There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This remake of "The Ballad of Narayama" has a very respectable rating of 7.7 and lots of very positive reviews. However, I found the film to be an endurance contest of unpleasantness. It also made its point through TONS of what my daughter terms 'sledgehammer symbolism'--where the director tries so hard to put forth their symbolism that it all becomes too tiresome and too obvious. Subtle this movie isn't! This film is set in a time and place in Japan where life is very, very hard and starvation is the norm. To deal with this, the lovely people in these mountains have a tradition--that their elderly should go up in the mountains to die when they reach 70 so that they aren't a burden. Additionally, infanticide, stealing food and all other forms of nastiness abound in this hellish place. But director/writer Shôhei Imamura doesn't stop there--the film also has scenes of bestiality, LOTS of sex scenes (not the sexy kind, either), a family being buried alive, a woman knocking out her own teeth, a guy tossing his father down a mountain and animal abuse! Somehow Imamura seems to have forgotten necrophilia and incest! As far as the symbolism goes, Imamura shows innumerable scenes of animals eating each other or copulating. It's VERY obvious he's trying to draw a parallel to say that these people are living like animals...too obvious. Plus, call me crazy, but I don't want to see all these scenes of animals killing each other or having sex!! Life is too short to watch stuff like this and although "The Ballad of Narayama" has nice production values, the thoroughly unpleasant nature of the film make it hard to recommend to anyone.

I have not, as of this writing, seen Kinoshita's 1958 film, but I'm able to remedy that since Criterion are releasing it on Blu-ray in February. It'll be interesting to compare.Imamura's film is, as one might expect, quite explicit, not least because of his naturalistic documentarian eye. This is way too explicit for my taste, but on the other hand it successfully captures that certain apprehensiveness that perhaps should be evoked in the face of the kind of deleterious brutality that society is capable of, the connivance and all.But first and foremost it all crescendoes to the climatic mountain scenes, the most lucid film-making in Imamura's oeuvre, and absolutely among the most shockingly meaningful, moving and unforgettable images ever put to film. There is the pit (echoing an earlier Imamura film), but it's the mountain that from very early on becomes the leading motif: the mundane vs. the sacred/traditional, the beastly vs. the elevated spirit, life vs. life in death, and so on. But Imamura's sly sense of humanity reminds us where we're coming from after we have started descending from the mountain. The counterpoint of what happens (Tatsuhei is the dumbstruck witness of this) just after we have departed from Orin is genius in its intensity and, yes, brutality. The contrasting elements of peace and violence, dignity and ignobility, solemnity and bitter farce, are so expertly threaded through that the effect of that one short moment left a deep mark in me. I can't say that for many moments in film, no matter how wonderful images I've witnessed. I can see myself visiting that sumptuous ending for years to come.Released on Blu-ray in Region B by the Masters of Cinema series.

"Ballad of Narayama" is ultimately a film about survival.Set during the Meiji Period, the inhabitants of a tiny Japanese farming village are forced to embrace extreme tactics to ensure that they stay alive.Male babies are instantly killed with hardly any remorse, while females are usually sold. Stealing food is punishable by death, which we see in a very disturbing scene where an entire family are buried alive due their father's crime.And, ultimately, the elderly are sent to die at the base of a mountain called Narayama when they reach the age of 70.Despite the depressing tone, there is a lot of humor in this film, as well. The songs that the villagers sing about each other are pretty funny, and it's difficult not to laugh at Old Orin trying to knock her own teeth out with a rock.Speaking of Old Orin, the actress who player her (Sumiko Sakamoto) gives a wonderful performance in this film. She had her teeth surgically removed for this role, and gives a realistic depiction of a 70-year-old woman even though she was in her 40s when the film was made."Ballad of Narayama" is indeed a depressing film in many aspects, but it's also filled with humor and offers a better understanding of what life must be like in these types of situations.

It is a shocker, which opens on a villager finding a dead newborn boy on his field… His only resentment is: why HIS field was chosen? The fact of murdering a baby doesn't seem to concern anyone in this hunger-stricken small village, population of which must adhere to rather radical if cruel set of regulations in order to secure the survival of their community. Set in the late 19th Century, this film will leave you to ponder the structure of our own society as you'll find many parallels with modern day. An unforgettable experience! This masterpiece is not for those who expect to be entertained. Be prepared to be haunted by the scenes of brutality and sexual fervor long after the movie is over. A must see for every serious cinema admirer.