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Rashomon well worth the wait.

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Rashomon well worth the wait.

Old 03-25-02, 09:18 PM
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Rashomon well worth the wait.

This was one of the Kurosawa films I most wanted on DVD. Criterion did a great job with it and it was well worth waiting for. The transfer looks great. There are a few small defects, but it looks great for a fifty year old film. There is nothing at all to distract during the viewing. The contrast is great and the details are very easy to see. The only other time I had seen this film was with a very dark and worn print. It was like seeing an entirely different film this time around. The soundtrack was also very clean and sounded like a very good mono track.

The booklet that comes with the DVD is tremendous and includes Akira Kurosawa on Rashomon from his autobiography and Reprints of the Rashomon source stories. I prefer having these in the booklet, but some people may not. Just to note that this stuff is not on the disc as Criterion sometimes does, but in the booklet.

The introduction by Robert Altman is about six minutes long and its interesting to see his feelings about this film. I really like the director intros that Criterion is putting on their DVDs.

I can't comment on the commentary which I haven't heard yet or the English dubbed track that I refuse to listen to.

There are also excerpts from the World of Kazuo Miyagawa that was very interesting.

Overall I was thrilled with this DVD and it was well worth the $25.97 from DVD Planet. I haven't bought a Criterion disc in quite sometime, but this movie may draw me back to foreign films again.

Last edited by darkside; 03-25-02 at 09:23 PM.
Old 03-25-02, 09:31 PM
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Mines "in the mail".... looking forward to it.
Old 03-26-02, 09:48 AM
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I'm on the fence for this one. Any replay value???
Old 03-26-02, 09:59 AM
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Re: Rashomon well worth the wait.

Originally posted by darkside
I can't comment on the commentary which I haven't heard yet
The commentary by Kurosawa expert Donald Richie is outstanding. His spontaneity is a welcome departure from the stuffiness of scholarly tracks on many other Criterion DVDs in which the expert is obviously reading from written notes. This is not bad, mind you--they're always informative--but it's nice to have someone actually watching the film and talking to you instead of reading to you. And he's engaging.
Old 03-26-02, 12:02 PM
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Mine hasn't come in yet but this film definitely has replay value. It's a masterpiece and probably Kurosawa's finest work.
Old 03-26-02, 04:56 PM
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Amazon delivered mine this morning. But instead of "Rashomon" I received Criterion's "Robocop" and "Stepmom" with America's sweetheart. Today is the day I kill somebody.
Old 03-27-02, 01:15 PM
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I will watch it tonight! But I hope ou are right, hard to beat Seven Samurai.

As I suspected great film, but I feel that the Seven Samurai is better. However, the dualism in the film was filmed out of a very interesting perspective. I have now seen it twice this week and I will see it again. This film have earned a higher spot in my collection, and Criterion did a great job on it as mentioned above.

DVD SMURF

Last edited by DVD Smurf; 03-31-02 at 12:41 AM.
Old 03-27-02, 05:14 PM
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I can't wait to get this. I probably won't get it til next week though.

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