Japanese Cinema

I'm a old japanese cinephile. Aside from the well-known greats like Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and
Ozu, there are a lot of other directors worth watching. Just saw "Fires On The Plain" by
Ichikawa, based on the Ooka novel, which I haven't read. Evidently there are quite a few changes. The film is excellent, an anti-war film set in WW2 Philipines at the end of the war;
madness, death and cannibalism among the
japanese soldiers. Beautifully shot in black and white cinemascope.

Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the DVD of the film that was made of the first book of Mishima's tetralogy, 'Spring Snow'?

I saw the film a few years ago at a Japanese film festival in Canberra (with English subtitles) but have not been able to track it down on the internet (except at Amazon.jp where it's all Greek to me!) I understand that it is also known as 'Snowy Love Fallin' in Spring'. I have checked various Amazons (.com, .uk, .fr, .de) & CD Universe with no luck.

2> Wow, tough question. You could keep your eye on E-bay. Only saw one available though and it didn't look reliable.

Ok, about Amazon.co.jp, you can view the site in English. The option will be on the upper right side of your screen. Thing is though, I don't think that dvd you saw has English subs either. Unfortunately, the picture they have of the box is unclear. It does have one subtitle track and I think it's Japanese.

I'll keep an eye out though and let you know if I find any other leads.

Another note: We should totally start this thread back up!!

Thank you for your help. I checked the Am.jp site again, discovering the 'For helpless Anglophones' button for the first time! but didn't really get me anywhere - there was nothing under 'Spring Snow' or 'Haro no yuki' except the original Mishima book which I read long ago, and the 'Snowy Love Fallin' in Spring' disc looks like a music disc to me (though I'm not sure).

Anyway, I'll keep my eye out (as I have been now for a long time). In the long run, anything good eventually ends up on DVD - though I'm mindful of what Keynes said about us all in the long run!

Thanks for your efforts. Cheers, Murray

Oh, here's the link to the DVD on Amazon.jp: http://tinyurl.com/3mryaw3

If you decide to buy a non subtitled version of the DVD, I found that you can d/l the subtitles here: http://tinyurl.com/42ypbsr

If you're computer savvy, you can just rip the vid to your PC then add the subtitles.

This is the best I've got for now.

I tried to order using the link you gave but everything went well until the end when it announced that it couldn't deliver to my address in Australia. I tried using my home address as opposed to PO box but that didn't make any difference.

I think (but I'm guessing because the site only partly translates itself into English) that the problem is that, as occurs with the Amazons in US, UK & France, the seller here is an independent book or DVD shop and doesn't deliver outside Japan.

Thanks once again for your help and I will continue to be patient. M

Hey, if you want, I could order one of the used ones for you. Looks like it's 734円 plus 340円 shipping. Then could mail it to Australia.

We could work something out as of means of payment. Let me know if you're interested and we can skype/e-mail the details.

I'm grateful for your kind offer but i'm a bit reluctant to put you to so much trouble! And I'm not sure how the practicalities of repaying you could work out (credit card? bank transfer?)

I'm inclined to think it's getting a bit too complicated and I should just leave it for the moment, trusting that Am.com will get round to it in due course.

Why don't we become LT friends anyway? I see from your profile that you've only just joined LT. Still adding books, I assume?

Murray

Sure thing! LT is still new new to me, but I'm really enjoying it. I like the community here. I add books when I can, but it's difficult since most of my personal library is on the other side of the world. Books just don't travel overseas all that well (^_^;).

As for the DVD. It could be complicated, since I'm not sure about it having subtitles and all. It would also be Region 2 making it difficult to play in most DVD players. But if you're really interested, we could probably transfer funds via Paypal.

I don't see any English language release date, but who knows, it might be sooner than later. They did release "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" again in 2008.

I got my copy of haru no yuki from http://www.shopktslab.com/ - not sure if they still carry it. The cover and DVD are in Japanese but there are english subtitles. It's not a bad movie.

>10 paul_01:: Thanks. I've just checked that site - looks good - but the particular film isn't showing up. I'll check back on that site from time to time.

Cheers

Are you a member of the mailing list called KineJapan?
http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html

Many film studies graduates and (I believe) big shots from the distribution industry are members. Certainly someone could answer your request, or any other request of that type you may have.

Ningen no jōken 人間の條件
Is there an English translation of the book of Junpei Gomikawa from which Masaki Kobayashi made his epic? Name of publisher if known please.

Some amazon sellers that amazon says won't ship out of country are, if you cut amazon out of the deal and contact them directly, quite happy to do so. If you write to a seller in Japan write in short simple sentences and use simple vocabulary, and whoever gets your mail will probably be able to decipher it, or know someone who can (and of course they may be fluent in English, too).

Recently discovered Masahiro Kobayashi who directed several interesting films
including:
Man Walking on Snow
Bashing
Bootleg Film
The Rebirth

All are excellent, shot in a cinema verite' style, sort of Ozu meets Truffaut!