Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[yoloswegmaster]

Keeping the thread on topic, Radiance have confirmed that they won't be releasing Miike's Gozu anytime soon due to it being owned by the yakuza.

[brundlefly]

Unfortunate and hilarious. I wonder if they liked what they paid for, much, and if they're easier to deal with than Bristol-Meyers Squibb.

[colinr0380]

Keeping the thread on topic, Radiance have confirmed that they won't be releasing Miike's Gozu anytime soon due to it being owned by the yakuza.

Sounds like someone got to Radiance's 'trained attack dog'.

[Finch]

I have a dog but this was still the funniest thing I've seen all week. I've got to watch Gozu now. I'm recalling reading somewhere in the early Aughts that US audiences took very negatively to a scene in Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys where a dog is killed. I don't imagine though that it was played for black comedy and absurdity like Miike arranges the moment Colin's linked to.

[colinr0380]

And the craziest thing is that pre-title moment which decides the rest of the clan on the necessity of having their obviously nutso boss be humanely disposed of, with the task of doing it falling to the newest recruit, is one of the more 'understandably motivated' moments in the film! It's the one Miike film that could be argued to be going for a Lynchian vibe.

(Interestingly, as in Full Metal Yakuza and many a David Lynch film, it ends up becoming a weirdly simpatico father-son, mentor-student, psychic fugue state and merge situation rather than one of simply deposing the older generation)

[beamish14]

And the craziest thing is that pre-title moment which decides the rest of the clan on the necessity of having their obviously nutso leader be humanely disposed of, with the task of doing it falling to the newest recruit, is one of the more 'understandably motivated' moments in the film! It's the one Miike film that could be argued to be going for a Lynchian vibe.

I think you could argue that MPD Psycho (a limited series) is kind of his Twin Peaks, and it certainly has a very mordant and surreal sense of humor.

Fudoh might be his Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker moment. I love that movie so much

[colinr0380]

That's true. I had forgotten about MPD (Multiple Personality Detective) Psycho for a moment there! Though if thats Twin Peaks-like (in a more wacked-out Deadly Premonition vein), Gozu could be considered more the equivalent of the simple quest narrative of Wild At Heart turning into the waking nightmare of Lost Highway or Inland Empire with the inexplicable disappearance of the boss.

[Big Ben]

Keeping the thread on topic, Radiance have confirmed that they won't be releasing Miike's Gozu anytime soon due to it being owned by the yakuza.

I'm sorry...what?

[Dr Amicus]

In an ad in the new Sight & Sound, the Taviani’s Allonsanfan is mentioned as upcoming. Which is great news frankly!

[TechnicolorAcid]

In an ad in the new Sight & Sound, the Taviani’s Allonsanfan is mentioned as upcoming. Which is great news frankly!

Especially wonderful considering there were initially rights issues with it according to Radiance at the start of their operation, glad they've gotten big enough that they can tackle these kind of films now.

[ryannichols7]

also reassuring since it's been posted on here a few times that the Arrow boxset wasn't a smashing success - glad that isn't deterring Fran from putting this out at all

been wondering when MichaelB would be making his Radiance debut...

[therewillbeblus]

Interesting, when I mentioned Taviani on the discord earlier this year, Fran responded that the Arrow box was a poor seller which I assumed meant a nix

[sabbath]

Perhaps he decided to bet one more time, on Marcello Mastroianni, Mimsy Farmer, and Ennio Morricone more so than the Tavianis. It was Ennio (2021), Giuseppe Tornatore's documentary on the composer that led me to this film.

[ryannichols7]

I also think it's pretty clear that Radiance is having success with basically everything they're putting out. basically everything except the boxsets so far have sold out within a few months (or less), so I can understand him wanting to move on and tackle some more risky/passion project-y titles. the big names attached to this are only icing

willing to bet if they did the same Taviani box that Arrow did, it would sell much better now. label loyalty+spine numbers+good rep are doing wonders for Radiance

[Finch]

Going by the low stock updates, the French titles seem to be among the slower selling titles, outside of A Woman Kills. Italy and Japan are doing very well.

[MichaelB]

Perhaps he decided to bet one more time, on Marcello Mastroianni, Mimsy Farmer, and Ennio Morricone more so than the Tavianis.

I suspect the attitude is that if that combo doesn't sell, there's no hope for the Tavianis in the UK market.

But I hope it does - I've been spending a lot of time with Allonsanfan over the last few weeks, for reasons that I suspect you've gleaned already, and it's a wonderful film. I'd already written it up here a dozen or so years ago (my article predated Caesar Must Die giving the Tavianis a late international career boost), but I'll have a lot more to say about it when the disc comes out - and there's plenty more to say.

And fans of Mastroianni shouldn't hesitate - this part could hardly be more perfect for him, and he's in practically every scene.

been wondering when MichaelB would be making his Radiance debut...

The Piotr Szulkin box, since you ask. Allonsanfan is the second.

[yoloswegmaster]

February releases:

By A Man's Face Shall You Know Him
Allonsanfan
Black Tight Killers

A Black Friday sale is being hinted at in 2 weeks.

