Tsai Ming-liang

[FerdinandGriffon]

How does Stray Dogs fit into that series? I thought the walker shorts always featured Lee as a monk?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I just checked again and I was muddling the translation, it just says that Journey to the West is the sixth film in the series and it's his followup to Stray Dogs, not that Stray Dogs is part of the series (though Stray Dogs has the same 游 "travel, journey" character in its title as Sleepwalk and Journey to the West). The fifth film isn't named, so I can only guess it either hasn't been shown yet or it debuted elsewhere and wasn't noticed. Or maybe Stray Dogs really is the fifth film even though it doesn't seem to fit the pattern.

[repeat]

It sort of makes sense though - even if it doesn't feature the monk, Stray Dogs is certainly more of a piece with Walker than the earlier films: the idea of film as a series of images intended for extensive contemplation and the aspect of "filmed performance" are much more to the fore than in the earlier more "narrative" films so to speak. Also the exploitation of the possibilities of the digital image. I haven't seen Visage yet, but I understand that it was a sort of precursor to this recent style, even though it was still shot on film.

Speaking of the earlier films, can anyone comment on the quality of these Taiwanese releases of The River and Rebels of the Neon God? They are apparently non-English-friendly but if they are good transfers for that price, I could get by with fansubs.

[zedz]

Speaking of the earlier films, can anyone comment on the quality of these Taiwanese releases of The River and Rebels of the Neon God? They are apparently non-English-friendly but if they are good transfers for that price, I could get by with fansubs.

For what it's worth, The River was slated for that series of Taiwanese New Wave BluRays that now seems to be on hold. The last batch (which came out years ago now) included a postcard advertising it. Both films were released, subbed (in indifferent transfers) way back when by Wellspring in the US, and those discs seem to still be available at decent prices through Amazon (The River is about $50 new, but used copies are cheap). Unless you have very clear information to the contrary, I'd assume that the current Taiwanese disc uses the same old transfer.

[StevenJ0001]

For what it's worth, The River was slated for that series of Taiwanese New Wave BluRays that now seems to be on hold. The last batch (which came out years ago now) included a postcard advertising it.

I just got hold of Vive L'amour from that series, and I'm still hoping they release more. I believe the same company (Central Pictures Corporation/Sony Music???) released three Ang Lee Blu-rays in a set just last year and there was talk here on the forum of HHH's A Time to Live and a Time to Die being next (hopefully along with The River!!!)

The Wellspring DVD of The River isn't great as I recall, but it's better than nothing in the interim if one hasn't seen the film, which is amazing IMO.

[whaleallright]

That reminds me, is there any way to get the Blu-Rays in that series without paying exorbitant prices? Most seem to be out of stock at Yesasia.

[twicebilled]

That reminds me, is there any way to get the Blu-Rays in that series without paying exorbitant prices? Most seem to be out of stock at Yesasia.

Pretty sure they are out of print now. I tried to order all of them back in June when YesAsia had them still listed in stock and they eventually told me they didn't think they would get any copies in anytime soon after waiting a month.

[repeat]

Bummer about the Blu-rays - but thanks for the info, I'll certainly hold off on the French The River / Vive L'amour double in that case: if HD materials already exist or are being worked on, I guess there's a good chance they'll find their way on disc eventually. Apparently The Hole is OOP and collectable everywhere by now too.

[Adam X]

For what it's worth, I bought copies of Vive l'Amour, Dust in the Wind and The Terrorizers from Yes Asia last August without a problem. Maybe I got lucky, but I wouldn't necessarily give up hope completely.

[swo17]

And I just bought Terrorizers with no issues in October. Perhaps I got the last copy?

[StevenJ0001]

That reminds me, is there any way to get the Blu-Rays in that series without paying exorbitant prices? Most seem to be out of stock at Yesasia.

I believe JSDVD (http://dvd.jsdvd.com/index.php?language=us) (Taiwanese retailer, I believe) has all of them except Vive L'Amour (I may have grabbed the last one of those --it's disappeared from the site and I can't see it listed in stock anywhere).

Dust in the Wind, Tropical Fish and The Personals are readily available at YesAsia (http://www.yesasia.com/us/taiwan-film-c ... /list.html).

