Zhang Yimou

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Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Zhang Yimou

#77 Post by Calvin » Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:34 am

I wonder if it will be the 'Y Box Set' on the Arrow list for October. I haven't heard any other suggestions anyway.

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Zhang Yimou

#78 Post by yoloswegmaster » Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:46 am

Calvin wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:34 am
I wonder if it will be the 'Y Box Set' on the Arrow list for October. I haven't heard any other suggestions anyway.
I think I've seen it be suggested that it was for a Yokai Monsters boxset.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Zhang Yimou

#79 Post by Calvin » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:20 pm

James Flower said last year that Arrow wouldn't be doing Yokai Monsters (at that point) as Kadokawa only had an HD master for one of them. I wouldn't be surprised if Arrow funded restorations off the back of their success with other tokusatsu titles but I'd bet against it being this year.

beamish14
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#80 Post by beamish14 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:49 pm

Yellow Earth would be phenomenal, but I'm not counting on that getting an official HD release in North America anytime soon. Maybe a box of his Sony-controlled films like The Road Home and Happy Times.

Glowingwabbit
Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Zhang Yimou

#81 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sat Apr 17, 2021 2:32 pm

beamish14 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:49 pm
Yellow Earth would be phenomenal, but I'm not counting on that getting an official HD release in North America anytime soon. Maybe a box of his Sony-controlled films like The Road Home and Happy Times.
Yellow Earth would be great but he didn't direct that one.

beamish14
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#82 Post by beamish14 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 2:58 pm

Glowingwabbit wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 2:32 pm
beamish14 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:49 pm
Yellow Earth would be phenomenal, but I'm not counting on that getting an official HD release in North America anytime soon. Maybe a box of his Sony-controlled films like The Road Home and Happy Times.
Yellow Earth would be great but he didn't direct that one.


Not officially, no, but Yimou's role on it was a but more nebulous than the official director/DP relationship, as indicated by interviews with Chen Kaige (whose own works really need HD releases as well).

Glowingwabbit
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#83 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sat Apr 17, 2021 3:06 pm

beamish14 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 2:58 pm
Glowingwabbit wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 2:32 pm
beamish14 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:49 pm
Yellow Earth would be phenomenal, but I'm not counting on that getting an official HD release in North America anytime soon. Maybe a box of his Sony-controlled films like The Road Home and Happy Times.
Yellow Earth would be great but he didn't direct that one.


Not officially, no, but Yimou's role on it was a but more nebulous than the official director/DP relationship, as indicated by interviews with Chen Kaige (whose own works really need HD releases as well).
Oh interesting I wasn't aware of that. Chen Kaige's King of the Children had a nice limited edition in China but so far none of those WCL titles have popped up elsewhere.

yoshimori
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#84 Post by yoshimori » Sat Apr 17, 2021 4:53 pm

> Yimou's role

Just for future reference ... Family name is Zhang. Chinese and Korean names - and Japanese names in Japan and increasingly in the West - are family name first, given name(s) last. So Zhang Yimou is Mr Zhang. Kim Ki-duk is Mr Kim. And Kurosawa Kiyoshi (or Kiyoshi Kurosawa in the US) is Mr Kurosawa.

It was quite surprising that the guy from Ballyhoo who's working on the Zhang Yimou film referred to him as "Yimou". That's the equivalent of saying "George's Star Wars movie".

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bad future
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:16 pm

Re: Zhang Yimou

#85 Post by bad future » Sat Apr 17, 2021 5:49 pm

yoshimori wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 4:53 pm
> Yimou's role

Just for future reference ... Family name is Zhang. Chinese and Korean names - and Japanese names in Japan and increasingly in the West - are family name first, given name(s) last. So Zhang Yimou is Mr Zhang. Kim Ki-duk is Mr Kim. And Kurosawa Kiyoshi (or Kiyoshi Kurosawa in the US) is Mr Kurosawa.

It was quite surprising that the guy from Ballyhoo who's working on the Zhang Yimou film referred to him as "Yimou". That's the equivalent of saying "George's Star Wars movie".
This also makes me doubt the possibility that Arrow’s “Y BOX SET” clue would refer to him, as much as I’d love for that to come true.

Forgive the neophyte question, but is there a generally known reason why Zhang’s earlier films remain so poorly represented on English-friendly blu-ray? Is it a rights thing? Chinese censorship?

(edit- I did see there was some super-limited group-buy release of Red Sorghum recently that’s going for absurd prices on eBay, and I know Nova Media in S. Korea did a blu ray box but without English subs on most discs. Hopefully if they can do it, some US/UK label could?)

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MichaelB
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#86 Post by MichaelB » Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:31 pm

yoshimori wrote:> Yimou's role

Just for future reference ... Family name is Zhang. Chinese and Korean names - and Japanese names in Japan and increasingly in the West - are family name first, given name(s) last. So Zhang Yimou is Mr Zhang. Kim Ki-duk is Mr Kim. And Kurosawa Kiyoshi (or Kiyoshi Kurosawa in the US) is Mr Kurosawa.

