The Ballad of Narayama

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Parker E The Ballad of Narayama is a sad, funny, and brutal look into the normal life of a small village in Japan. Being afraid of death is normal. Accepting it and embracing it when you get old is also normal. But it's also sad and uncomfortable regarding death. The Ballad of Narayama treats death with respect and care. It's pretty wild to think that traditions of walking into a forest and dying were normal when your usefulness ran out. Superstition is a dangerous thing, especially when you have perfect teeth at 70 in Edo Japan. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/31/23 Full Review Christopher B A brilliant and methodically made and enacted Japanese classic. This was also the last of the "Great Films" in the great Roger Ebert's film reviews section. The film is one of sadness and the ending of life, an era that will lead to new beginnings hopefully. I believe it will, like the film portrays, mean that Mr. Ebert is in a better place now. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 12/03/22 Full Review william d This turned out to be a disappointment. It's a series of vignettes of peasants living in a hardscrabble mountain village without any real cohesion to the story. The film makers intersperse film of animals mating, giving birth and devouring each other in an attempt, I guess, to relate this to the primal lives of the peasants. I only found the last fifteen minutes or so to be of any interest. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Ral M What a charming old lady. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/12/21 Full Review andres s Beautiful beautiful technicolor! Oh how beautiful the colors are in this movie. What really amazed me was the way the scenes would transition sometimes as if it we're a stage piece. It's beautiful how they do it. I found pretty funny how the narrator sings what's happening. Very atmospheric at times. Th use of color and lighting was done wonderfully. What got me the most was when they actually reach the top of the mountain and you see all the people that have been there before them. It's at that moment you realize what the whole purpose of the mountain top is. Quite haunting. Kind of messed up and sad the whole thing but it's sort of a metaphor to leaving your mother behind in order to move on or something like that. Or it's just plain and simple that tradition really sucks balls. The only thing I didn't like, and it's a pretty big thing, is that the movie moves really slow and is boring at times. I get that it's sort of a meditative movie but move it along, you know. Anyway you want to see it, it was a good beauty of a movie. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member The matte paintings and artificial sets are spectacular and, even though the direction has much to be desired, the last 25 minutes of this film are spellbinding. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Ballad of Narayama

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