Silent Naruse (Criterion Collection - Eclipse Series 26) (DVD)

Mikio Naruse (FLOATING CLOUDS, WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS) was one of the most popular directors in Japan, a crafter of exquisite melodramas, mostly about women confined by their social and domestic circumstances. Though often compared with Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi for his style and treatment of characters, Naruse was a unique artist, making heartrending, brilliantly photographed and edited films about the impossible pursuit of happiness. From the outset of his career, with his silent films of the early thirties, Naruse zeroed in on the lives of the kinds of people - geisha, housewives, waitresses 0 who would continue to fascinate him for the next three decades. Though he made two dozen silent films, only five remain in existence; these works - poignant, dazzlingly made dramas - all are collected here, newly restored and on DVD for the first time, and featuring optional new scores by noted musicians Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz. Set Includes: FLUNKY WORK HARD, NO BLOOD RELATION, APART FROM YOU, EVERY NIGHT DREAMS, and STREET WITHOUT END.

Starring: Hideo Sugawara, Akio Isono, Mitsuko Yoshikawa