British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[rapta]

Yeah, £50 is a little steep but hopefully it's more like £35-40 elsewhere (e.g. HMV).

[Patient-X]

I've already got the criterion of Still Walking so I'm hoping this does drop in price a little.

[Ben_C]

Originally Posted by Patient-X

I've already got the criterion of Still Walking so I'm hoping this does drop in price a little.

Got my Korean copy . Never seen the others and never got around to importing the Japanese discs, so definitely interested in this set. Hopefully it’ll go down in price a bit...

Plus, hopefully the discs will be as good as the Japanese versions (assuming they are good).

[Dan8700]

Above all, hopefully BFI won't botch the encodings on these masterpieces...

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Patient-X

I've already got the criterion of Still Walking so I'm hoping this does drop in price a little.

I have a DVD copy of Still Walking in storage, still unwatched. Guess I can sell it now and put it towards this set!

Very happy that lots of Koreeda is available on UK Blu-ray now. All his films from 2011 onwards have decent editions thanks to Arrow and Thunderbird, and now BFI are tackling his most key 90's/00's works. I wonder if anyone will get around to doing Distance, Hana or Air Doll?

[SilverBlueSnow]

Very happy that lots of Koreeda is available on UK Blu-ray now. All his films from 2011 onwards have decent editions thanks to Arrow and Thunderbird, and now BFI are tackling his most key 90's/00's works. I wonder if anyone will get around to doing Distance, Hana or Air Doll?[/QUOTE]

I would imagine that BFI had access to all these films (recent Japanese restorations/prints) for their retrospective season and bluray set and chose only these four - if the set sold extremely well they might consider a second box set?
Maybe Arrow also - the Family Values set sold out despite previous releases of two of the films.

The name of the season/set is confusing - does anyone know how "Of Flesh and Blood" relates to these works or to Koreeda?

Dropped now to 44.99 on BFI shop.

The only extra listed so far is a BFI Koreeda interview from the recent season - I had hoped for more as there is a lot to discuss about the two films I know already (After Life and Still Walking) and I understand the other two are considered to be of a similar quality. Tony Rayns would be an obvious choice - unless he had restrictions because of the Arrow set?

Wonderful news - Koreeda's films really do help to make the world a better place in my opinion!

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Got my Korean copy . Never seen the others and never got around to importing the Japanese discs, so definitely interested in this set. Hopefully it’ll go down in price a bit...

Plus, hopefully the discs will be as good as the Japanese versions (assuming they are good).

I didn’t even click that this film was in the set! I hope they carry over the making of documentary that was on both the New Wave DVD and the Criterion edition.

[Jr7936]

amazon uk has it listed for 34.99 quid before shipping

[floor pie]

Great news about the Kore-eda set. By the way, what would it take for BFI to correct their An Actor's Revenge blu, since they botched that as well?

I understand there hasn't been such a big number made of it here (I think I made the first mention of it, and that was way after the original release), but I just think it's unfair how others get corrected and others don't.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by floor pie

Great news about the Kore-eda set. By the way, what would it take for BFI to correct their An Actor's Revenge blu, since they botched that as well?

I understand there hasn't been such a big number made of it here (I think I made the first mention of it, and that was way after the original release), but I just think it's unfair how others get corrected and others don't.

What was wrong with it?

[floor pie]

Originally Posted by Killer Meteor

What was wrong with it?

I'm not an expert on technical issues, but I believe it was a bad encode, which resulted in very visible macroblocking issues. In general terms, just lots of pixels which made a very poor viewing experience. And I'm not the type that goes out of his way to find these kinds of issues.

[Cinematt]

Any rumours on the new Late Spring transfer coming to the UK?
I picked up some Ozu titles in HMVs 2 for £13, and they had Late Spring but it wasn’t in the offer. It has also disappeared from the BFI shop https://shop.bfi.org.uk/directors/yasujiro-ozu.html and is only available from 3rd parties on amazon, so I’m assuming it’s out of print?

[Nedoflanders]

Originally Posted by floor pie

I'm not an expert on technical issues, but I believe it was a bad encode, which resulted in very visible macroblocking issues. In general terms, just lots of pixels which made a very poor viewing experience. And I'm not the type that goes out of his way to find these kinds of issues.

