Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Pitfall / Woman in the Dunes / The Face of Another) (The Criterion Collection)
by Hiroshi Teshigahara
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DVD details
Actor: Pitfall, The Face Of Another, Woman In The DunesDirector: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 521 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion Collection, The
DVD Reviews of Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Pitfall / Woman in the Dunes / The Face of Another) (The Criterion Collection)
DVD Review: Three Films by Teshigahara Hiroshi
Summary: 5 Stars
Pitfall (1962)
Pitfall opens with a miner along with his young son and a friend fleeing a miner camp at night. With their fear of being caught and great caution when near lights, the trio seem to be more a group of prisoners instead of a couple of poor laborers and a child. However, their being prisoners are not too far from the truth because if they are caught they would be dragged back to the mines because of the nature of their contracts which they most likely were unable to read. The trio makes their way to work for a farmer, but leave soon to avoid deserter hunters and eventually arrive at another dilapidated mining camp. It is a vicious circle from which the miners are surely unable to escape because of their poverty and lack of education.
At the new mining camp, the miner is told that someone is interested in giving him a job, so he and his son make their way to a mining village; however, upon arrival they discover the mining village to be abandoned with the only resident being the candy shop owner. After his son attempts to steal a piece of candy, the miner chases him only to find himself pursued by a man dressed in a white suit. Without uttering a word, the man in white draws a knife and violently stabs the miner three times and kills him. Noticing that the candy store owner saw the murder, the man in white pays her off and instructs her how to lie to the police. It would seem this would be the end of the miner's story, but his restless soul rises and he is determined to find out why he was murdered, but what can a soul who cannot be heard, seen, or move matter really do?
Pitfall can be read as a critique of rising capitalism in Japan during the 1960s when the haves gained more and more while the dirt poor were becoming poorer and unable to match the rapid escalation of Japan's economy. The miner, poor and destitute and only looking for work, gets caught up in a scheme which unbeknownst to him will cost him his life. Is his death mourned? Is he even thought of after he dies? No, because he is completely expendable and his death furthers big business. However, big business is not the only thing that falls under the canopy of critique in Teshigahara's film because the pettiness and internal fighting of worker unions also come to the fore. Another masterpiece for the Teshigahara Hiroshi and Japanese novelist Abe Kobo, Pitfall is not to be missed by fans of 1960s Japanese cinema.
Woman of the Dunes (1964)
I was first exposed to the literary works of Abe Kobo back in 2002 when I picked up and read a tattered copy of his novel Woman of the Dunes. I enjoyed the novel, but at the time my brain was so pickled in the works of Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana that I did fully appreciate Abe's words. During the spring semester of 2003 I took a class called Visual Culture in Modern Japan and Woman of the Dunes was the final novel that we read. After discussing the book, our teacher had us watch the film adaptation of Abe's novel, and by seeing what the character Junpei experiences, I was able to sympathize with him greater than I had when I read the novel.
In order to escape his mundane life in Tokyo, the salaryman Niki Junpei travels to a small seaside village to collect insects. Engrossed in his hobby Niki accidentally misses the last bus. In order to aid their visitor, the villagers suggest that Niki stay the night in one of their homes. Liking the idea of staying in a local's home and tasting the local cuisine, Junpei readily agrees to the proposal. Junpei is taken to house situated in a sandpit and there he meets a woman who dutifully prepares him dinner. Her home lacks not only electricity and water, but it is also quite ramshackle as well. The woman informs Junpei that the sand causes the wood to rot because of its moisture. Junpei scoffs at the woman, stating that sand is dry not moist. To Junpei's befuddlement, the woman goes outside to shovel sand which is then taken away by the villagers. After asking her how often she performs this work, she informs him that she does it every night.
When Junpei awakens in the morning, he is startled to see the slumbering naked figure of the woman nearby. The woman is completely naked with only some cloth covering her face. Sand clings to the rest of her body. Not wanting to wake her, Junpei tries to leave quietly, but the rope ladder is gone. He is stuck there with the woman inside that sandy hole.
Woman of the Dunes is a fascinating film and is considered to be Teshigahara Hiroshi's finest work. One can feel Junpei's desperation when he struggles to find a way to escape the sandpit's crumbling sides. Also, Woman of the Dunes is a good example of a film that can be very erotic without showing naughty bits. There are a couple of scenes within the film that are quite stirring. One depicting Junpei washing sand from the woman's back and another in which the woman bathes Junpei.
The Face of Another (1966)
We all wear masks. In or day to day interactions we all put on different masks as we come in contact with others and along with these masks, our personalities can change as well. However, these masks are beneath the skin and our fleshy visages are what others see and often judge. Yet, what if the flesh was disfigured in some way? How would the personality change? This is the situation that Mr. Okuyama faces in Teshigahara Hiroshi's 1966 film The Face of Another which is based on the Abe Kobo novel of the same name.
A businessman who is quite confident in his abilities, Okuyama had his face horribly burned and disfigured in a lab accident. Now without a face, Okuyama's venom and hatred come to the surface when he becomes the object of people's stares. Hating his situation, he goes to a psychiatrist who specializes in the creation of artificial but incredibly lifelike body parts. As the psychiatrist explains, he is there to fill in the gaps of people's inferiority complexes. The psychiatrist is reluctant at first to create a mask for Okuyama because he is worried that Okuyama will use it for more than just reentering the social world, but the disfigured man is able to convince him, and a mask is made, a handsome, lifelike mask that will allow Okuyama not only to reenter society, but to make himself into a completely new being, one who can seek revenge on those who scorned him because of his disfigurement.
Of the Teshigahara films that I have viewed, Woman in the Dunes, The Pitfall, Summer Soldiers, and Rikyu, The Face of Another has the darkest tone and it is quite an interesting take on identity and how in some ways identity in some ways is based upon outer appearances than what is in the heart and the mind. It also asks the question about what one would do if given the opportunity like Okuyama, and one wonders how society and human personalities themselves would be changed by such a situation.
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Description of Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Pitfall / Woman in the Dunes / The Face of Another) (The Criterion Collection)
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 07/10/2007Bestsellers in DVD
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