Very compelling camerawork, but despite the density of the plot(?), I couldn't help feeling it could have been more effective if it were shorter (I watched the 205-minute version). Definitely will require another viewing.

Technically accomplished and beautiful but it's a film which procrastinates for 202 minutes on ideas that never gel together, creating a tedious chore to sit through. With such an unwieldy use of length, a much shorter running time would be enough, and even than its story combining drama and political disarray feels flimsy, especially against a fellow director like Shôhei Imamura who made films in the same era much filling and incisive on the period the films were made in.