JSDVD may be a good option for anybody looking to get hold of The Terrorizers, because it's gone from YesAsia and possibly everywhere else.

If you haven't ordered from JSDVD before, keep in mind it's a strange ordering process--you order and pay for the product first, then they email you when they've calculated the shipping cost and you pay for that separately. Also, the prices are in Taiwanese currency, I think, so you have to do the conversion. Seems like a good retailer though--the Blu-rays were well packed and shipping was fast.

[perkizitore]

Check books.com.tw as well, but it's not English friendly at all.

[John Edmond]

Arte are hosting Tsai's latest, Journey to the West, for the next day or two. http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/048624-000/ ... n-occident" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'tis astonishing.

[repeat]

New Wave Films just announced acquisition and (DVD) release of Journey to the West along with Stray Dogs.

[Calvin]

Rebels of the Neon God, The River and Vive l'Amour will be released together on Blu-Ray (a la the Hou set) next month in Taiwan. All three are from 2K restorations, presumably Vive l'Amour will be the same as the existing disc.

[Adam X]

Can you repeat that. I feel like I'm hearing things.

Wonderful news!
If I were to look a gifthorse in the mouth, is it known if there's any other Taiwanese films being worked on like this and the Hou set? Feel like I did see a list a while back.

[Zot!]

Well there is already an Ang Lee set, the Hou set, and single releases of a number of others.

[Adam X]

Thanks, but no sorry, I was meaning unreleased. With these two recent sets , along with the revised Dust in the Wind, this feels like the start of something. Or at least a renewed focus.

[StevenJ0001]

Rebels of the Neon God, The River and Vive l'Amour will be released together on Blu-Ray (a la the Hou set) next month in Taiwan. All three are from 2K restorations, presumably Vive l'Amour will be the same as the existing disc.

Sensational news!!! Thank you!!

[Calvin]

If I were to look a gifthorse in the mouth, is it known if there's any other Taiwanese films being worked on like this and the Hou set? Feel like I did see a list a while back.

I know that the portmanteau film In Our Time, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Sandwich Man and Chen Kunhou's Growing Up have been restored but are yet to receive physical releases. Not sure about any others

[Adam X]

Thanks for that Calvin.
Are these new sets still just part of the Central Pictures restoration efforts then, rather than the beginnings of something? (Not having seen Tsai's early films for quite some time I've no memory of who produced them.)

Would be wonderful to see this go further with a set of Tsai's next three features, though I'm sure that's just wishful thinking on a large scale. I've still yet to see What Time Is There? in a release since a festival screening with enough detail to see the clock gag in the bathroom clearly. Fox Lorber, I miss you not.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The CMPC is handling these. That's their Facebook account Calvin linked to and the set is billed as part of the "CMPC Digitally Remastered Collection." The River has been in the works for awhile—as Zedz noted above, a postcard advertising it was included with some of the first wave of CMPC Blus a few years ago—but Rebels of the Neon God seems to be a new announcement, and a very pleasant surprise. I believe The Hole was Tsai's last work with the CMPC.

[Adam X]

Thanks for that
See, this is what happens when you look at the forum on your phone. Much harder to see the big picture.

[zedz]

The CMPC is handling these. That's their Facebook account Calvin linked to and the set is billed as part of the "CMPC Digitally Remastered Collection." The River has been in the works for awhile—as Zedz noted above, a postcard advertising it was included with some of the first wave of CMPC Blus a few years ago—but Rebels of the Neon God seems to be a new announcement, and a very pleasant surprise. I believe The Hole was Tsai's last work with the CMPC.

Which suggests that The Hole (my favourite of those first four films) might be left in its own hole. The rights situation for that film might be different because it was part of that big "2000 vu par" series of films. It seems like films involved in those kind of meta-projects (see also "Tous les garcons et les filles de leur age") have a much better than average chance of ending up in distribution obscurity. The most recent one I can recall is that Mozart one, which seemed to fare better when it came to individual releases. (Apropos of nothing, a google search on that subject revealed that the original titles of I Don't Want to Sleep Alone and Syndromes and a Century were Dark Circle and Intimacy and Turbulence respectively).

[warren oates]

Do people expect this new set to be available via YesAsia.com? I feel like that's where I got The River on BD before, but I checked the other day and see no preorder listing.