Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[rapta]

Wondering if one of them will be a box set, either that or another Raro title. These days there are generally four titles minimum, and they implied they would be ramping them up a little every six months or so.

Sounds like we won’t get Palindromes quite yet, and not sure the Oshima set isn’t read yet. Those are my two most anticipated of the ones we know so far.

‘THE’ could be Themroc or Therese…or neither! Feel like The Railroad Man might be correct though.

[spectre]

The "RJ" clue is the one I'm most hanging out for! Crossing my fingers for Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World.

[DJBillyMac]

I’ve read that the ‘iron man’ newsletter clue could be Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Iron (seems unlikely with the countries for this month) and also that it could be Pietro Germi’s The Railroad Man, but what if it’s Yasuo Furuhata’s Railroad Man? That would fit the initials on the clue more neatly. This is also wishful thinking on my part because I’d like to see a cool release of that movie. We’ll see in a few hours I guess!

[ryannichols7]

I’ve read that the ‘iron man’ newsletter clue could be Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Iron (seems unlikely with the countries for this month) and also that it could be Pietro Germi’s The Railroad Man, but what if it’s Yasuo Furuhata’s Railroad Man? That would fit the initials on the clue more neatly. This is also wishful thinking on my part because I’d like to see a cool release of that movie. We’ll see in a few hours I guess!

I don't see Radiance doing that much Polish cinema, especially since there hasn't been any since the Szulkin box. think the Germi is very likely personally, but we'll see

[TMDaines]

Another two Italian Blu-rays: one invaluable Petri only previously released in Japan and one saves me importing a Raro/Kino. Hopefully they do all the titles in Raro's second Di Leo box now.

[DJBillyMac]

Still kind of hoping they'll do some of Furuhata's films at some point but still a cool lineup this month, not familiar with Sadao Nakajima much less his 12th most popular film on Letterboxd but that's what I like about these guys. Next month's clue is 'the ghost is back' - maybe Daiei Gothic 2? Also can't help but notice they still seem to be skipping around spine #100, wonder if that'll be a significant one?

[rapta]

Still kind of hoping they'll do some of Furuhata's films at some point but still a cool lineup this month, not familiar with Sadao Nakajima much less his 12th most popular film on Letterboxd but that's what I like about these guys. Next month's clue is 'the ghost is back' - maybe Daiei Gothic 2? Also can't help but notice they still seem to be skipping around spine #100, wonder if that'll be a significant one?

Would be great to see Furuhata/Takakura box set, but whilst two of their best known collaborations through Toei are possible (Winter's Flower, Railroad Man), a few key ones are tied up with Toho (Station, Choji Snack Bar, Demon). Still, never say never, and I suppose they could also do some of their 60s/70s collaborations (e.g. Glorious Fights, Prison Boss, Brave Red Flower of the North, A Hoodlum at the Risk of His Life, Patience Has an End).

And not Takakura, but the 'samurai classic' teased could be Shogun's Shadow (though some people suggested Tanaka's The Betrayal, which might also tie in with the 'BET' teaser clue).

Not sure about next month's clue yet, but I assumed Daiei Gothic Vol 2 wouldn't be 'til October, if last year was anything to go by. I wouldn't say no to another though!

On the clues front, I still haven't figured out any for the following:

TOO
TAT
BTD
MAL
SEN

And unless I'm mistaken, these were never revealed from last year's list:

PDC (Pastoral: To Die in the Country? / Puzzle of a Downfall Child?)
MH (Manhunt / Melvin & Howard?)
RB (Robert Bresson?)
SM (Symbol of a Man? / Swords in the Moonlight?)

EDIT: Just realised 'TOO' could be Kato's The Tale of Oiwa's Ghost, and 'TAT' might be Yamashita's The Tattooed Hitman. Both are Toei titles by directors already previously explored by Radiance...

[domino harvey]

Rarewaves is having a 30% off sale on select Radiance titles here -- some real good deals here if you can buy enough to make up for the flat shipping

[lastrade]

My wishlist for Radiance would probably run something like this:

Fassbinder's TV plays and Jailbait
Hong Sang Soo box
Wang Bing documentary box
Jean Eustache box
Further Jean Rouch films that aren't in the box released in America
Michael Snow - La Région Centrale
Dau box (not sure what is happening with this project anymore, they haven't updated the webpage where you could stream the films for a couple of years now - hopefully it will come out somehow!)
Cristi Puiu - Three Exercises of Interpretation

Still hopeful that Ulrich Seidl's latest / Cristi Puiu's latest will get released in cinemas in the UK outside of London at some point.

[kekid]

Is there an easy way to find recent Radiance announcements?
The otherwise excellent index does not seem to do this. Lacking this, we need to go through the whole list to find out what is new.

