The Naked Island (1960)

[Scottie]

The Naked Island (The Criterion Collection)

Director Kaneto Shindo’s documentary-like, dialogue-free portrayal of daily struggle is a work of stunning visual beauty and invention. The international breakthrough for one of Japan’s most innovative filmmakers—who went on to make such other marvelous movies as Onibaba and Kuroneko—The Naked Island follows a family whose home is on a tiny, remote island off the coast of Japan. They must row a great distance to another shore, collect water from a well in buckets, and row back to their island—a nearly backbreaking task essential for the survival of these people and their land. Featuring a phenomenal modernist score by Hikaru Hayashi, this is a truly hypnotic experience, with a rhythm unlike that of any other film.

Disc Features
New, high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Video introduction by director Kaneto Shindo, recorded for a 2011 retrospective of his work
Audio commentary recorded in 2000, featuring Shindo and composer Hikaru Hayashi
New appreciation of the film by actor Benicio Del Toro
New interview with film scholar Akira Mizuta Lippit
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by film scholar Haden Guest

New cover by Vivienne Flesher

https://www.criterion.com/films/27774-the-naked-island

[Rich Pure Doom]

It is a beautiful, purely minimalist film that I recommend any cinema lover to buy. However, I already own the MOC edition.

[Blu Titan]

A beautiful film...just awesome. I own the MOC version and I highly recommend this movie.

[ejm69]

Love the cover. Sounds like an interesting blind buy.

[javi92]

Never got around to picking up the MoC version, so will definitely grab this one.

[Jobla]

It has one of my all-time favorite film scores, a score that has never been released on CD to my knowledge. I'll buy this for the score alone.