Review: 'Tokyo Olympiad' More Stunning Than Ever in New Criterion Blu-ray Edition

Properly heralded as one of the greatest sports documentaries ever made, "Tokyo Olympiad" still astounds in the way it shows bodies in motion, making poetry not just out of the moving image, but out of the subjects affixed in the frame. The Criterion Collection brings Kon Ichikawa's masterpiece to Blu-ray as a standalone release, as the film was previously made available in the mammoth "100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912-2002" set that came out a few years ago. Luckily, those who pick up this release will be treated to a beautiful video presentation and a slew of new special features to dig into that weren't included in the aforementioned set.

Ichikawa is brought up multiple times by those in the special features as belonging in the same category as Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima and Yasujiro Ozu. While those auteurs are certainly more well known than Ichikawa, "Tokyo Olympiad" stands as a testament to how masterful of a filmmaker he really was.

It's clear from the first shot that the presentation of process is just as honest as the athletes sacrificing everything they have during the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo. And what was originally commissioned by the Japanese government turned out to be more of a mosaic of events during the Olympics than a state-sanctioned narrative about national pride.

What set "Tokyo Olympiad" apart from so many other documentaries at the time was the advent of a lot of new camera technology, like telephoto lenses and slow motion. Over 100 unlisted cameramen equipped with dollies and helicopters captured a huge amount of footage from those games, but its Ichikawa and editor Tatsuji Nakashizu's work in cutting all that work into something coherent that remains one of the film's greatest triumphs. Hell, it's still amazing that of all films, this was the one that grossed the most money at the box office in Japan until Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" dethroned it in 2001.

You'll find a stunning video transfer of "Tokyo Olympiad" on this new Blu-ray, as well as some great special features. The inclusion of the 31-minute "A Singular Vision" – featuring interviews from Tatsumi Ichikawa, editor Chizuko Osada and cameraman Masuo Yamaguchi – that really goes deep into Ichikawa's approach to the film during the production and in the editing bay. These interviews have an archival feel to them, reveling in the many stories spurred from the memory of the subjects. It's a terrific addition to an already terrific release. Highly recommended. Other special features include:

� Audio commentary from 2001 by film historian Peter Cowie
� New introduction to the film by Cowie
� Over eighty minutes of additional material from the Tokyo Games, with a new introduction by Cowie
� Archival interviews with director Kon Ichikawa
� New interview with restoration producer Adrian Wood
� Trailers
� Booklet essay by film scholar James Quandt

"Tokyo Olympiad"
Blu-ray
$39.95
https://www.criterion.com/films/709-tokyo-olympiad