British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[johnpaul2]

Originally Posted by rapta

I wonder why they decided to change? I reckon it's the popularity of Indicator and Criterion, but the difference is that BFI often don't use original posters so they don't look as impressive with the full artwork (personally speaking).

Scanavo used to be Criterion-exclusive through contractual agreements with them. This changed some years ago, and we've seen other labels using them. I suppose prices went down thanks to the larger consumption, and the BFI simply found them finally nicer than the Amarays.

[rapta]

Holy crap, BFI just knocked it out of the park!!! Japanese titles galore!!!

FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES - May 18th
THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE - May 18th
TOYKO STORY (4K Restoration) - June 15th
TAKESHI KITANO COLLECTION (Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine) - June 29th

All four are day-one pre-orders for me!

Also these:

THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES - April 20th
BEST OF THE COI - April 20th
WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA - May 18th
THE GUINEA PIG - June 15th
FRIENDSHIP'S DEATH - June 15th

So excited for those Japanese titles! Finally get the remaining Kitano titles that TWF didn't manage to get, two new Ozu discs (one an upgrade, the other I was wondering if Criterion might port over) and an upgrade of Matsumoto's most famous film!

[CrockettandTubbs]

Originally Posted by rapta

Holy crap, BFI just knocked it out of the park!!! Japanese titles galore!!!

FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES - May 18th
THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE - May 18th
TOYKO STORY (4K Restoration) - June 15th
TAKESHI KITANO COLLECTION (Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine) - June 29th

All four are day-one pre-orders for me!

So excited for those Japanese titles! Finally get the remaining Kitano titles that TWF didn't manage to get, two new Ozu discs (one an upgrade, the other I was wondering if Criterion might port over) and an upgrade of Matsumoto's most famous film!

Holy mother!

That Kitano collection is just awesome news

[Show spoiler]

[rapta]

I'm quite surprised Eureka let Funeral Parade of Roses pass them by, was sure they might upgrade that one. I wonder if all these new Japanese announcements from BFI might lead to a long-awaited Naruse Blu-ray set? After all I swear they said they wouldn't do any more Ozu and yet here we are.

The Kitano set is the most exciting for me though. I was dying to get these three in particular on Blu-ray and disappointed they never got licensed by TWF. I figured someone would bring them here but assume that would be Arrow (I bet they're kicking themselves for not getting these too).

PS: also quite curious to see The Battle of the Sexes and The Guinea Pig, but both will be later pick-ups (ditto the Mark Cousins doc).

[justwannaboogie]

Originally Posted by rapta

Holy crap, BFI just knocked it out of the park!!! Japanese titles galore!!!

FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES - May 18th
THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE - May 18th
TOYKO STORY (4K Restoration) - June 15th
TAKESHI KITANO COLLECTION (Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine) - June 29th

Sweet Jesus! The Tokyo Story upgrade is unexpected but very welcome. I wonder if that'll be from the same source as the Criterion.

[Yami]

I don't want to dampen the mood, but isn't it something of a disappointment that they're re-releasing films that have already been available on DVD (or even Blu-Ray) in the UK rather than taking the opportunity to release one of the many, many Japanese masterpieces that have never had an English subtitled release at all? What about Japanese silent cinema? What about Shuji Terayama, Nobuhiko Obayashi, Shinji Somai, Yuzo Kawashima, Kohei Oguri....? I could go on.

I guess the answer is that I'm still going to buy the announced titles, like you will too.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Yami

I don't want to dampen the mood, but isn't it something of a disappointment that they're re-releasing films that have already been available on DVD (or even Blu-Ray) in the UK rather than taking the opportunity to release one of the many, many Japanese masterpieces that have never had an English subtitled release at all? What about Japanese silent cinema? What about Shuji Terayama, Nobuhiko Obayashi, Shinji Somai, Yuzo Kawashima, Kohei Oguri....? I could go on.

I guess the answer is that I'm still going to buy the announced titles, like you will too.

It's only a disappointment if you look at it that way, but when I have contacted them in the past they didn't sound very interested in doing any more Japanese titles at all, and yet they came out with that Koreeda set last year and are now upgrading popular titles and that could lead them to doing more adventurous stuff. Surely if these titles sell well, there's no reason for them to go a bit further?

After all that's how Arrow have been operating - they did dig a bit deeper on Japanese titles for a while but have slowed down due to cautious sales of the Yoshida set (and presumably the Jissoji set too). I reckon for any of the above, our best bet outside of well known restoration programmes is still Arrow or Second Run, as labels like BFI, Eureka and Criterion will be licensing more familiar titles (Eureka themselves have just upgraded Kwaidan, for example, and Criterion have announced an upgrade of Antonio Gaudi).

