sweet and delicated this movie is!!! I am still so in love with this movie; it can make me fly, just like in a dream... And the story is so real... Everyone can live a beautiful and modern story like that. When will I wake up from this fresh dream?

A very sweet story.......2003-01-02

Well, first of all i'm absolutely enchanted by the film. It's amazing how this script can be so simple and so interesting at the same time. Everything is perfect, specially the beautiful beaches of Britanny and the magnificient perform of Amanda Langlet as Margot.
There he was, Gaspar a young musician tourist, resting alone from his Maths studies in a paradisiac island dealing with cross-relations with three uncomparable women: Lena, wild beautiful but without any brain, Solene beautiful, determined and warm, and the lovely Margot, the most interesting character in the hole story, his friend and listener of his youth emotional confusions about the other two girls. I think Eric's design the Gaspar character as a perfect grown-up teenager...I don't believe how can a boy could not fell in love with a girl like the no less good-looking Margot. In fact she is very very beautifull...i confess i wouldn't resist to her charming presence.
My sincere congratulations to Amanda Langlet, you've conquered a big fan!

the convolutions of young love.......2002-06-03

Thoroughly enjoyable. Though I found the "I've learned nothing" ending a little difficult, but probably realistic. The characters are interesting and engaging, and in the case of Margot, enchanting. Though we may not have all experienced exactly these circumstances, the youthful difficulties of sorting out love and attachment ring true.

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Treasure Island
Starring: Treasure Island
Manufacturer: Ryko Music Distribution (Back Order)
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Treasure Island

ASIN: B000OPPA0G
Release Date: 2007-06-26

Product Description

Enjoy Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island with dramatized narration and on screen displays of the text so your children, friends and family can read along, or simply listen. Original illustrations from Edumnd Dulac, Lyle Justis and N.C. Wyeth enhance the visual presentation.

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A movie that "wow-ed" me...
Japan's "Sun Tribe"
a story of lust from Japan
Bruised Fruit
Raw reality

Crazed Fruit (Criterion Collection)
Starring: Ayuko Fujishiro , Taizô Fukami , Mie Kitahara , Harold Conway , and Masumi Okada
Director: Kô Nakahira
Manufacturer: Criterion
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ASIN: B00092ZLG2
Release Date: 2005-06-28

Amazon.com

Crazed Fruit ushered in a new era for Japanese cinema. Shot in 17 days (extravagant by Nikkatsu Studio standards), the film's strong language, intimations of casual sex, and complete disregard for authority, would unsettle an entire nation, while blazing a path for the likes of Seijun Suzuki and Nagisa Oshima. (Even François Truffaut was impressed.) It begins one leisurely summer as brothers Natsuhisa (Yujiro Ishihara) and Haruji (Oshima star Masahiko Tsugawa) sail, water-ski, and make "boredom their credo''--until both fall for the married Eri (Ishihara's future wife, Mie Kitahara). In short order, boredom will be replaced by tragedy. Inventively lensed by Shigeyoshi Mine (Tokyo Drifter), Ko Nakahira's controversial debut was the centerpiece of a 1956 trio of taiyozoku, or "Sun Tribe," films about affluent youth written by novelist-turned-politician Shintaro Ishihara (Yujiro's brother). The suitably dark and jazzy score is by Kurosawa vets Masaru Sato (Yojimbo) and Toru Takemitsu (Ran). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking in the seminal "sun tribe" (taiyozoku) film from director Ko Nakahira. Adapted from the controversial novel by Shintaro Ishihara—and critically savaged for its lurid portrayal of post war sexual revolution among Japan's young and privileged—Crazed Fruit is an anarchic outcry against tradition and the older generation.

Customer Reviews:

A movie that "wow-ed" me..........2006-09-09

This review is for the Criterion Collection Edition:

I won't go into the plot, since that seems to have been covered fairly accurately and completely by others. I will say that within moments of watching the open scene with Haruji speeding along in his boat, the jazzy background music playing in the background, I was hooked. The movie is full of fascinating camera movements, music, and acting. The characters are selfish, decadent, and rebellious... and yet we somehow feel sympathetic for them, even before it leads to disaster.

I was certain I'd go searching for more films by Director Ko Nakahira, but according to the fantastic commentary by Donald Richie, after this commercially and critically successful film, he was forced to make standard dribble by the studios. That's a shame, because this is a film where he obviously took risks with the camera, dialogue, and sexual innnuendo. Richie's commentary helps the Western viewer put a lot of the movie into context, explaining Japanese social and film-making trends at the time as well the fate of the major actors. I was dying to know why the car was right hand-drive though, and he never answered that one!

The essays included in the Criterion set are also insightful for putting the movie into context, although none of this "context placing" material is necessary. Watch the movie and you'll find yourself feeling nostalgic for the late 50's in Japan--a time and place I doubt most knew about before.