'A Taste of Honey' also suffered from macroblocking, and again, like you, I was a lone voice in complaining. I'm not really the type to make a fuss about such matters, but they really botched the encode of a strong 4K remaster.

We really need more people to complain and get the discs corrected before it's too late.

[floor pie]

Originally Posted by Nedoflanders

We really need more people to complain and get the discs corrected before it's too late.

Yeah. That's the curse of operating in such a niche market.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Jospef

Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda - preorder for £49.99 (now £44.99).
Amazon preorder for £37.63.

[Show spoiler]

Holy crap! I hadn't gotten around to picking up the Milestone release of Maborisi because of the comments regarding the 1080i presentation. And for some reason, I haven't gotten the Criterion of Still Walking. And I've been wanting Nobody Knows since I first saw it some years back. Not to mention After Life (I have this and Maborisi on not-very-good New Yorker Films DVDs).

This is a definite purchase.

On edit: pre-ordered.

[CrockettandTubbs]

(released: May 20th)

This was in the news section, but I sometimes forget to look there.

Extras:

[Show spoiler]Animated Genesis (1952, 22 mins) and A Short Vision (1956, 6 mins): stylish, striking outstanding anti-war animations

Head Rag Hop (1970, 3 mins): bold blues-soundtracked Pop-art abstraction

Plod (1971, 21 mins): long thought lost, this absurdist anti-authoritarian fusion of poetry and pop music was shot on the streets of Liverpool, and stars supreme sound-satirists The Scaffold

Richard Lester in Conversation with Steven Soderbergh (1995, audio only): the director discusses his career in an interview recorded at the NFT

Feature commentary by Richard Lester authority Neil Sinyard

Trailers From Hell: THE KNACK…and how to get it and The Bed-Sitting Room - with audio commentaries by Allan Arkush and John Landis

First pressing only: Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Neil Sinyard, writing by the BFI's Ian O'Sullivan, recollections on Plod by The Scaffold's Mike McCartney and full film credits.

[BarnDoor]

Did the reveal of the Kore-eda boxset mean that BFI are going back to monthly reveals again? Only I was expecting the full July-September slate this week.

[BarnDoor]

Some are appearing on Amazon:

Pasolini: Trilogy of Life (19th August)

A Kid for Two Farthings (19th August)

Salo (16th September) (looks like a re-release?)

Comes A Horseman (16th September)

Don't know if this is it, but there's also a couple of Derek Jarman individual releases for July. Wasn't Nil By Mouth scheduled for September? And I'm hoping for some kind of slice of British horror for October/November, not least that folk horror-y double bill teased by Ben Stoddart in that interview last year. Failing that, a Blu-ray upgrade of the Ghost Story for Christmas set would be magnificent...

The Twilight Time Blu of Comes A Horseman suffers quite a bit of damage, so much so they put a disclaimer on the listing and offered a reduction at one point. I don't suppose the BFI release will be any different.

[Dougling]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Some are appearing on Amazon:

Pasolini: Trilogy of Life (19th August)

A Kid for Two Farthings (19th August)

Salo (16th September) (looks like a re-release?)

Comes A Horseman (16th September)

Don't know if this is it, but there's also a couple of Derek Jarman individual releases for July. Wasn't Nil By Mouth scheduled for September? And I'm hoping for some kind of slice of British horror for October/November, not least that folk horror-y double bill teased by Ben Stoddart in that interview last year. Failing that, a Blu-ray upgrade of the Ghost Story for Christmas set would be magnificent...

The Twilight Time Blu of Comes A Horseman suffers quite a bit of damage, so much so they put a disclaimer on the listing and offered a reduction at one point. I don't suppose the BFI release will be any different.

The Pasolini Trilogy of Life is just a reboxing of the three existing individual releases (of The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights) from the looks of those specs.

[thuata]

Originally Posted by Dougling

The Pasolini Trilogy of Life is just a reboxing of the three existing individual releases (of The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales and Arabian Nights) from the looks of those specs.

The previous releases for all four Pasolini films were quite solid, and they've been resold as part of a boxset already, unless the BFI got their hands on a much better transfer I don't see the point in a plain reissue