BD 129-130 Dragon Inn & A Touch of Zen

[Finch]

Bear in mind they've got A Touch of Zen as well so perhaps they're saving a buckload of features for that title instead. Frankly, I'm just pleased Dragon Inn gets released on Blu-Ray at all.

[L.A.]

Frankly, I'm just pleased Dragon Inn gets released on Blu-Ray at all.

Me too, pleased as well.

Also, I think that newsreel footage is a good extra. I like that kind of supplemental material, at least something different for a change.

[rapta]

I sincerely hope their “ultimate Dziga Vertov Man with a Movie Camera” release won’t go through the same limitations there.

They'd better not, after describing it as a 'deluxe special edition set' featuring a 'collection of Vertov's other works'.

Bear in mind they've got A Touch of Zen as well so perhaps they're saving a buckload of features for that title instead. Frankly, I'm just pleased Dragon Inn gets released on Blu-Ray at all.

I was thinking exactly this...perhaps they've expanded the documentary to cover more of Hu's career and it will be part of the A Touch of Zen disc instead? Either that or David Cairns was originally going to be involved in the documentary and instead they altered his task and got him to do a video essay specific to Dragon Inn (whilst carrying on with the main doc).

Of course, they could have just ditched it altogether - I know a video essay isn't quite the same as a documentary, but perhaps that's what they meant when they originally stated "New documentary and interview material". It does sound quite vague now I read it again, as if they hadn't decided what to include yet (documentary material and/or interview material).

[knives]

Bear in mind they've got A Touch of Zen as well so perhaps they're saving a buckload of features for that title instead. Frankly, I'm just pleased Dragon Inn gets released on Blu-Ray at all.

But, they missed the very obvious case of a Tsai Ming Liang interview which seems much more relevant to this title then any other just to give an example on how to improve on the release with no creativity being expended.

[Banasa]

DVDBeaver

[feihong]

Sooooooooooo good.

[Orlac]

An excellent release!

[feihong]

I have the blu ray in my player right now and it looks exquisite. Except during the crossfades, this doesn't look like a film that is nearly 50 years old. Things not necessarily revealed in the DVDbeaver caps: the depth-of-field is stunningly dense. The color palette boasts remarkable, subtle range. The Beaver captures looked a little excessively yellow, but the disc in motion has very well-balanced colors. The mid-tones of white do skew yellow, but that gives the cloth and the sky details more depth and texture. Facial expressions in the foreground and background of scenes are very clear and readable––unlike in previous home video versions of the film. That the film is infiltrated in background and foreground with comic expressions and hilariously fussy stage business has never been more apparent.

One of the things about the film that is most evident on this blu ray is the exquisite production design. I remember reading how Kurosawa spent a long time aging the town gate for Red Beard, so that it looked used and realistic. Well, every surface in Dragon Inn has that level of detail. Wood looks burnished, walls look scored and pitted. Everyone's clothes look like they've been walking out in a desert for a long time. Not evident in previous video versions is the extreme degree of detail in even the most incidental locations. The soldiers encampment near the inn, appearing in one very brief scene, is littered with detail of daily living. It's interesting to see the degree to which Hu's intense involvement with the physical design of the film has both deepened and broadened in scope since Come Drink with Me. That film was no slouch in terms of production design, but the details of this film make that movie look second rate. Little splashes of color and patterning on textiles in the backgrounds are both vivid entrees for a broader color palette and indicators that real habitation seems to go on on these sets. It's a spectacularly thorough illusion.

If this is the start of a larger restoration of King Hu films, that can only be a great, great thing. The night–for–night scenes in the film have been restored to genuine clarity, and that bodes well for the work on A Touch of Zen. Hopefully we can get as great a blu ray of A Touch of Zen––hopefully the restoration of Touch of Zen will illuminate the scenecraft of that film in the way this restoration does of Dragon Inn. At the same time, films like Lee Khan, Raining in the Mountain and The Valiant Ones could really use this level of care and presentation.