Japan's "Sun Tribe".......2006-01-02

The children of post-War Japan were a "lost generation." Having not known the suffering and hardships of their parents, and cut free from the rigid social codes that had dominated Japanese life for centuries, codes now abolished by the American occupiers, this "Sun Tribe" were an aimless, decedent bunch, lacking guidance or self-direction. Their world and their parent's world were just too different, a generation gap almost impossible to comprehend. On one side, war, desperate poverty and militarism, on the other Western freedoms, abundance and selfishness.

Nakahiran Kô's "Crazed Fruit" ("Kurutta kajitsu") was the first film to explore these children, projecting their lifestyle and discontent onto the screen for all to see. Based on famed author (and current governor of Tokyo) Ishihara Shintaro's story, the sex, rough language and blind selfishness (the ultimate crime under the previous generation's Confusion code) was like a bomb in the minds of the viewing public. A new genre was born, and other films followed in suit, like Oshima Nagisa's "Cruel Story of Youth." These films are the parents of "Battle Royale" and "Suicide Circle," which still peer into the discontent of modern Japanese youth-culture.

Aside form its political and societal ramifications, "Crazed Fruit" is just a good film. Raw and beautiful, the actors clench the story in their fists and squeeze the juice. A nice blend of the subtlety of which Japanese film is so famous, blended with an unusual dynamism and sharpness. The music is almost all Hawaiian ukulele, and there is a large presence of English-speaking Westerners, something almost unheard of in Japanese film. Both of these lending a strange atmosphere to the Japanese setting.

The Criterion DVD is splendid, with an improved subtitle track that makes good use of the slang and colloquialisms so important to the youth dialog. Donald Richie, the Dean of Japanese film, gives an insightful commentary, as always. The booklet, with two separate essays, helps put the film into perspective in Japanese society.

a story of lust from Japan.......2005-11-07

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"Crazed Fruit" known in Japan as "Kurutta kajitsu" is the story of two brothers in Japan who go on a vacation and meet a young woman. They both fall in love with her and compete for her.

The film has some nice scenes of Japan and it is an interesting film.

The DVD contains a theatrical trailer and audio commentary by Donald Richie, a well known scholar of Japanese film.

Bruised Fruit.......2005-08-27

Penned by Ishihara Shintaro, the same ultraconservative politician-author who wrote The Japan that can Say No, Crazed Fruit depicts the lives of privileged Japanese young people during the 1950s. Unburdened by Japan's militaristic past that their parents' generation had to endure, the members of the Sun Tribe, a name given to certain groups of teenagers during this era, were able to enjoy the early fruits of the early capitalist Japan. However, well aware the faults and frailties of the previous couple of generations, these teenagers desire to toss aside traditional values and to create new ones. Yet, if this film could be used as an example, the only things they seem to gain are material items and boredom.

The central characters of this film are the brothers Natsuhisa and Haruji. Seasoned in the ways of the Sun Tribe, Natsuhisa spends his days in such "decadent" activities such as playing the ukulele, water skiing, and playing cards. Joined by his mixed blood friend Frank, the duo, along with a few other friends, seem to do little more than chase after girls and hang out at the beach. The younger brother Haruji, however, is still a bit naïve and while not fully engraining himself in his brother's lifestyle, obviously wants to make an impression on the older boys

One day at the train station Haruji encounters a young girl and is immediately smitten with her squeaky clean image. Eventually Haruji and Eri become a couple and the young man is elated because of his good fortune. Besides a few innocent first kisses, their relationship remains quite tame and it seems the young lovebirds are willing to take things slow. Yet, of course, a dark cloud begins to hover over their relationship when Natsuhisa becomes jealous of his younger brother and they worsen even more when Natsuhisa discovers that Eri is not quite the girl she makes herself out to be.

Quite tame by today's standards, and in comparison to the original novella, Crazed Fruit caused quite a stir back during the 1950s because of its depiction of teenagers drinking, sleeping around, and getting into fights. However, it helped usher in a new type of film that focused on teenagers. Instead of depicting youths doing all in their power to strengthen Japan, these new films depicted dispirited youths suffering from ennui whose only care was to fill empty time.

Raw reality.......2005-08-16

Having lived in Japan for seven years, and taught at a fine University during that time, I saw many young people who were on the fringe of society....even now, and it was unnerving to see the total disregard for others in this film so early after the war. That attitude is still prevalent in Japan.
The fact that the attitude seems rather universal in Western societies, and increasingly all Asian societies as well, the young people grow into adulthood, keeping their adolescence.
It surely fosters the ME, ME, ME behavior and makes real human compassion difficult in light of this obsessive selfishness.
I cringe at some of the scenes in the film because it is such raw reality. Beautiful people doing not so beautiful things,
is a fascination for many people, so I think the film will be an interesting wake up call for our present time.

