We are based in South London near Croydon, UK, and if preferred this item can be picked up by appointment. Just e-mail here. I also welcome the old fashioned cheque and po as it is cheaper to process and all orders are sent off same day as cheque received.
- Director: Kaneto Shindo
Format: Subtitled, PAL
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 2 (UK & Europe)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Classification: PG Studio: Eureka Entertainment
DVD Release Date: 25 Jul 2005
Run Time: 94 minutes
The Naked Island
Kaneto Shindo, 1960
Filmed on the virtually deserted Setonaikai archipelago in south-west Japan, The Naked Island was made — in the words of its director — “as a ‘cinematic poem’ to try and capture the life of human beings struggling like ants against the forces of nature”. Kaneto Shindo, director of Onibaba (MoC #13) and Kuroneko (MoC #14), made the film with his own production company, Kindaï Eiga Kyokai, who were facing financial ruin at the time. Using one-tenth of the average budget, Shindo took one last impassioned risk to make this film. With his small crew, they relocated to an inn on the island of Mihari where, for two months in early 1960, they would make what they considered to be their last film.
The Naked Island tells the story of a small family unit and their subsistence as the only inhabitants of an arid, sun-baked island. Daily chores, captured as a series of cyclical events, result in a hypnotising, moving, and beautiful film harkening back to the silent era. With hardly any dialogue, Shindo combines the stark ‘Scope cinematography of Kiyoshi Kuroda with the memorable score of his constant collaborator Hikaru Hayashi, to make a unique cinematic document.
Shindo, who had worked with both Kenji Mizoguchi and Kon Ichikawa, shot to international fame with the astounding Children of Hiroshima (1952). Eight years later, the BAFTA-nominated The Naked Island won the Grand Prix at Moscow International Film Festival (where Luchino Visconti was a jury member). It is now considered to be one of Shindo’s major works, and its success saved his film company from bankruptcy. The experience of making The Naked Island led Shindo to appreciate ‘collective film production’, and has been his preferred method of making films ever since. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to release The Naked Island for the first time on home video in the UK.
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SPECIAL FEATURES
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- Newly restored transfer, anamorphic 2.35:1 OAR
- Full-length audio commentary by director Kaneto Shindo and composer Hikaru Hayashi
- Video introduction by Alex Cox
- Optional English subtitles
- Production stills gallery
- 24-page booklet with a new essay by Acquarello, and a reprint of Joan Mellen’s interview with Shindo from Voices from the Japanese Cinema
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Japan | 93 min. ---------------------------------------------------------------
2.35:1 OAR anamorphic
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black & white
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monaural
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Price: £21.99
UK Sterling (new)(includes UK postage & packaging)To reserve this item please e-mail by clicking here and include country ordering from. I will then get back to you within 24 hours with availability, price including postage and methods of payment (paypal, cheque, which is preferred, po etc.).
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