[rapta]

Another month of great announcements! I think I'm in for all three, with priority to the Kato and Taviani (though who am I kidding, I'll just get all three).

Also, taking into consideration spine numbers 40 (By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him) and 42 (I, the Executioner), I'm going to go out on a limb and say 41 will likely be Tai Kato's Eighteen Years in Prison (1967).

A Black Friday offer isn't much use to me now I basically own their whole output (save for one Radiance title, plus the Raro Video releases)! Has to be the most consistent boutique label since Masters of Cinema for me personally.

[Finch]

Worth noting the Taviani is the second title to receive a single pressing of 3000 units.

[Banasa]

Keeping the thread on topic, Radiance have confirmed that they won't be releasing Miike's Gozu anytime soon due to it being owned by the yakuza.

I'm sorry...what?

I'm not too surprised. I think Tom Mes's commentary on Auditiin suggests this as much. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the John Woo and Tsui Hark films in Hong Kong would be in similar hands as we often hear from labels that they are owned by people who aren't really interested in film.

[What A Disgrace]

Another excellent slate. This is the first month since the partnership began that we haven't gotten a Raro release, however, nor are there any other partner label releases. I wonder what the status is on those labels? Fun City and Canadian International seem to have made somewhat aborted efforts, while Mawu Films practically seems to have re-launched itself with the December release of Black God White Devil (which adheres to Radiance's general packaging style, like Raro, and unlike their own first release).

[dwk]

I'm not too surprised. I think Tom Mes's commentary on Auditiin suggests this as much. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the John Woo and Tsui Hark films in Hong Kong would be in similar hands as we often hear from labels that they are owned by people who aren't really interested in film.

No, I think those John Woo and Tsui Hark titles are just owned by a property management company that used to dabble in film back in the 80s and 90s and is no longer in the business. I have seen speculation that they want to license their entire catalog, not just the handful of marketable titles. Which prices out the boutique labels.

[rapta]

Another excellent slate. This is the first month since the partnership began that we haven't gotten a Raro release, however, nor are there any other partner label releases. I wonder what the status is on those labels? Fun City and Canadian International seem to have made somewhat aborted efforts, while Mawu Films practically seems to have re-launched itself with the December release of Black God White Devil (which adheres to Radiance's general packaging style, like Raro, and unlike their own first release).

I asked Fun City if there were other UK titles coming anytime soon and they quite abruptly responded with a firm "no, not right now" and mentioned how it's not easy/feasible to expand rights to the UK and that Radiance are busy enough as it is. I pointed out the MGM titles - I mentioned in particular Born to Win, Rancho Deluxe and Smile - are still presumably available (through Park Circus) and they said something along the lines of 'Radiance has to want to license them'.

I suppose they're waiting on Radiance to set up another MGM deal, which may not be til sometime in 2024 considering they have multiple deals with Japanese studios ongoing (and various Italian and French rights-holders).

I would like to see more from Canadian International Pictures though. In fact, much like Fun City, I like the look of nearly all their output and would be keen to get some of them.

I get the impression Mawu have been struggling to get going, with their initial release a little cobbled together and way too expensive to boot. I think Radiance must've given them a leg up and helped distribute them, probably seeing as they are releasing quite under-appreciated areas of 'world cinema' (at least in the West). Black God, White Devil certainly looks like an improvement in all areas to be honest, and I hope it continues in this way. I'd like to see some more Latin American cinema appear as well as some African stuff soon, and will support them whenever that shows up.

[AidanKing]

I think MichaelB previously suggested that one of the reasons for the slow sales of the Arrow Taviani brothers box set was the fact that Arrow had changed publicists and the promotion for the set didn't go very well: a shame, as I think it is one of the best Arrow releases. It has now sold out, admittedly after a long time.

Hopefully, 'Allonsanfan' will get better promotion and better sales as it would be great to see further Taviani brothers releases should this one be successful enough.

[MichaelB]

I don't really know the precise ins and outs (I've never set foot in Arrow's offices to this day), but it certainly had startlingly little coverage for an ambitious box set, and it did indeed come out at precisely the point when Arrow was changing publicists. Even the likes of the Beev and CineOutsider blanked it, which is highly unusual for them with regard to an Arrow Academy release.

I engineered a review in Sight & Sound, but that was practically the only substantive coverage it got - hence the grimly absurd situation of the Cohen Taviani set polling a double-figure number of places higher in DVD Beaver's end-of-year poll, when the Arrow set had superior subtitles (I fixed several flubs in the Taviani interview, caused by the translator being technically correct but contextually wrong - for instance "Rossellini's film about the doctors" should read "Rossellini's film about the Medicis"), another four hours of extras and a hundred-page book with translations of all six of the Pirandello stories that inspired Kaos, at least four of which I believe were making their English-language debuts. Part of that is undoubtedly down to it being a US-centric poll, but the other major problem was that people simply didn't know about the Arrow edition.

But that's still one of my proudest home video achievements.

(Mind you, my prouder achievements often tend to be slow sellers - Indicator's 90˚ in the Shade is another, and I can't fault the coverage that that got!)