AMERICA'S CASTLES: THE CASTLES OF CHARLESTON

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AMERICA'S CASTLES: THE CASTLES OF CHARLESTON

Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000E371DW
Release Date: 1997-03-16

Description

The seaside city of Charleston, South Carolina is the best preserved of any in the South. Largely spared the ravages of the Civil War, Charleston boasts some of the finest antebellum mansions in America. Visit this spectacular city and get a privileged look inside some of its crown jewels. The privately owned Calhoun Mansion is a marvel of antebellum architecture that has been home to some of Charleston's most prominent citizens for over 100 years. Owner Gedney Howe III shows off the unique details of his magnificent home in a special guided tour. AMERICA'S CASTLESalso tours the Joseph Manigault House and the Edmonton Alston house, two of Charleston's many picture perfect mansions. Journey back to the glory days of the Old South with a privileged glimpse at some of the finest homes in America.

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No Engaging Plot

Seaside
Starring: Bulle Ogier , Hélène Fillières , Ludmila Mikaël , Jonathan Zaccaï , and Patrick Lizana
Director: Julie Lopes-Curval
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001WTVSE
Release Date: 2004-07-20

Description

First time director Julie Lopes-Curval, inspired by the visual poetry of Edward Hopper, has created a small masterpiece, a delicate, unsentimental ensemble film which evokes comparison to Eric Rohmer and Anton Chekhov. Winner at Cannes of the prestigious Camera d'Or (Best First Feature) and starring the legendary French actress Bulle Ogier (L'Amour Fou), Seaside chronicles a year in the lives of the inhabitants of a once-fashionable French seaside resort town. As the seasons change, they fall in and out of love, work at unfulfilling jobs, gamble away savings, and dream of escape. Life changes, yet remains the same.

Customer Reviews:

No Engaging Plot .......2005-09-09

Many of these characters' lives were so full of boredom and sadness. The acting was OK, but not great. I had trouble identifying with any of the characters in a film which seemed to jump from subject to subject. No political risks in the movie. They all seemed like strangers. Nice idea for a movie, but they didn't follow through.

Interesting scenery and it was fun to feel like you were experiencing France first hand...those are the only positive parts of the film.

Average customer rating:

Seaside Pikachu is Cool!
Very cool.
great fun for the young and old

Pokemon - Seaside Pikachu! (Vol. 6)
Starring: Rica Matsumoto , Ikue Ootani , Mayumi Iizuka , Yûko Kobayashi , and Yûji Ueda
Director: Masamitsu Hidaka , and Kunihiko Yuyama
Manufacturer: Viz Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305466866
Release Date: 1999-07-20

Amazon.com

The continuing adventures of Pokémon pick up after the cliffhanger ending of Thunder Lizard as Ash, Misty, Brock, and Team Rocket are trapped aboard a sinking ocean liner. À la The Poseidon Adventure, they look to escape the upside-down ship with plenty of Poké-action along the way. After making it (was there a doubt?), the three heroes search for their lost Pokémon but find something else: Giant Pokémon! Finally, we find the not-so-subtle differences between the Pokémon Tentacool and Tentacruel. The final segment has more gunplay than most episodes, but the real challenge for parents will be the middle episode, which has five minutes of subtitled scenes in which the Pokémon talk to each other. Parents of nonreaders will certainly be brought in to translate for eager young souls anxious to know what Pokémon say to each other. Followed by Psychic Surprise. --Doug Thomas

Description

Capsized! Pikachu, Ash and their friends are trapped in the upside-down St. Anne! How will they escape?! Next, Pikachu and the other Pokemon get stranded on a desert island, separated from their trainers, and surrounded by dinosaur-sized Pokemon. Finally, Nastina teams up with Team Rocket in a dirty land development scheme! Can Ash and his friends stop Team Rocket as well as a rampaging Tentacruel!? Episodes: Pokemon Shipwreck, Island of the Giant Pokemon, Tentacool & Tentacruel

Customer Reviews:

Seaside Pikachu is Cool!.......2002-04-23

The Island of the Giant Poke`Mon was wild! I like it when you can find out what the Poke`Mon are saying. And in Tentacool and Tentacruel, it's cool what happens to Meowth. I'm not saying anything now, but it's great!

Very cool........1999-10-11

As a young adult pursuing a career in the animation industry, I have to say I was very impressed. Pokemon is an all-ages show - I'm 19 and love watching it! Parents, if you watch this with your children, you're gauranteed a few laughs at both the slapstick parts, and plain sillyness that can arise! This particular episode isn't bad - from Team Rocket's antics over the purchased but worthless Magikarp, to Nastina's hysterical outbursts over the destruction of her hotl (how do the people doing the voices of this show keep from snickering throughout the recordings??!!) Definitly worth the 5 stars and suitable for children.

great fun for the young and old.......1999-06-29

what can you say! it is pokemon! the BEST video show EVE

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