Post by captainofbeef on Apr 28, 2010 14:19:41 GMT -5
These rare early films from Yasujiro Ozu are considered by many to be two of the Japanese director’s finest works, paving the way for a career among the most sensitive and significant in film history. The Only Son and There Was a Father make a graceful pair, bookending a crucial period in Japanese history. In the former, Ozu’s first sound film, made during a time of intense economic crisis, a mother sacrifices her own happiness for her son’s education; the latter, released in the midst of World War II, stars Ozu stalwart Chishu Ryu as a widowed schoolteacher trying to raise a son despite financial hardship. Criterion proudly presents these nearly lost treasures for the first time on home video.
* New high-definition digital transfers
* New video interviews with Japanese film scholar Tadao Sato and film scholars David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson
* New and improved English subtitle translations
* PLUS: Booklets featuring essays by film scholar Tony Rayns and reprints of pieces by actor Chishu Ryu and scholar Donald Richie
