Viewed on DVD. Editing = 2.5 stars; restoration = 2.5 stars. Director Keisuke Kinoshita's lyrical outing suffers from an attempt to blend epoch drama with an all-purpose (Swiss-army-knife) children's choral concert. The mash up is quite effective when the Director sticks with cute first-grade school songs. Not so much when his children's chorus sings lyrics that: consist of blank-verse nonsense (a phenomenon often found on the sound track of films from this era); take on an unrealistic adult perspective; provide expository information (voice-over singing); deliver travel logs; provide third-party points of view; etc. In short, this incessant "racket" rapidly becomes an irritant especially when it keeps interrupting the very engaging story line. The film needs a good scrub by an experienced musical director (which would also shorten a too long film and keep the focus squarely on the unfolding high drama). It is amusing to see that school classes seem to be limited to--you guessed it--singing! No less interesting is the lack of continuity when 12 first-grade children (24 eyes) suddenly become 20 or more (40 eyes!). Kinoshita makes effective use of very long scenes by ensuring they remain engaging. Acting, however, is uneven due to limitations in script and direction. The talents of leading actress Hideko Takamine (playing a "modern" school teacher) are squandered with dialog along the lines of "I don't know what to say" and "I can't say anything now" and ever present sobbing (more than half of Takamine's performance is limited to crying!). Distinguished actor Chishû Ryû is both miscast and misdirected playing a clueless first-grade music teacher. Director Kinoshita also over doses on cute (but hammy and obviously staged) mug shots of children (the same shots are repeatedly shown). Subtitles do not translate hand writing and some singing bouts. Cinematography (narrow screen, black and white) uses an antique format (perhaps due to budging issues and/or fear of updating?). Editing errors and restoration that does not correct for same occur with each inter-scene dissolve in the first third of the movie. Linked scenes go out of focus just before and immediately after each dissolve (could at least be replaced with jump cuts during restoration?). Sound dubbing is OK. Nonchoral music consists of a rich score that include some riffs on Steven Foster and Auld Lang Syne. Enjoyable, especially if you are into choral music big time! WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of Twenty-Four Eyes
