British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by rapta

Errrrrr anyone else notice a load of very exciting BFI titles pop up on Amazon?

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS (DUAL FORMAT EDITION) - January 22nd

THE MAGIC FLUTE (DUAL FORMAT EDITION) - February 26th
SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA (DUAL FORMAT EDITION) - February 26th
HOTEL SALVATION (BLU-RAY EDITION) - February 26th

AN ACTOR's REVENGE (DUAL FORMAT EDITION) - March 26th
LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE (BLU-RAY EDITION) - March 26th
DEREK JARMAN VOLUME 1: 1976-1986 (BLU-RAY EDITION) - March 26th

Safe to say many of these are things I'm likely to pre-order, especially An Actor's Revenge, La Belle et la Bête and When the Wind Blows. Interested to see Bergman's The Magic Flute as well, and more Jarman!

The Magic Flute .. An Actor's Revenge... La Belle Et La Bete.. Fantastic


Derek Jarman Volume 1 : 1976-1986 WOW

[dwk]

Originally Posted by rapta

La Belle et la Bête is another nice surprise. I didn't really expect them to upgrade it anytime soon, but there you go. The Criterion has been out for five or six years, so I wonder if BFI were waiting for a new master or will just use the same one?

If I"m not mistaken, that was restored/remastered about a year or so after Criterion released it. So who knows why it has taken so long for the BFI to release it.

[BarnDoor]

With The War Game and now When the Wind Blows among their catalogue, hopefully BFI bring us Threads next year too (I am aware Severin are releasing this in the States).

In terms of Film4 titles, I'm hoping for My Name is Joe, The War Zone, Angel, Resurrected, Naked (if it's with them), a few more (The Debt Collector seems like a long shot). It would also be fantastic if BFI could use their relationship with Fox to bring us Nil By Mouth.

[s-hell]

Originally Posted by rapta

...
Still, very happy about more Ichikawa. Was hoping Criterion might release The Makioka Sisters in the UK soon, and if MoC could upgrade Alone Across the Pacific or Kokoro that'd obviously be wonderful. Fires on the Plain would be another good one to show up at some point, if only because of Third Window recently releasing the Tsukamoto version. An Actor's Revenge was probably the most obvious to come from a UK label, but regardless I'm definitely getting it right away!
...

The upgrade to An Actor's Revenge is wonderful, but they really should do a boxset with the other Ichikawa films. I don't know if the old Eureka DVD titles are available in HD at all, but at least Ototo (Her Brother) and Enjo (Conflagration) are, ready to be picked up, restored in 4K and with English subtitles. Very fine films, well directed, well played, intelligent and sensitive, I'm sure many people would actually prefer them over the experimentally minded kabuki film. All three were screened at the Berlinale in 2015, then at some more festivals around the globe. I would have thought that had generated some interest. But maybe the studios are simply reluctant to touch films that may be Ichikawa classics but never properly published in the west even on DVD?

[rapta]

Originally Posted by s-hell

The upgrade to An Actor's Revenge is wonderful, but they really should do a boxset with the other Ichikawa films. I don't know if the old Eureka DVD titles are available in HD at all, but at least Ototo (Her Brother) and Enjo (Conflagration) are, ready to be picked up, restored in 4K and with English subtitles. Very fine films, well directed, well played, intelligent and sensitive, I'm sure many people would actually prefer them over the experimentally minded kabuki film. All three were screened at the Berlinale in 2015, then at some more festivals around the globe. I would have thought that had generated some interest. But maybe the studios are simply reluctant to touch films that may be Ichikawa classics but never properly published in the west even on DVD?

I reckon Eureka may have a stab, but it'd obviously mean licensing from Kadokawa. I suppose if BFI can do it, why couldn't Eureka?

MoC haven't released any classic Japanese cinema for a long while. Not since Cruel Story of Youth, in fact (Anatahan doesn't really count). These two Ichikawas would be a nice start!

[s-hell]

Originally Posted by rapta

I reckon Eureka may have a stab, but it'd obviously mean licensing from Kadokawa. I suppose if BFI can do it, why couldn't Eureka?

MoC haven't released any classic Japanese cinema for a long while. Not since Cruel Story of Youth, in fact (Anatahan doesn't really count). These two Ichikawas would be a nice start!

