The audio is 2.0 Mono. English subtitles are optional for the main feature and all extras (except where indicated below), in a white font.
The extras are 89 minutes of interviews, broken up into eight sections which can played individually or all together. These interviews are mostly with Nobuhiko Ôbayashi alone, but there is also one segment with Ôbayashi and his daughter Chigumi Ôbayashi (who came up with the original story of the film), as well as shorter interviews with Toho's Shōgo Tomiyama and actress Kumiko Ohba. The interviews were first available on Toho's 2001 Japanese DVD release.
Also included is David Cairns' video essay Unheimlich Manoeuvres in the Dark, which was new for this Blu-ray release, as well as a Japanese trailer for the film.
Finally, a 44-page booklet contains several color and black-and-white photos, film credits, the essay "Unhinged Desire (At Home With Obayashi)" (2009) by Paul Roquet, viewing notes and disc credits, much of this content ported from the DVD booklet.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00011.MPLS AVC 1:27:37 25,605,184,320 42,339,595,631 38.96 34.88 LPCM 2.0 2304Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
I watched this last night for the first time and it was a real trip. I own the Criterion but it is packed away somewhere and I wanted to see the massive amount of interview footage that Eureka had licensed from Toho (first for their 2010 UK NTSC DVD and then ported over to their Blu-ray eight years later). As for the film itself, it is presented in 1.33:1 like the Criterion release (apparently the Eureka DVD was anamorphic 1.55:1) and it would be interesting to know how it was shown theatrically in Japan in 1977, but apparently Ôbayashi confirmed that it was intended to be shown in 4:3. The viewing notes in Eureka's booklet use the words "cropped to a 1.33:1 aspect ratio for theatrical release", to me implying that Ôbayashi cropped it to 1.33:1 from a standard widescreen presentation, but while their 1.55:1 DVD seems to show a bit more image on the right and especially left side, there is much more image on the top and bottom in the 1.33:1 versions, suggesting it is more of an open-matte situation. Image quality is splendid and should be identical to the Criterion (bar encoding) because as noted by DVD Beaver, when you play the film's .m2ts file, it actually starts with the Criterion and Janus Films logos (01:27:57) before the Toho logo, but this 20-second portion has been "overwritten" when you play the disc in a player with the Eureka / MoC logo (0:12) played as a separate file before launching into the rest of the film file (01:27:37) from the Toho logo onwards.
English subtitles are optional and in an easy-to-read, slightly "digital"-looking white font that is common to many Eureka releases. The translation here is in British English, so I would suspect that Criterion's translation is somewhat different. I'm horrible at getting exact frame matches, but for example:
[Show spoiler]
[Show spoiler]
Bizarrely, as if the film weren't weird enough, I experienced an audio flub whereby the mono audio had an echo throughout. I don't know if this was due to the fact that the Eureka / MoC logo plays before the film in Dolby Digital Stereo, then the film track switches to LPCM 2.0, but I thought this was just how the audio was supposed to be on the film and it wasn't until I heard the same echo in the interviews and switched inputs to my HDTV feed that I confirmed that something was up with my audio. Switching my A/V receiver off and back on fixed the problem, but still, that made a crazy film all the more crazier.
The interviews are generally excellent. Ôbayashi speaks rather eloquently about how he got into directing his first feature, how it was promoted with a "mixed media" campaign well before it was actually released, and the reception from a Japanese youth which generally eschewed Japanese cinema for Hollywood films. He's also sitting comfortably in a place I assume he must have lived or worked in, since he frequently displays screenplays, scrapbooks and other marketing materials to the camera. An interview with Ôbayashi and his daughter Chigumi (who was then in Year 6 / middle school and came up with the original story for the film, at her father's request) is shot in a different location, as are brief interviews with Toho's Shōgo Tomiyama and actress Kumiko Ohba, but we always return to Ôbayashi alone. First seen on Toho's DVD from 2001--despite mentioning the film's 25th anniversary in 2002--these interviews are low-key talking-head affairs without graphics or music, shot in 4:3 SD video and generally static, though occasionally there are some close-ups as needed. I enjoyed the interviews a lot and appreciated being able to focus exclusively on the content of what is being said. I know Criterion's interviews were shot for their Blu-ray in 2010 and also have input from screenwriter Chino Katsura, who is not included in these Toho / Eureka interviews, so at some point, I will have to find my copy of the Criterion. I also really want to see Ôbayashi's short film Emotion (1966), which is referenced in the interviews, but only included on Criterion's release.
Hopefully someday, Toho will release this little gem on 4K UHD somewhere in the world, but until then, this Blu-ray version will do nicely.
However, if you own a cat, I would not let them watch it, because from what I know of cats as a dog person, your cat may get ideas...
Hopefully someday, Toho will release this little gem on 4K UHD somewhere in the world, but until then, this Blu-ray version will do nicely.
I'd bet that the film is probably a big enough seller for Criterion that they'd be willing to pay for a new 4K transfer, but Toho being Toho, who knows if that is possible.
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House (1977)
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