Zhang Yimou

[dwk]

Daniel Griffith tweeted that he is working on some Zhang Yimou release

[Calvin]

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

[yoloswegmaster]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

> 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".

[bad future]

> 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?)

[MichaelB]

> 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”.

[swo17]

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

[hearthesilence]

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)

[MichaelB]

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.

[Shrew]

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.

[hearthesilence]

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.

[Shrew]

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).

[hearthesilence]

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).

[Tommaso]

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?

[hearthesilence]

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.

[Michael Kerpan]

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]

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.

[colinr0380]

I will first copy vsski's 2022 post about the above Imprint Blu-ray set for context:

I finally made my way through this set and like others have said it’s a mixed bag. Yes it’s nice to have all these films in one set which due to licenses is unlikely to happen in other regions, but the transfers are sorely lacking. I don’t consider myself a specialist when it comes to these things, but they all look dated and many, especially Red Sorghum and Curse of the Golden Flower are riddled with digital artifacts, while most of the others look washed out.

The other part that disturbed me were the colors especially on the first 3, RS, Judou and RTRL. I have seen these (and Qui Ju) in theaters when they originally came out and the first three again during retrospectives. And I do remember these viewings very well for primarily one reason the use of color and especially the color red. On RS the color red really popped off the screen in every image and during the eclipse at the end the screen was saturated in red. I’ve seen the screenshots of the WCL release and feel it is closer to the original, but doesn’t hit the mark either, as it has areas where the red renders the other colors completely unnatural like the wheat field or the sky and that was not the case on 35mm (except for the eclipse at the end where everything looked unnatural).
On Judou, while for me together with Coming Home the best looking of this set, the color red is a pale comparison to what I saw on 35mm. When in one of the key scenes the red cloth came down from the rafters in theaters the red was blood red (and even the yellow was much more vivid) while here it is rather muted. To me the way Zhang used the colors in this film again stood out to me, which is why I remember it after all these years.
And finally RTRL - I barely recognized the film, all washed out, as if someone had bleached the transfer. The red lantern in the title is a pale orange in this transfer and even the buildings look like they just had a sandstorm go over them. No vivid colors as I remember them.

The only one of the four that looks close to what I remember from theaters was Qui Ju, which had a very desaturated look and that is rendered here quite similar.

I guess Imprint didn’t have access to better sources and by all accounts it doesn’t sound like better ones are out there at the moment (except for the 4K restoration of RS, which I have not seen and isn’t on disc), but I hope that someone in the future can do the films justice, as I still after all these years find them incredible and they do deserve better.

The set is now sold out, and I don’t know if Imprint will release them individually, but even if they do, I’d say save your money and wait for better editions (surely Criterion can’t sit on their titles forever - I know, I know, famous last words).

And then add this exciting news from Discotek/MediaOCD hidden amongst the anime titles in their latest e-mailer from today:

MedicaOCD is proud to announce the following licenses. All will be released on Blu-ray for the very first time later this year:
...
and a VERY unexpected live action announcement...

Red Sorghum
The groundbreaking directorial debut of Zhang Yimou and Winner of the Golder Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. This was recently restored in China, and we can't believe that we were able to get it.

[bad future]

I know Discotek treats their anime very well from my limited anecdotal experience, but I have no idea what MediaOCD's track record is like with live action. What are the chances that they'll have access to better elements, and would know that a more blown-out and saturated color grading is preferable to a more balanced and naturalistic one in this case? Your excitement gives me hope that this is good news on its face; just interested to hear a little more if you have any extra insight. Thanks either way! (Edit: oh, I'd overlooked the reference to it having been recently restored in China. In that case, is anything known about this restoration?)

[vsski]

Thanks Colin!
I can’t believe my post is already 4 years old, but I’m exited to see the news and while I don’t know this label I read on the Radiance Discord that apparently their releases have been good.
I will probably wait till I see reviews, but Red Sorghum is an incredible movie and deserves to be seen in a great restoration with vibrant colors.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed!