Maborosi

This sluggishly paced Japanese film is breathtakingly beautiful, and will undoubtedly please those who are open to the idea of motion picture as dynamic art gallery. Those who have not yet reached that enlightened stage--which is to say, those who tend to find it preferable as a general rule that something actually happen onscreen at some point--are considerably less likely to be enthralled. You know how, in some films, the screen will fade to black--usually in the first reel somewhere--and a title along the lines of "THREE YEARS LATER" will be superimposed? In addition to keeping you informed about when the story is taking place, it's a shorthand way of saying: "Then various things happened for a while, but none of it is relevant to the narrative, or particularly interesting, so we'll just skip ahead to the next time that something eventful occurs." Well, about 75% of Maborosi's running time takes place during those three years. The compositions are striking; the natural lighting is exquisite; the actors are expressive...but in aid of what, exactly? In that sense, Maborosi is the arthouse equivalent of Twister: all dressed up and goin' nowhere. Not recommended. (M. D'Angelo) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—July 10, 2018—Milestone, 110 min., in Japanese w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $34.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $39.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray debut, 1995’s Maborosi sports a fine transfer with LCPM 2.0 audio on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by film scholar Linda Ehrlich, and a 'Birthplace' featurette with actress Makiko Esumi (30 min.). Bottom line: this slow-paced but gorgeous Japanese film sparkles on Blu-ray.]