International Blu-ray and UHD Discs

[JPJ]

Universal is releasing Roeg's Walkabout in the UK on 10th of September.

September is going to be an expensive month,so many great releases.Bava,Carne,Bunuel,The Trial,Blimp,Mabuse from MOC ..I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

[manicsounds]

20 Blu-ray titles from Kadokawa coming out on 9/28, ranging from Kon Ichikawa's "Inugami Family", "G.I. Samurai", "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (1983 version), and 5 Yusaku Matsuda starring titles like "Detective Story" and "Resurrection of The Golden Wolf".

Almost all the titles include trailers as the only extras, and only come with Japanese language options.

I've been hoping for Criterion to take on "The Inugami Family" (both versions) for a while now, and even hoping for a possibility for a Yusaku Matsuda set. Maybe an Eclipse set, "The Badass Roles of Yusaku Matsuda" perhaps?

[Michael Kerpan]

I thought Negishi's 1983 Detective Story was great fun. Matsuda is not really a bad-ass "here" -- then-teen-idol Hiroko Yakushimaru pretty much is the live wire. Negishi seems to be a pretty good "non-auteur" director -- from what little I've seen.

Girl who Leapt Through Time had a number of good points -- but I thought its animated bits were awful. Not an Obayashi fan, I guess.

[manicsounds]

I thought Negishi's 1983 Detective Story was great fun. Matsuda is not really a bad-ass "here" -- then-teen-idol Hiroko Yakushimaru pretty much is the live wire. Negishi seems to be a pretty good "non-auteur" director -- from what little I've seen.

Girl who Leapt Through Time had a number of good points -- but I thought its animated bits were awful. Not an Obayashi fan, I guess.

I think the anime version of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" was much better, but for lots of people in Japan, the original live-action movie (starring the ageless Tomoyo Harada, who does not look 45 years old) is much beloved by the majority of people in Japan as part of popular culture. Although I think the anime version is slowly catching up to the masses.

[feckless boy]

Sternberg's The Blue Angel is scheduled for 31st August in Germany.

Special features according to bluray-disc.de:

• English version
• Marlene's live performances of "Falling in Love Again" (Stockholm, 1963), "Lola" and "You're the Cream in My Coffee" (London, 1972)
• Audio commentary by film historian Werner Sudendorf
• Two trailers (1930 and 1960)
• Test shots
• Scene comparison between English and German versions

Posted some screenshots in the proper thread.
No English subs on the German version, no subs at all on the English language version.

[triodelover]

No English subs on the German version, no subs at all on the English language version.

A question, because it wasn't clear to me from the specs at the Universum web site. The web site leaves the impression that the only version we are getting is the longer German version in the original German and with the option of English dubs (unlike the Kino that offers the shorter US version as well as the German version with English subs). Is this the case or are we getting both versions with the only English-friendly version being the US release?

[TMDaines]

Meh, doesn't knock my socks off but maybe it looks better in motion.

I've just ordered the German Blu-ray of M. It looks a thing of beauty so I can't wait to get hold of it. I already own the MoC but the further restoration and extras, as well as the remarkable packaging was too good to turn down. I'd like to get the German Metropolis eventually too but it costs too much right now.

No English subs on the German version, no subs at all on the English language version.

A question, because it wasn't clear to me from the specs at the Universum web site. The web site leaves the impression that the only version we are getting is the longer German version in the original German and with the option of English dubs (unlike the Kino that offers the shorter US version as well as the German version with English subs). Is this the case or are we getting both versions with the only English-friendly version being the US release?

I don't think an English-dubbed version of the German version exists, does it?

[triodelover]

I don't think an English-dubbed version of the German version exists, does it?

Didn't think so, but wasn't sure. Trouble is, I can't make the listed times at the IMDB (assuming correctness) plus the extras add up to just 210 min, which is the listed time for the BD. Of course, that may not include the extras, but then the only things that add up are the US and UK cuts, and that doesn't make sense.

I assume Kino will licenses for the US and replicate their SD package, but the Universum M is such a lovely package. And my university German is over four decades in the rear view mirror.

[manicsounds]

Ectasy BD review

And to capitalize on it more Irvine Welsh's name is prominent on the cover, as does the Trainspotting style cover. Film gets an average review...

[JPJ]

Preminger's Forever Amber.

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B008BLSOT4/ref= ... pe_vfe_dt8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Hofmeister]

Preminger's Forever Amber.

http://www.amazon.fr/dp/B008BLSOT4/ref= ... pe_vfe_dt8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Careful, it's coming from Sidonis who are infamous for forced French subtitles with the original audio, see their recent Western BDs. Here are links to Gary Tooze's reviews of BROKEN ARROW, GARDEN OF EVIL, and WARLOCK.

[manicsounds]

Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor And Humanity Japanese BD boxset out on 3/21/2013
Includes all 5 movies, plus a condensed 224 minute version of the film (theatrically shown in the 80s), plus a 90 minute documentary which was broadcast on NHK about the making of the series. English options? Don't know yet.

[Lowry_Sam]

Has anyone purchased any of the blu-rays from Japan lately? Many seemed to be coming out in gorgeous digipacks that, quite frankly have better covers than anywhere else. I hadn't really payed much attention, but it seems that there's been a rash of excellent Japanese release of late....but no info on English subtitles:
La Dolce Vita
Caravaggio
Les Amants des Montparnasse
Murmur Of The Heart
Lacombe Lucien
The Lovers
The Fire Within
Peter Greenaway Box
The Killing Fields
La Belle Noiseuse
The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg
Donkey Skin
Werner Herzog Box 1 & 2
]Talk To Her
Naked Lunch
The Trial
Touchez pas au grisbi
Le Trou
Elevator to The Gallows

(sorry couldn't get all the URL's for amazon.co.jp to work)

[repeat]

I don't think this has been mentioned here yet: an (apparently) English-friendly French Blu-ray of Oslo, August 31st

[andyli]

The Japanese blu-ray of La Dolce Vita uses the restoration by The Film Foundation (=amazing!). The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg looks mediocre at best. Kusturica's Underground looks better than ever. The Last Emperor is the first blu-ray holding both versions in the correct Scope AR. I'd expect the StudioCanal titles use whatever masters SC supplies them.

