Asian

Wakeful Nights movie dvd review

Director: Masahiko Tsugawa
Starring: Junko Fuji, Takashi Sasano, Yoshino Kimura, Kiichi Nakai, and Ittoku Kishibe
Genre: Japan, Comedy, Educational

I’ve reviewed Masahiko Tsugawa’s Wakeful Nights previously, under its original title, A Hardest Night (aka: Nezu no Ban). However, the version I originally saw featured a completely different translation, AnimEigo having gone back and given the film the literal-subs treatment. To simplify things (and lighten my review load somewhat), I’ll first revisit my capsule, and proceed with my thoughts of this new version.

Master rokudo artist (to keep it simple, and this review short, I’ll just say “dirty storyteller”) Shomantei lies in his hospital deathbed. His disciples gather round as he whispers his dying wish….to see a woman’s “pussy”. Being a practitioner of dirty tales, this seems a somewhat fitting request, and the disciples saddle one of their own with the task of bringing in his young and pretty wife for wish fulfillment. To make a long story short, the request is granted. When asked by his understudies how he liked it, Shomantei replies, “You idiots. I said I wanted to see ‘the sea,’” and promptly dies; the shock and excitement possibly inducing his heart attack. And so starts Nezu no Ban, a celebration of life and all its raunchy bits, as viewed through a series of wakes and dirty remembrances, bound to make you smile as much as they make you blush.

While an adaptation of a novel by Ramo Nakajima, the film walks a fine line with its humor. With less skilled performers many of the jokes would come across flat or completely lame. In fact, more than a few I thought about relating here, but the summaries I devised robbed the jokes of any laughs. But the point is, director Masahiko Tsugawa and his ensemble cast do pull it off, and quite nicely. One technique worth noting is that Tsugawa ensured that whenever characters were in frame, they would not be blocked by anyone else in frame. You get to see all important actors at all times, which further ensures an audience connection with everyone involved. Nezu no Ban may be a “dirty” film, but its heart is in the right place. Furthermore, I don’t remember a wake ever being this fun. It’s a very pleasant film. With Junko Fuji, Takashi Sasano, Yoshino Kimura, and Ittoku Kishibe (Survive Style 5+).

As you can probably tell from the above review, Wakeful Nights was quite a funny movie the first time I saw it. AnimEigo’s new version, Wakeful Nights (the new title referencing the series of wakes depicted in the film), is equally funny, though not quite in the exact same way. The new translation noticeably ups the crudeness, plunging directly into every ultra-foul joke rather than tip-toeing around the naughtier bits, as was the case with the original translation. However, while this approach is vastly funnier in many places, a few of the jokes actually perform better under their original translation. For example, the old man’s last request, mentioned in the above review. In this new version AnimEigo has translated the parts of his misunderstood request as “honey pot” and “outside”, taking the time to tell the viewer about their common word-stems in their helpful supplemental subtitles. As much as I like literal translations, this proves a bit awkward, like a joke told by a best friend who’s terrible with delivery, but long on explanation as to why the joke is funny. In this case (and it is one of the few), the original “pussy” and “sea” combination, while not completely accurate, sells the joke far faster, and to better effect than the new translation. Still, the “honey pot” variant is used throughout the film in other jokes, so the less effective take early on proves more successful in the long run. On the whole, AnimEigo’s new translation is still an admirable attempt at an impossibly difficult literal comedy translation.

Translational distinctions aside, my opinion of the film remains unchanged. It’s still riotously funny, especially in the portion relating the amorous incident with a manta-ray. And despite its naughty humor, the film has a very good nature about it, possibly even bordering on a family film fare – if all your family members are above the age of 18. As for some other thoughts not mentioned in my original review, Yoshino Kimura does a nice job as the tempestuous Shigeko (though for the longest time I had mistaken her for Miki Nakatani (Train Man)), as does Kiichi Nakai (Owl’s Castle), who plays her deferential husband. Really, decent and good stuff all around.

In closing, the new edition of Wakeful Nights is at once better and slightly worse than its previous incarnation/translation, but still one I would heartily recommend to anyone looking for a decent comedy.

The DVD.
Straight off, Wakeful Nights looks far better than the version I checked out from the local Japanese videostore. The transfer is crisper, more finely detailed, and the colors far brighter. I don’t know if AnimEigo did any sort of restoration on the film, as it is quite recent, but it could be a case of a better compression ratio, and larger disc space (DVD-9 vs DVD-5). The film is presented in its original japanese language track, and your choice of standard, or enhanced (with supplemental information) English subtitles.

AnimEigo also pulled out all the stops with DVD extras. A lot of the stuff presented here I don’t remember seeing on the original region 2 disc. Granted, it could be because they weren’t subtitled in their original presentation, but I would like to think I would have noticed something like karaoke extras. Aside from the Karaoke, these include image galleries, the usual program notes (read these for necessary background into Rakugo, the Kansai Dialect, and Japanese wakes), deleted scenes, additional dirty songs, and trailers for other AnimEigo releases. Of these, I would probably say my favorite were the program notes (again), and the Karaoke extras, as Kris and I are something of the Karaoke fiends (it’s “kara-o-kay”, not “carrie-okie,” dammit!).

All in all, this is a very strong disc, delivering an impressive number of extras for a foreign release. All too many companies these days release a film stateside, but forget the extras, even when they exist (see: Vibrator). It’s nice to see that AnimEigo’s got their fans’ best interests covered. A nice film, a solid disc, go check it out.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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