It was quite surprising that the guy from Ballyhoo who's working on the Zhang Yimou film referred to him as "Yimou". That's the equivalent of saying "George's Star Wars movie".
I once saw someone referring to Chow Yun-Fat as “Fat”, which is like calling Jean-Claude Van Damme “Claude”.

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swo17
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#87 Post by swo17 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:59 pm

A helpful pattern that usually seems to apply to Chinese and Korean names: the family name is one syllable while the given name is two. Exceptions to this pattern (like Bi Gan and Hu Bo) always throw me off.

Another tip: Wikipedia is reliable for ordering names based on regional preference, while IMDb Americanizes everything

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#88 Post by hearthesilence » Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:34 pm

yoshimori wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 4:53 pm
It was quite surprising that the guy from Ballyhoo who's working on the Zhang Yimou film referred to him as "Yimou". That's the equivalent of saying "George's Star Wars movie".
Maybe they're really close friends? "Me and Yimou, we're like THIS!" (crossing fingers)

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MichaelB
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#89 Post by MichaelB » Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:56 am

Hungarian names are an interesting variant because as far as I can make out the surname-first practice is exclusive to the Hungarian language, and they regard writing Hungarian names surname-last as perfectly acceptable in English or indeed any other language bar Hungarian.

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Shrew
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#90 Post by Shrew » Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:28 pm

To throw a further wrench into things, there's also the emergence of more Asian people born/primarily working in America or Europe, who often follow western Given-Family name order. For instance, I've seen people overcorrecting by referring to Bing Liu as "Bing" when Liu is his family name.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#91 Post by hearthesilence » Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:31 am

Shrew wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 8:28 pm
To throw a further wrench into things, there's also the emergence of more Asian people born/primarily working in America or Europe, who often follow western Given-Family name order. For instance, I've seen people overcorrecting by referring to Bing Liu as "Bing" when Liu is his family name.
Good point, though I believe this has been an adaptation to Western custom since the beginning rather than a new trend.

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Shrew
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#92 Post by Shrew » Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:46 pm

True. I guess it's more of how Asians in America/Europe have become more likely to go by an Asian given name rather than adopting/being given an anglicized one (Anna May Wong, James Hong, Brue Lee, Walter Chaw, etc).

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#93 Post by hearthesilence » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:02 pm

Shrew wrote:
Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:46 pm
True. I guess it's more of how Asians in America/Europe have become more likely to go by an Asian given name rather than adopting/being given an anglicized one (Anna May Wong, James Hong, Brue Lee, Walter Chaw, etc).
It may not be reflective of the majority, but from my personal experience, Asians who were the first generation born in America usually got English first names (as seen on their official documents like passports and ID's) along with a name in their parents' first language, and I *think* this usually became their middle name (again, as seen on their official docs). As for the parents who immigrated, while they did keep their own names, I have a vague recollection that some may have tried out English names. I'm not sure how many did - I know of one couple where the mother often went by the English name while the father didn't - and the reasons for doing so may vary, but I always got the impression that it may have been a practical choice if you lived in a community that had few Asians and wanted something most non-Chinese/Korean/Japanese/etc. speakers would pronounce correctly without trouble (especially during the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s).

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Tommaso
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am

Re: Zhang Yimou

#94 Post by Tommaso » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:04 pm

I'm confused about Icelandic names. I thought that the apparent family name wasn't a family name, but simply a patronymic (i.e. you take the name of the father and just add 'son' or 'dottir'). So that Iceland's most famous musician shouldn't be called "Ms. Gudmundsdottir", but simply by her given name, "Björk". The same for director Hrafn Gunnlaugsson, who I've seen repeatedly mentioned simply as "Hrafn". So far, so good. But why then do the names of the players of Iceland's national soccer team always appear as "Jonasson", "Sigmundsson" etc. (I'm making up these names here, but you get my drift) on their jerseys? Ignorance on part of the FIFA/UEFA? Or is it possible to refer to Icelanders by either their first name or the patronymic if you're not friends with them? And what's the more accepted form in academic writing?

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hearthesilence
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#95 Post by hearthesilence » Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:08 pm

To update what I posted, all of my Indian and Middle Eastern friends born in the U.S. do not have English or Americanized names. I've never had this discussion with them, but I guess there's a common trend or custom among different ethnicities in terms of whether children born here are given English or Americanized names.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#96 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:40 pm

I always recommend that when introducing an Asian name into an online conversation one should put the family name in ALL CAPS. HOU Hsiao-hsien, Yasujiro OZU, etc. I notice that, in some cases, this is done in film credits.

Calvin
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Re: Zhang Yimou

#97 Post by Calvin » Fri Jun 18, 2021 5:33 am

Imprint have announced Collaborations: The Cinema of Zhang Yimou and Gong Li for a September release.

MOD NOTE: Discussion for this title can be found here.

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