I'd personally be pretty happy if we got further upgrades of some of the DVD-only titles from Eureka and BFI, especially the Teshigahara and Shinoda stuff.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by rapta

I'd personally be pretty happy if we got further upgrades of some of the DVD-only titles from Eureka and BFI, especially the Teshigahara and Shinoda stuff.

If only Eureka could of upgraded “Nightmare Alley” because who knows what’s going on with Signal One.

[jackranderson]

Originally Posted by rapta

Holy crap, BFI just knocked it out of the park!!! Japanese titles galore!!!

FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES - May 18th
THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE - May 18th
TOYKO STORY (4K Restoration) - June 15th
TAKESHI KITANO COLLECTION (Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine) - June 29th

All four are day-one pre-orders for me!

Also these:

THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES - April 20th
BEST OF THE COI - April 20th
WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA - May 18th
THE GUINEA PIG - June 15th
FRIENDSHIP'S DEATH - June 15th

So excited for those Japanese titles! Finally get the remaining Kitano titles that TWF didn't manage to get, two new Ozu discs (one an upgrade, the other I was wondering if Criterion might port over) and an upgrade of Matsumoto's most famous film!

Just after I said I was going to cut down. Why BFI whyyyyy.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

If only Eureka could of upgraded “Nightmare Alley” because who knows what’s going on with Signal One.

I did ask them if they were aware of The Gunfighter being available again, and they said they'd look into it, but that was sometime last year. I assume if Nightmare Alley is available there will be several parties interested, due to the Guillermo del Toro remake coming up. Eureka will have a particular interest as they released it on DVD originally!

[hanz0]

Awesome news, the Kitano Collection will be mine, i almost imported the japanese releases of those 3 films last year which would of cost way too much.

I hope they use the extra slim cases like they did with the Koreeda set, hopefully clear ones too.

Will double dip on Tokyo Story and Green Tea.


Up on amazon with the covers, but we can't preorder yet.

[Show spoiler]
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084DG2L...6&s=dvd&sr=1-2


https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084DGWP...1&s=dvd&sr=1-2


https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084DG83...6&s=dvd&sr=1-4


https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084DG7B...d%2C216&sr=1-2

[jackranderson]

Where did BFI announce these? Can’t find anything on their website.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by jackranderson

Where did BFI announce these? Can’t find anything on their website.

Amazon leaks, I assume BFI will announce them later this week on their own site.

[XGEEKEDGERX]

Hot damn that's a cracking slate of releases!

And here I was thinking i'll ease up on some releases so I can catch up on my watch pile...wishful thinking, as always

[rapta]

Originally Posted by XGEEKEDGERX

Hot damn that's a cracking slate of releases!

And here I was thinking i'll ease up on some releases so I can catch up on my watch pile...wishful thinking, as always

Yeah, now if Indicator can hold off on Thursday and just announce some lesser-knowns, Eureka hold off on the big stuff for a few months and Arrow don't announce any more box sets or new 4K restorations my wallet should be fine.

[orfy]

Oh wow! And that's despite the double dips!
Had been hoping for an MoC upgrade on Funeral Parade but I won't say no to owning two editions, esp. if this is from the same 4k master as the Cinelicious.

[Fnord Prefect]

That's quite an interesting slate with only The Guinea Pig looking like an easy pass. I'm kind of with Yami in that I'd like to have seen some new to UK Japanese titles but with a long awaited upgrade of Funeral Parade of Roses and the Takeshi Kitano set it would be churlish to complain.

After last year's BTF set had feeling we'd be getting a best of COI set soon after.

EDIT: Just remembered that on top of the above nine titles we've still got Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scandal (very much looking forward to revisiting this) and Beat the Devil from the Q1 titles to come in the next few weeks. My wallet's gonna hate me.

[Rutger Lundgren]

These all sound so, so good! Now if they could only give us the remaining Kore-eda films, especially since it's becoming increasingly apparent that Air Doll is not happening (Amazon pushed back the release date yet again, from February 10 to March 9).

Although I have to say I'm surprised to see Guinea Pig on that list, it's not something I would necessarily associate with BFI. Hopefully including the making of documentary?

[BarnDoor]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

These all sound so, so good! Now if they could only give us the remaining Kore-eda films, especially since it's becoming increasingly apparent that Air Doll is not happening (Amazon pushed back the release date yet again, from February 10 to March 9).

Although I have to say I'm surprised to see Guinea Pig on that list, it's not something I would necessarily associate with BFI. Hopefully including the making of documentary?

Not that Guinea Pig

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040407/

[CinemaScope]

I can remember The Guinea Pig being on TV a lot in the early sixties, Richard Attenborough playing a schoolboy (the same year as he played the evil hood in Brighton Rock...now that's versatility!). I'd love so many Peter Sellers b/w films on Blu-ray: The Naked Truth, Only Two Can Play, Two Way Stretch, The Wrong Arm Of The Law, unfortunately The Battle of the Sexes isn't one of them.