Asian

DVD REVIEW . Pitfall [Criterion's Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigaraha]

Pitfall, the first film in Criterion’s three film set is also Teshigahara’s first feature film. Having worked primarily on non-fiction documentary shorts, Teshigahara’s jump to an adaptation of Kobo Abe play, itself a surrealist ghost story criticizing the Japanese mining industry, was met with a bit of trepidation (in fact, two of the film’s assistant directors quit mid-production). However, the final product proved noteworthy, and launched a series of successful Abe/Teshigahara collaborations that stand today as masterpieces of classic Japanese avant-garde cinema.

Pitfall opens on a band of destitute workers, recent deserters from a mining camp employing unethical management practices. The trio (two of which are father and son) scurry across the nighttime landscape like fugitives, deathly afraid of being forced back into service, their escape punctuated by newsreel footage from actual mining disasters – scenes of collapses, broken bodies, and swollen bellied starving children—all serving to quickly initiate the viewer to the very real and very harsh nature of the business. The following day they find replacement work, only to leave it too on suspicion of their tightwad overseer, who, after a full day’s work, leaves them, foodless, to sleep in a barn.

Upon arriving at the next and final mining installation the father finds he’s already been set up with a job. In fact, the prospective employer had entrusted the foreman with a photo of the mine worker in order to ensure he flagged down the right man. Handed a crude map, tracing a path through an old quarry, the man is told to make way to the meeting site. Puzzled and excited, he obliges, setting off with child in tow to meet his destiny. But alas, it proves unkind. The man, succumbing victim of an act of shocking cruelty, finds himself rendered to the next world. Our character, now a ghost, sets off to find the reason behind his death, and hopefully bring about justice.

And all this happens within the first half hour.

Not having seen or read Pitfall previously, I had no expectations as to what the film would entail. Suffice it to say, it was an extremely pleasant surprise. Teshigahara’s film is mysterious, shocking, eerie, and enticing. The whole picture is visually stunning, exquisitely framed, fluidly shot, and employing some rather innovative effects work. Keeping with the tale’s stage-play roots, in many sequences Teshigahara employs long takes to capture a performance in its entirety. When the scene requires more than one angle, he reframes mid-shot rather than cutting and potentially interrupting the performance’s flow. It’s further worth noting that the actors on screen were also the stage actors who performed in Abe’s original theatrical production. It’s wonderful to watch, and surprisingly enough, it never once feels staged. In fact, without prior knowledge, one might surmise that Abe’s hybrid tale, at once a ghost story, murder mystery, and capitalist critique, was tailor made for the cinema screen.

Similarly, Teshigahara’s use of superimpositions, reverse photography, and off-kilter shots manages to inspire awe even today. There are many amazing sequences involving ghosts, humans, and the interactions thereof, that feel completely fresh, despite having been rendered cliché in contemporary cinema. Teshigahara’s documentary skills are employed as well in many sequences featuring the protagonist ghost observing union interactions and police interrogations, the camera becoming an impartial observer, thereby facilitating the conveyance of Abe’s very serious criticism of corporate corruption.

Performances, as hinted at above, are all excellent. Hisashi Igawa, Sumie Sasaki, Kunie Tanaka, and Kazuo Miyahara deliver exceptional turns as the miner, the shopkeeper, the man in the white suit, and the miner’s son, respectively. They’re captivating, real, and worthy of multiple viewings. Similarly, the film’s strange and compelling percussive score, a minimalist composition incorporating various slack string pulls, ominous thumps, and assorted blips, further conveys the surreal nature of the proceedings, and the dire straights of the various entities.

In closing, Pitfall is an exceedingly well constructed film, a fine example of classic Japanese cinema. I sincerely hope that release will garner this picture a greater audience, and possibly a home in genuine academic study. In short, I’ve added a new favorite to my list.

The DVD.
Criterion presents Pitfall in completely restored high-definition transfer maintaining its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. This video is impressive, even for Criterion. Whites are gleaming, and blacks are pitch, with crisp definition maintained for all the colors in between. Seriously, it’s sparkling. While I have no frame of reference as to an earlier print, I can safely surmise this is probably better than the film has ever looked, even theatrically.

Pitfall is presented with its original Japanese mono audio track, and English subtitles. As usual, the audio is quite clear. Being a true mono track, however, you’ll have to turn up the volume a bit more than you would even a regular stereo track. There were a few issues with the translation (an instance or two of the F-bomb, which I’m pretty sure Abe didn’t include in his original script…at least I haven’t read any in his literary translations), but on the whole it is quite nice.

Included on the disc as extras are a trailer for Pitfall and a 20-minute audio essay by film critic and festival programmer, James Quandt. Note that neither of these should be viewed before the film. Quandt’s audio essay is quite interesting, thoughtful, and will undoubtedly provide fodder for multiple viewings of the film. Howerver, I felt that Quandt misattributed a few narrative and elements to Teshigahara that were actually more likely attributed to Abe and his typical narrative style. Still, it is a very interesting extra, and held my interest for its entire runtime. Not bad for an audio/slide-show piece.

All in all, this is an excellent disc, fully worthy of the Criterion label. For Japanese film enthusiasts, it will prove quite the nice treat.

Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara hits DVD July 10th, 2007.

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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