Nijushi no hitomi (Twenty-four Eyes) (1954) - Keisuke Kinoshita

Rating: 8.0
Runtime: 156
Language: Japanese ( English subtitles hardcoded )
Country: Japan
Color: Black & White
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047281/






Description: Written by Cal Kemp

As much as I love Criterion's brilliant renderings of films I already know and love, the real delight I take from the company's fantastic output comes from the ones I'm discovering for the first time. "Twenty-Four Eyes", the 1954 release from Japanese director Keisuke Kinoshita is no exception; this is first-rate work with a fascinating history and a must-see for both film and history fans alike.

A bona-fide classic in Japan to this day, "Twenty-Four Eyes" may find its Western equivalent in something like "The Sound of Music", though this is a far more somber affair with a deeply personal subject which, ironically enough, may be exactly the reason it failed to find a significant American audience sixty years ago.

"Twenty-Four Eyes" tells the life story of a schoolteacher Hisako Oishi (Hideko Takamine) and the twelve students that she sees grow up across more than two decades in a small Japanese town. (Oishi, a fairly prolific Japanese film star, is probably best remembered for her lead role in the also-recently-released-by-Criterion "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs") With a story beginning in the 1920's and moving right through World War II, "Eyes" is a painful reminder of the losses across the world and the humanity attached to every gravestone.

Though Oishi is married and has children of her own, the life we see is mostly framed through the school and the lives so entwined with her own. As is elaborated upon by the extra features, the amazing tone of "Eyes" is due to Kinoshita treating simple, everyday events as epic, enduring shots. Every frame is slow and simple but captured so deliberately that it's impossible to not be glued to the film, even with a running time of over two and half hours.

There are some slow points, particularly in the third act when the film becomes extremely -- for lack of a better word -- weepy. That said, every ounce of emotion is earned and it's hard to imagine completely dry eyes at the films' climax.

In 1954, there was, no doubt, a great deal of both guilt and resentment towards Japan by the United States (Not to mention the film's commentary on the negative effects of Communist paranoia) and its easy to see how "Eyes" would have been shunned precisely for the sympathy that it so finely generates. A fascinating comparison would be between this film and the original Japanese version of "Gojira" (later transformed into the Americanized "Gojira") released the same year and just as somber a reflection on the horrors of the war, albeit in a wholly different genre.

I'm not sure I've come across a Criterion disc that I wouldn't recommend as the company continues to amaze me with some of the finest works ever committed to celluloid. "Twenty-Four Eyes", even by Criterion's high standards, shines with a deep and meaningful resonance that is both a reminder of the world's sadness as well as a life-affirming testament to its beauty.










Download Links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/180929423/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/180931834/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/180933837/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/180935343/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.004
http://rapidshare.com/files/180936715/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.005
http://rapidshare.com/files/180938110/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.006
http://rapidshare.com/files/180939447/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.007
http://rapidshare.com/files/180939517/Twenty-four_Eyes.avi.008

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As a testament to how important this film is in Japan, the village
that was created to make the film, on Shodoshima Island, is still
erect, and visited by many people every day!