I would guess that BFI had an option on Yukinoho henge from their DVD contract. But the other two films could be done by practically everybody who has done Japanese cinema - Eureka of course, Criterion (because all three films are among Ichikawa's best), BFI, but even Arrow. And I don't think Kadokawa will be asking immoderate amounts of money. But probably the films are considered too risky because they have no publishing history. Enjo last was available on VHS in the USA, as far as I know.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by s-hell

I would guess that BFI had an option on Yukinoho henge from their DVD contract. But the other two films could be done by practically everybody who has done Japanese cinema - Eureka of course, Criterion (because all three films are among Ichikawa's best), BFI, but even Arrow. And I don't think Kadokawa will be asking immoderate amounts of money. But probably the films are considered too risky because they have no publishing history. Enjo last was available on VHS in the USA, as far as I know.

Yes, they definitely held the rights to An Actor's Revenge already, and just had to extend that contract (and source the new 4K restoration of course). I hope they do the same for Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes, especially since Criterion will be eyeing that one up for a UK release if they pass on it.

I reckon Eureka and Arrow are most likely candidates for these Ichikawa titles, assuming Criterion would want to release all three in a set (and obviously couldn't in the UK if they did so in the US). Eureka have a history with Ichikawa titles already, and Arrow are prone to releasing riskier Japanese titles (though usually as a box set: Suzuki's Taisho Trilogy, Kobayashi's Human Condition, Yoshida set). We're probably more likely to see something more avant garde from Arrow Academy in the near future - more ATG stuff, or possibly covering someone like Oshima.

[s-hell]

The Woman in the Dunes will come eventually, I just hope it won't take 3 years. Arrow do a lot of avant-garde, but they also like to play it safe. They have a weekness for certain things like well-established "classic" films, erotic stuff, horror stuff, gangster stuff, or any combination. Apart from the obvious suspects: Maybe Carlotta has a heart for the Ichikawas.

[senseabove]

Really curious to see An Actor's Revenge. It's one I see mentioned a whole lot.

And while we're on out-there Japanese films, I'm still hoping someone picks up A Page of Madness for UK release. From what I've heard, it deserves better than the US MOD release.

[sjt]

Originally Posted by dwk

If I"m not mistaken, that was restored/remastered about a year or so after Criterion released it. So who knows why it has taken so long for the BFI to release it.

I'm not at all sure about the relative time-lines, but I happen to have both the original BFI release and the Criterion, and whilst the latter has a pristine print in terms of visible damage, the BFI was riddled with white speckling throughout, catastrophic in a largely dark, interior-set film dependent on candle-light and deep shadow. So here's hoping for third time lucky......

[jhird2007]

This may have been asked before but here it goes; do the BFI have the rights for Rules of the Game? I know they had a DVD of it out a few years ago. Would love to see this on blu-ray.

[senseabove]

DVDBeaver review of Celine et Julie is up:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...ng_blu-ray.htm

[nitin]

Originally Posted by senseabove

DVDBeaver review of Celine et Julie is up:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/blu-r...ng_blu-ray.htm

That looks really good, definitely getting it soon!

[Alan Clarke]

Can somebody talk to me about this Derek Jarman and why he's somebody to get excited about? I haven't seen any of his films but I am feeling rather giddy because of the excitement that you lot are showing over this man.

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by Alan Clarke

Can somebody talk to me about this Derek Jarman and why he's somebody to get excited about? I haven't seen any of his films but I am feeling rather giddy because of the excitement that you lot are showing over this man.

He's well-known for being a highly aesthetic, unabashedly sexual, and defiantly political queer filmmaker associated very strongly with his era, very influential in a host of different areas due to his transgressive treatments of a wide range of subjects. You could think of him as an English analogue to, say, Jean Cocteau or Kenneth Anger as far as queer, defiantly stylized film-makers go, but wrapped in a late-70s/80s anti-Thatcher DIY punk grime; I don't know that it's much of an accurate analogue, as far as actual methods and style go, but it's the same ballpark. He's well-known for a host of corollary reasons in a variety of other fields: in litcrit/philosophy circles for political films like Jubilee and The Last of England or loosely historical films based on intellectual figures like Wittgenstein, in art history circles for films like Sebastiane and Carravagio, in literature circles for freely adapting several Shakespeare plays, as in The Tempest, in wider film circles for working with Tilda Swinton numerous times early in her career, in queer circles for making short, 8mm diary films recording daily queer life, using queer subjects for his features, and being outspoken about AIDS, and in art circles for frequently using DIY and experimental methods (like collage or, well, Blue). He's probably most famous for has last film, Blue, a film composed entirely of a field of Yves Klein blue (another tie to the art world), over which he describes his slowly going blind due to complications from AIDS.

