How is the Region 0 quality of this dvd?

...it's ok... but I eventually 'upgraded' to the French Studio/Canal R2/PAL release, which features a beautiful - in fact, exemplary - anamorphic 1.66:1 transfer and a DD 5.1 Japanese soundtrack - but French subtitles (or an optional French dub) only, no English...

. . . . . .

I have the region 1 from Canada. It is anamorphic and the picture is supposed to be better than the region 0. I bought mine from A and B Sound for about 22 bucks. One of the reviewers did a review on this site for the release.

The R1 release looks great. The R0 is acceptable (and cheap) but the R1 looks and sounds so much better it's worth the extra money. The R2 Japanese release has a few extra features as well, but the features aren't subtitled in English (the movie itself is, though) and it costs quite a bit more. The R1 is probably your best bet.

could someone tell me the basic gist of this film without giving away any spoilers? I don't want to randomly go reading reviews that may be spoiler laiden.
Thanks.

"...the basic gist of this film..."

...ahh... how about: it's a gay (not as in 'jolly' but the other kind of gay) Samurai story?... (sorry, couldn't think how to put it in even fewer words without spoilers)...

. . . . . .

Yeah, I've got the Ocean Shores Region 0 disc. It's ok, like Hendrik said.

The story is about homosexuality in among the samurai ranks...
(I still need to watch it again, I was lost by time I got to the end.)

Note: You will do a lot of reading during this movie. Much dialogue!

Cheers,
Gabe

No, it's not about the gay samurais...

There's no real storyline... more like a snapshot about the lives of this one particular samurai militia group.
It's starts with a new recruit that joins the samurai, and how he affects some other samurais. It turns into a "who-dunnit" half-way thru the movie.

Slow paced drama with nice cinematography.
Only a few action swordfight scenes.

And yes, homosexuality is a background theme.



J.T.

" ...And yes, homosexuality is a background theme. "

...of course, anyone is entirely free to interpret Gohatto as they wish ... and/or to blind themselves to what is indeed and very much and quite obviously the main subject of this movie...

. . . . . .

...of course, anyone is entirely free to interpret Gohatto as they wish ... and/or to blind themselves to what is indeed and very much and quite obviously the main subject of this movie...

You are correct... it is open to interpretation. And yours' is that it's a movie about gay samurais.

Since not everyone is gay in the movie, I see that differently. It's only a few characters that "swing that way". The lead character may not even be really gay. He seems to be manipulative and ambitious.






** SPOILER***

It's possible that he is the one going around killing the other samurais...




J.T.