GAGA will release Damien Chazelle's Whiplash (2014) on Blu-ray in Japan on October 21st, 2015.
According to the GAGA site listing, all of the extras from the Sony BDs will be ported over, including the audio commentaries on the film and relevant extras. It seems that GAGA will add a 15-minute (according to Amazon.co.jp) interview with Chazelle and J.K. Simmons, along with a 96kHz upsampled lossless audio track. The release will also come with a slipcover and a 16-page full-color booklet, while an Amazon Exclusive edition will add press material.
I received my copy of the Amazon.co.jp Exclusive edition today. It is the standard Collector's Edition BD, bundled with a lovely Japanese pressbook for the film, which is in full color, with matte-finished pages in a landscape orientation. The text is largely in Japanese (with some English credits), but the pressbook is about 15 pages long and has many photographs, so it was worth the approximate $10 premium, in my opinion.
This disc is region-free.
GAGA have provided a UK-size standard black amaray case inside a cardboard slipbox, with an Obi strip wrapped around the bottom, inside the amaray case is a 16-page full color booklet with photographs and Japanese text, along with the song credits for the film in English. Apparently, the slipbox and booklet are part of the first pressing only, so they may (or may not) sell out, while Amazon continues to sell the same item.
The disc itself contains the original English audio and a Japanese dub track, as well as the audio commentary with Damien Chazelle and J.K. Simmons. Here, GAGA have used the FORS EX SOUND process to master the English audio at 96/24, and although I noted the volume needed to be increased about seven points higher on my system, the track sounds absolutely incredible.
All of the extras and commentary tracks (main feature, short film, deleted scene) from the Sony BDs are present, in 1080i/p and given 24-bit DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio. GAGA provides an extended version of the TIFF video, which is 7:50 on the Sony discs, but runs 15:59, here, and includes a previous walk-on from Chazelle, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons.
The biggest bonus, though, is the addition of a specially-shot interview piece with Damien Chazelle and J.K. Simmons, which was conducted for the Japanese market, possibly in Japan, and runs 21 minutes. It does feature some clips from the film, and it probably covers some material mentioned elsewhere (I have not had time to watch the Timekeepers documentary or listen to the commentary on the film yet), but it is fun to have, and Chazelle makes mention of Japan, too. Simmons, who was shot separately from Chazelle, makes mention of the film's awards and Oscar wins, so this was recorded after February 22nd 2015.
BDInfo scan:
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00000.MPLS AVC 1:46:37 28,579,473,408 47,292,185,202 35.74 25.00 DTS-HD Master 5.1 4723Kbps (96kHz/24-bit) DTS-HD Master 2.0 1005Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)
Additional extras are the deleted scene "Fletcher at Home" with optional audio commentary (1080p, 1:31), and an English-language trailer (1080i, 2:04), the latter of which does not come with Japanese subtitles.
I quite enjoyed this film (J.K. Simmons won a well-deserved Oscar) and, when I saw it was not being distributed by Sony, I was excited to see what the Japanese distributor would do for it. I'm sure it helped that the film came out theatrically in Japan on April 17th, 2015, well after it had won its Academy Awards, and then subsequently, it became a surprise hit in Japan, too.
I'm sure the Sony disc is fantastic, and I would have no problem picking one up, and still may do, but I'm also glad that I own the Japanese edition. The packaging is also very beautiful, and also values function as well as form--something a lot of the special packaging from the US majors is sorely lacking.
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Whiplash (Damien Chazelle) -- October 21st, 2015
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