Chapters 19

Gary Tooze

***

What a magnificent surprise to be able to view yet another Ichikawa masterpiece. He is a fascinating director who has covered such a variety of subjects from socially relevant war pictures, epic period pieces even extending to black comedies! From an inspiring true story evolves a brilliant film experience broaching an overwhelming story rife with delicately positioned flashbacks.

This is single-layered one-disc offering (4.03 Gig) and the anamorphic image appears a shade soft. The film contains some brilliant outdoor cinematography that the MoC DVD captures with competence. Colors seem true and the image, a restored HD transfer from the original negative, is clean without manipulation. The digital transfer is in the NTSC standard and represents all aspects of Ichikawa's film fairly impressively. There are excellently rendered optional English subtitles and original mono Japanese audio.

Extras include the original Japanese trailer and two teasers - each subtitled and another strong 24-page booklet featuring a colour reproduction of the original Japanese poster, archival publicity stills, and an essay by Brent Kliewer (professor at the College of Santa Fe).

Alone Across the Pacific is described as: "A powerful hymn to the human spirit, Alone Across the Pacific – by renowned Japanese director Kon Ichikawa (An Actor's Revenge, The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad) – tells the extraordinary real-life story of one man's obsessive quest to break free from the strictures of society.

In 1962, Kenichi Horie (Yujiro Ishihara) embarks on a heroic attempt to sail single-handed across the Pacific Ocean. Leaving Osaka in an ill-prepared vessel – The Mermaid – the young adventurer must overcome the most savage of seas, the psychological torment of cabin fever, and his mental and physical breaking point, if he is ever to reach the fabled destination of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

Using Horie's best-selling logbook as his source, Ichikawa portrays the epic struggle of man against nature. 'Scope cinematography – with Horie isolated in the oceanic expanse of the frame – and a score by celebrated composer Toru Takemitsu, add to the drama of a film for which Ichikawa received a Golden Globe nomination, among other accolades. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Alone Across the Pacific for home viewing in the UK for the very first time."

I strongly encourage film-fans to view via the Masters of Cinema DVD package.

Henry Kedger