Synopsis:

Back of the box spin: Acclaimed as one of the finest Japanese films of the decade, Maborosi is a story of great love, inexplicable loss, and at last hope and regeneration. Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother many years ago, a beautiful young mother struggles to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband. Yumiko remarries and with her young son moves to her husband's home in a remote village on the wild, untamed Sea of Japan. There with time, she awakens to find love, understanding, happiness and a sense of peace.

Audio/Video:

Truly a beautiful film, it suffers horribly by a poor transfer and poor audio. The film is presented in a 2-channel audio platform that for the most part is very high on treble. At times the audio needed to be turned down due to the shrill nature of the film's audio content. Visually, the film while made in 1998 looks as though it was made 30 years ago and then left underwater for 40 more years. The quality of discs coming from Japan is generally very good however, you'd be hard pressed to tell that from this entry. Muddy, soft and full of flecks and scratches are what you'll see and those are it's better qualities. New Yorker Video released this film and could have taken some care in presenting at least a decent disc in the way of visuals. Sadly, they must have skipped their QC segment all together when putting this one together.

Extras:

The extras are two trailers for the feature. One in Japanese and the other in English. The English trailer was presented with English quotes from critics regarding the film's impact. The Japanese trailer was the same as the English trailer only, the quotations were not included. Additionally, trailers for 6 other New Yorker Video productions are included. Sadly, they all appear to suffer from the same poor video presentation as the feature film. While they may not have been the most pristine images presented, they do look very interesting and might be worth a rental at least. Lastly, static "thoughts" from the director are included in an attempt to share his point of view and impetus for making Maborosi. This is quite possibly, New Yorker Video's version of a commentary for the disc.

Overall:

I am a huge fan of Japanese cinema and thoroughly enjoyed this entry. The problem I have with the disc is it's poor presentation. A film of this caliber should have received far better treatment than it has. The range of emotion brought about while experienceing Maborosi is nothing short of stunning. It's a clever film, with a very involving and moving story to tell. It's just a shame that no one cared enough to clean up the print to release it with the kind of artistic dignity it's so worthy of. Recommended