I'm excited to see quality presentations of his early films. I've only seen Blue, but he's a filmmaker that I've run into so frequently and I've never gotten around to the other work he's known for.

[Dougling]

Originally Posted by senseabove

He's well-known for being a highly aesthetic, unabashedly sexual, and defiantly political queer filmmaker associated very strongly with his era, very influential in a host of different areas due to his transgressive treatments of a wide range of subjects. You could think of him as an English analogue to, say, Jean Cocteau or Kenneth Anger as far as queer, defiantly stylized film-makers go, but wrapped in a late-70s/80s anti-Thatcher DIY punk grime; I don't know that it's much of an accurate analogue, as far as actual methods and style go, but it's the same ballpark. He's well-known for a host of corollary reasons in a variety of other fields: in litcrit/philosophy circles for political films like Jubilee and The Last of England or loosely historical films based on intellectual figures like Wittgenstein, in art history circles for films like Sebastiane and Carravagio, in literature circles for freely adapting several Shakespeare plays, as in The Tempest, in wider film circles for working with Tilda Swinton numerous times early in her career, in queer circles for making short, 8mm diary films recording daily queer life, using queer subjects for his features, and being outspoken about AIDS, and in art circles for frequently using DIY and experimental methods (like collage or, well, Blue). He's probably most famous for has last film, Blue, a film composed entirely of a field of Yves Klein blue (another tie to the art world), over which he describes his slowly going blind due to complications from AIDS.

I'm excited to see quality presentations of his early films. I've only seen Blue, but he's a filmmaker that I've run into so frequently and I've never gotten around to the other work he's known for.

This is pretty spot on. I’ve seen all of his feature length films and love them. I’m looking forward to this release so I can finally replace some of them old DVDs.

[lemoncurry?]

Only seen ”Jubilee” and ”Caravaggio” but I’m very interested in ”Blue”. Is it possible to see this film on a plasma TV without ruining the screen?

[Alan Clarke]

Originally Posted by senseabove

He's well-known for being a highly aesthetic, unabashedly sexual, and defiantly political queer filmmaker associated very strongly with his era, very influential in a host of different areas due to his transgressive treatments of a wide range of subjects. You could think of him as an English analogue to, say, Jean Cocteau or Kenneth Anger as far as queer, defiantly stylized film-makers go, but wrapped in a late-70s/80s anti-Thatcher DIY punk grime; I don't know that it's much of an accurate analogue, as far as actual methods and style go, but it's the same ballpark. He's well-known for a host of corollary reasons in a variety of other fields: in litcrit/philosophy circles for political films like Jubilee and The Last of England or loosely historical films based on intellectual figures like Wittgenstein, in art history circles for films like Sebastiane and Carravagio, in literature circles for freely adapting several Shakespeare plays, as in The Tempest, in wider film circles for working with Tilda Swinton numerous times early in her career, in queer circles for making short, 8mm diary films recording daily queer life, using queer subjects for his features, and being outspoken about AIDS, and in art circles for frequently using DIY and experimental methods (like collage or, well, Blue). He's probably most famous for has last film, Blue, a film composed entirely of a field of Yves Klein blue (another tie to the art world), over which he describes his slowly going blind due to complications from AIDS.

I'm excited to see quality presentations of his early films. I've only seen Blue, but he's a filmmaker that I've run into so frequently and I've never gotten around to the other work he's known for.

Well that's got my attention. You make him sound interesting. I will remain cautious and check out Blue first to see if I want to continue with him.

Thank you for the in depth answer, my friend.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by Alan Clarke

Well that's got my attention. You make him sound interesting. I will remain cautious and check out Blue first to see if I want to continue with him.

Thank you for the in depth answer, my friend.

A handful of his early films are available for streaming rental at £2.50 each from the BFI Player website:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/search/ren...derek%20jarman

Might be worth viewing the Derek Jarman: Life As Art documentary first but not having seen it I can't recommend or discourage.

[Alan Clarke]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

A handful of his early films are available for streaming rental at £2.50 each from the BFI Player website:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/search/ren...derek%20jarman

Might be worth viewing the Derek Jarman: Life As Art documentary first but not having seen it I can't recommend or discourage.

Thank you, my friend.