To Sleep So as to Dream

Discuss releases from Arrow and the films on them.

Moderator: yoloswegmaster

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
DarkImbecile
Ask me about my visible cat breasts
Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:24 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

To Sleep So as to Dream

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Dec 17, 2021 1:35 pm

Image

Two private detectives hunt for an actress trapped within the reel of a silent ninja film in the dreamlike debut of Kaizo Hayashi (Circus Boys, Zipang), a magical double-handed cinephilic homage to the movie worlds of the 1910s and 1950s.

When private eye Uotsuka (Shiro Sano, Violent Cop, Shin Godzilla) and his sidekick Kobayashi are approached by an aged former actress, Madame Cherryblossom, to go in search of her kidnapped daughter Bellflower, their investigations lead them to the studios of the mysterious M. Pathe company. Here Uotsuka has a strange vision in which he comes face to face with the beautiful star of a 1915 chanbara film that appears to have no ending. From then on, things begin to get a little strange…

Among the most impressive and critically regarded Japanese films of the 1980s, To Sleep so as To Dream finally makes its home-video debut outside of Japan in a brand new restoration supervised by the director himself. Drifting between illusion and allusion, it is chockfull of references to Japan’s rich cinematic heritage and features cameos from a host of veteran talent and baroque sets created by Takeo Kimura, the Nikkatsu art designer fondly remembered for his flamboyant work with Seijun Suzuki in the 1960s.

BONUS FEATURES
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
  • Original uncompressed mono audio
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp
  • Audio commentary with director Kaizo Hayashi and lead actor Shiro Sano recorded in 2000
  • How Many Eggs? Actor Shiro Sano Talks, a brand new interview with the film’s lead actor
  • Talking Silents: Benshi Midori Sawato Talks, a brand new interview on early Japanese film culture and the art of the benshi silent film commentator
  • Midori Sawato Performs ‘The Eternal Mystery’, an exclusive benshi performance to the film within the film
  • The Restoration of To Sleep So as to Dream featurette
  • Fragments from Japan’s Lost Silent Heyday, a selection of scenes from silent jidai-geki films from the Kyoto Toy Museum archives
  • Original Theatrical trailer and English-language restored re-release trailers
  • Image gallery
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by David Downton
    First Pressing Only: Illustrated Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Aaron Gerow

User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: To Sleep So as to Dream

#2 Post by swo17 » Fri Dec 17, 2021 2:12 pm

Capitalization for this title is quite the challenge! Apparently the Chicago and New York Times style guides would capitalize the "So" but others would call it a conjunction (I think?) and leave it lowercase. Not even Arrow is consistent in the presented details (but capitalizing the second "To" is definitely wrong).

Also, the film looks interesting!

User avatar
ryannichols7
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:26 pm

Re: To Sleep So as to Dream

#3 Post by ryannichols7 » Fri Dec 17, 2021 2:45 pm

this seems pretty cool. I'm glad they're continuing to release Japanese works that don't have as much of an audience in the west that aren't just straight genre movies, especially as Criterion and MOC have kinda lost track of those types of releases lately. loaded edition too!

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: To Sleep So as to Dream

#4 Post by zedz » Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:38 pm

Wow, that's a film I never thought I'd see again!

As I recall it's a beautifully shot, very trippy neo-noir. At the time I had no idea what was going on, but I was swept away by the look and feel. I think I would have got approximately none of its filmic references.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: To Sleep So as to Dream

#5 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Dec 18, 2021 6:15 pm

zedz wrote:
Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:38 pm
As I recall it's a beautifully shot, very trippy neo-noir
That it is- though its intentions seem to be rooted in experimental reconstruction of cinematic tools rather than any noir ideas. It's a pretty fun ride, where the surrealistic tone extends from surface-aesthetics (such as silent film emulation, with inter-titles perversely removing some vocal cues whilst maintaining sound design inconsistently applied elsewhere in music, recorded voices, and surrounding noise- no internal logic to be found here!) to the cheekily-jabbing thematic resonance of a mystery plot’s impossibility to achieve satisfying solutions. This is all self-reflexively demonstrated in a cinematic narrative that structurally demands to neatly tidy up loose ends towards a cathartic finish, subverting such gratification in favor of absurdist, obscure details (from the partner inexplicably riding on a child’s horse or blowing bubbles in the background of clue-gathering 'suspense', to the ransomers' silly polite request of more money in a voice recording, and those are just two random examples from the first act). I often found myself too uninvested in the plot, without enough aesthetic eye candy or creative gags populating each section to keep me pulled into the film's rhythm, which is where it threatens to become an interesting failure rather than imaginative post-modern anatomization of genre and form (perhaps it's the neo-noir costume comparisons, but Inherent Vice came to mind often during the subtly clever comedic idiosyncrasies). Still, it's well-worth seeing, and recovers from any energetic lull in the final act, which stresses cinema as an invaluable space to realise the dreams of our emotional realities. I'll certainly be picking this edition up if only to reinforce Arrow's willingness to release eccentric left-field works otherwise doomed to rest in invisible cinematic graveyards.

User avatar
L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: To Sleep So as to Dream

#6 Post by L.A. » Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:30 pm


Post Reply