The Makioka Sisters: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Reviews

Adapting one of the great Japanese historical novels for the screen was no easier for director Kon Ichikawa than adapting Gone With the Wind was for David Selznick and his cadre of directors. Age seventy at the time of the film’s release and with the death of his wife (whom he had relied on for collaboration on many of the great films he had made) only two years before, the director’s sure hand is everywhere on the project, but it’s a very measured, deliberately controlled film, beautiful to look at and with some heartrending performances but also a touch slow and pedantic. Likely Japanese audiences of the time reveled in the intricate detail and accurate depiction of lives lived several generations previous, but for modern international audiences, its nuances and the film syntax with which they’re being displayed seem just a bit too distant for instant access. It's a film whose effectiveness improves with each new viewing.

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