[swo17]

Just go to Radiance's home page. The most recent announcements are shown first

[ryannichols7]

My wishlist for Radiance would probably run something like this:

Fassbinder's TV plays and Jailbait
Hong Sang Soo box
Wang Bing documentary box
Jean Eustache box
Further Jean Rouch films that aren't in the box released in America
Michael Snow - La Région Centrale
Dau box (not sure what is happening with this project anymore, they haven't updated the webpage where you could stream the films for a couple of years now - hopefully it will come out somehow!)
Cristi Puiu - Three Exercises of Interpretation

Still hopeful that Ulrich Seidl's latest / Cristi Puiu's latest will get released in cinemas in the UK outside of London at some point.

Criterion hold Eustache worldwide and look to be just sitting on those, so far at least. I believe Fran has addressed Hong before, he's a big fan but wonders whether the Cinema Guild/Grasshopper releases in the US kinda cover the demand for HSS globally

can't speak to the rest but I'm interested in anything Fassbinder at all

[kekid]

Just go to Radiance's home page. The most recent announcements are shown first

Thanks, swo17.

[Aunt Peg]

Still hopeful that Ulrich Seidl's latest / Cristi Puiu's latest will get released in cinemas in the UK outside of London at some point.

Day one for me if the latest from Siedl or Puiu are released (as well as their earlier films).

[Finch]

Fran tweeted about deals at the Berlinale:

Just had my final Berlin Film Festival meeting and ended on a bang. A clutch of exciting deals confirmed, an even bigger batch of titles lined up for the future (pending approvals, master checks etc) which is VERY exciting. Flags won’t do it justice but it’s very exciting!

[DJBillyMac]

Someone on the Radiance subreddit made these suggestions.
TOO - Tai Kato's Tale of Oiwa's Ghost (for this month's 'the ghost returns' clue)
IMS - Marina de Van's In My Skin (would fit the French extremity title)

[Finch]

I would love for it to be Tale of Iowa's Ghost bit doesn't Fran say there wasn't going to be more Kato in 2025?

[ryannichols7]

I would love for it to be Tale of Iowa's Ghost bit doesn't Fran say there wasn't going to be more Kato in 2025?

he did

also is In My Skin really big enough to be a UHD title?

[swo17]

Severin just recently announced it for UHD

[rapta]

I would love for it to be Tale of Iowa's Ghost bit doesn't Fran say there wasn't going to be more Kato in 2025?

Admittedly he did say that last year, but that's not to say he sorted something out after making that statement (might have become available suddenly, and it's one of the last key Kato titles from the Toei vaults). Bear in mind at one point they hadn't yet licensed The Man from Majorca when I had asked a few times in 2023/24, then it popped up in the announcements for the end of last year, so the occasional surprise does happen...

Anyway, we'll find out soon enough I'm sure - new announcements next week. Curious if a UHD is announced.

PS: Sounds like the above Redditor must be someone active on these forums and/or BR.com (they weren't the first person to suggest those titles corresponding with the clues).

[zedz]

It would be nice to see him dip his toes back into Iranian cinema specifically with more Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Calvin mentioned him already). I know the Arrow set didn't sell well but those weren't titles he's well known for so they kind of set themselves up to fail (even though the set is absolutely wonderful). Hell even the films by the rest of the Makhmalbaf family would be great.

It's surprising that nobody has packaged his breakthrough 1980s films The Peddler, The Cyclist and Marriage of the Blessed as a box set. Close-Up has eventually become some kind of modern classic, so surely there's at least a modest audience who'd like to understand the context for that film.

Another obvious collection would be his "meta-cinema" films of the 90s: A Moment of Innocence, Salam Cinema, Once Upon a Time, Cinema. I've never seen The Actor, and it sounds like that one might not fit tonally, but bung it in there too!

Makhmalbaf is certainly a major modern director whose key work is very poorly represented on home video.

[ryannichols7]

Severin just recently announced it for UHD

so they did. it also seems to have more views than Pola X on letterboxd too so I guess it's bigger than I expected...that and it's unquestionably a New French Extremity title, it's looking like it'll be that

flag hints today hopefully soon enough

[criterionsnob]

Social media tease. So 6 films?

Tomorrow, some big releases from Japan, America, France, Germany, Sweden and Italy... Tune in tomorrow for our announcements

[Apperson]

I would bet that the makeup is single titles for the Japanese and American release, World Noir 3 for the French, German and Swedish titles, and that the Italian will be a Raro Video title.

[Finch]

I honestly wouldn't mind if the Japanese noirs got their own releases and not be bundled with other foreign noirs. Outside of the French noir with Ventura in the first WN box, I wasn't excited with the non-Japanese selections, and sold my WN2 box on.