[Drucker]

The Japanese blu-ray of La Dolce Vita uses the restoration by The Film Foundation (=amazing!). The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg looks mediocre at best. Kusturica's Underground looks better than ever. The Last Emperor is the first blu-ray holding both versions in the correct Scope AR. I'd expect the StudioCanal titles use whatever masters SC supplies them.

Do the discs you mentioned (I'm most interested in La Dolce Vita) have English subs?

[andyli]

No, I don't believe they carry English subtitles.

[feihong]

Not on your list, but I took the plunge on Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy on blu. I know they won't have English subtitles, but they're some of my favorite films, and I'm curious to see how they will turn out to be. I saw all three of these in theaters, with gorgeous prints and it was a transcendent experience. Hopefully, the discs'll have nice grain structure.

[Rupert Pupkin]

The Japanese blu-ray of La Dolce Vita uses the restoration by The Film Foundation (=amazing!). The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg looks mediocre at best. Kusturica's Underground looks better than ever. The Last Emperor is the first blu-ray holding both versions in the correct Scope AR. I'd expect the StudioCanal titles use whatever masters SC supplies them.

thanks a lot for your answer.

I hope that the blu-ray of La Dolce Vita will be announced somewhere else (in Europe, in the US) on blu-ray using the same restoration (it hasn't been released in Italy on blu-ray so far ???)...

do you have some feedbacks about the Rohmer blu-ray ? (there has been a lot of Rohmer on blu-ray released in Japan (les contes des saisons/four seasons tales, even Triple Agent has been released here...)
but I have been unable to find some screenshots or review so far...

[andyli]

I haven't seen these Rohmer blu-ray yet.

[Calvin]

Japanese Shuji Terayama Blu-Ray box in April. It contains Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets, Pastoral: To Die in the Country and Farewell to the Ark. Fingers crossed for an English friendly release soon...

[feihong]

Aw, man. On the website now it says no English subtitles. In the world of Japanese discs, "no" generally means only "no," and no exceptions. It would be great to see Pastoral with real film grain and everything.


In other news, I received the Pony Canyon blu-ray boxset of the Seijun Suzuki Taisho Trilogy. Of course, there are no English subtitles. It's...it's interesting.

It never looks as if there's grain reduction going on. There's healthy depth in all the shots, and no surface ever looks waxy. There isn't visible moire or rough gradients on display in the transfers. What it looks like is A) the films are not 4k transfers and B) there has been no restoration work done on the films, and they are beginning to need it.

Zigeunerweisen and Kagero–Za are quite variable in terms of picture quality. Some shots appear very soft, and some shots even seem to lose their focus entirely at odd moments, usually just before a cut. Then some shots, especially closeups, look piercingly sharp and incredibly deep. I've seen the films theatrically, and I do remember some surprisingly soft shots on occasion, but I can't at this far a remove really recall whether or not the shots on the disc match up exactly with what I saw.

In 35mm Zigeunerweisen has a somewhat soft, velvety look. That comes through on the disc for sure, and the softest material on the disc is all at the beginning. As the film progresses it seems to gain depth of field, detail and sharpness. There are several scenes in Zigeunerweisen which are shot in nearly David-Hamilton-style soft-focus, and while that is apparent here, the effect of the soft-focus seems somewhat less than what I remember from the theatrical exhibition.

All three films use considerable shadow--Kagero-Za in particular has lots of thick black space. That said, the black space is only sometimes very rich.

Yumeji fares the best of the three films. It is generally full of depth and has a very visible, healthy grain structure.

I'm no expert on this, but I can generally spot DNR, and it didn't look like that was what was happening with these films. Zigeunerweisen especially is a bit disappointing, because in a theater the film has tremendous depth of field and really unique, rich color, and it is the film that stays fairly flat for the longest. It improves tremendously in the 2nd act, when Nakasago takes to the road. All of a sudden the closeups of Naoko Otani look luminous and huge and seem to reach out of the screen. After that there are moments of great sharpness and clarity.

[manicsounds]

Kino needs to put those Suzuki films out in the US on BD...

[feihong]

I don't think Kino can do it. KimStim was the company that got the rights to the films, I thought, and Kino served to distribute the discs. Someone butchered those DVDs, anyway.

But the Kino nowadays, releasing these discs is like a dream. I wish it could work.



In other news, the Wildside blu ray of Red River arrived yesterday. I am no expert, but man, does this transfer look wild. There are exceptionally crisp, sharp shots, full of depth and grain...and then there are shots with enough digital noise that it looks a little like a VCD--or at least, a terrible old MGM dvd. The disc alternates between these randomly, and there isn't a section of the picture that seems to be of consistently high or low quality. The sharper shots are breathtaking. The murky shots and dismaying. And to me the disc goes back and forth and forth and back, between agony and ecstasy.

I don't know what to attribute those digitally crushed shots to. Print damage? There are also several scenes in which the print gets splotchy and unevenly shaded for about 20 or 30 seconds at a time.

The disc definitely looks better than the old dvd, but the presence of those overly-digital shots is very weird to me.

[Finch]

Japanese BD of The Great Silence with Kinski & Tritingnant is a dud.