[swo17]

coming to the Masters of Cinema Series in January... A TOUCH OF ZEN (Ltd Ed) will be released on 25 Jan 2016

[AK]

YES! Can't wait to find out what the ltd edition contains, but this is in and of itself a major event anyway.

[rapta]

I thought #130 would be either this or Man with a Movie Camera. Glad that this is a Limited Edition - that was a surprise!

Limited to 2000 copies so I will definitely pre-order. Judging by the pack-shot, this will have a slipbox! Also, I wonder what the 3 discs entails - will it be 2xBD + 1xDVD, or 1xBD + 2xDVD? I wonder if the third disc will be a BD or DVD basically.

I'm thinking this could be a bit like The Passion of Joan of Arc, in that it'll be in a slipbox with a decent sized booklet. Since this is Limited Edition, I'd imagine an eventual reissue would just be a standard Dual Format edition with the first BD and a DVD copy (and maybe a reduced booklet). Glad to see another Limited Edition title though, we haven't had them for a while for a new title (the last was the steelbook edition of Serpico).

Can't wait to get this, plus Eddie Coyle...and intrigued what the Eureka Classics title might be (announced tomorrow).

[perkizitore]

Maybe the Limited Edition includes Dragon Inn? :-"

[rockysds]

Limited edition third disc features the documentary KING HU 1932-1997, a new video essay by critic David Cairns, and more.

There's a regular dual format coming the same date.

[ermylaw]

Regarding the regular edition, Kevin from Eureka says the following at another forum:

"Ignore the standard non-limited edition version for the moment. Clerical error, it won't [be] happening, at least until after the limited version anyway."

[feihong]

YES. YES.




Yes.

[feihong]

I'm just very happy about this. I saw this film in the LA Film Festival in 2000 or 2001, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. All the DVD versions have been subpar, in part because the night scenes needed significant restoration. even on the 35mm print at the festival the siege of the fort was pitch black most of the time.

There were similarly dark scenes in Dragon Inn, and the restoration on the MOC disc makes them quite visible again. So I'm hoping for a similar miracle with A Touch of Zen. A really unique film, and it sounds like the documentary will be exceptionally interesting.

[Trees]

A lot of good news here. I've been looking to learn more about this genre, and low and behold, it seems my timing could not have been any better

[Trees]

I watched Dragon Inn today and thought it was an awesome film. I really appreciated the longer takes during the action scenes. The same shots done today would have employed 5x as many cuts in most cases.

As you can see in the DVDBeaver stills and this one I pulled from the film, there is a fairly strong yellow cast/hue over the picture. Was this an aesthetic choice of the filmmaker or just a chemical byproduct of the negative aging?

[David M.]

Don't quote me on this (I'm not an expert on this film), but I'd imagine it's supposed to look that way. With today's color grading, it's possible to compensate for fading during the grading process.

[rockysds]

DVD Beaver on A Touch of Zen.

[Trees]

Images look great. Is it me, or does anyone else notice that yellow cast?

[Roscoe]

TOUCH OF ZEN is getting a theatrical run in a few weeks at Film Forum, released by Janus, so I'd imagine a Criterion release would follow at some point. Maybe.

[ermylaw]

Images look great. Is it me, or does anyone else notice that yellow cast?

Dragon Inn had a similar yellow tint to the image. The consistency between the two leads me to believe that is the intended look.

[frankiecrisp]

Has the release date changed I pre ordered but amazon are showing "Currently Unavailable" will let you know if or when this will be released

[Mel]

Limited edition third disc features the documentary KING HU 1932-1997, a new video essay by critic David Cairns, and more.

There's a regular dual format coming the same date.

So some extra's are now considered something to warrant a limited edition? Most MoC's have extra's so I find it a little strange to call this a limited edition. Seems to me simply a strategy to ask more money for this release. I think the price is a little hefty.