“Twenty-Four Eyes” finally being released by Criterion

Keisuke Kinoshita’s 1954 film deserves to be just as well known as some of those other high profile films of 1954 like, oh…“The Seven Samurai” or “Gojira”. While it may not have broken new technical ground, or married Western sensibilities with a Japanese storyline, or established a world famous movie franchise like those other films did it did do something very important. Coming out less than ten years after Japan’s humiliating defeat in WW2 and only two years after the American led occupation Kinoshita’s story of Ms. Oshi (Hideko Takamine), a plucky and peace-loving school teacher who watches her class of boys and girls grow up to be young men and women only to have the vast majority of the boys killed in battle a chance for a traumatized nation to finally grieve. It’s for this reason that the film is one of the most famous in Japan, but it hasn’t enjoyed the same success here in North America. Hopefully that will change this August when The Criterion Collection is finally releasing a region 1 double-disc set of “Twenty-Four Eyes”.

I’ll get my review of the film up in a couple days, but suffice to say that while the film gets a bit saccharine at time the tears (and there are many) are honestly come by; and Takamine’s transformation from a vital, rebellious young woman to a drained and grieving obasan is a marvel to behold. Looks like I’ll be saving up for another pricey Criterion DVD, but this one’s well worth it.

Check out all the technical specs of the “Twenty-Four Eyes” DVD here.