British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Not that Guinea Pig

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

Oooh, I see, that makes a lot more sense

[Yami]

Originally Posted by rapta

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?

Perhaps, but one would think/expect that any lesser-known stuff would be released at the same time in order to benefit from the publicity of the wider Japan season. That runs May-September, so I'm hopeful that this isn't the entirety of the tie in releases they have planned.

[Ben_C]

Interested to see what extras are on the Kitano set. I already own the Japanese releases of all three (plus the Second Sight dvd set), but will almost certainly double dip. Love me a bit of Kitano.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by 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

The Green Tea one is.

[Cinematt]

The Kitanos and Funeral Parade will be pre-orders for me, and I'm sure I'll grab the Ozus at some point down the line. Lovely set of announcements, basically a slate of things I'd been tempted to pay high prices to import!

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Yami

Perhaps, but one would think/expect that any lesser-known stuff would be released at the same time in order to benefit from the publicity of the wider Japan season. That runs May-September, so I'm hopeful that this isn't the entirety of the tie in releases they have planned.

These are just the announcements for Q2, so the Q3 announcements could include more Japanese stuff. Admittedly though, the press release for the Japan season mentions Naruse and Kurosawa, so it's likely we may see more upgrades of that sort, but you never know - 4 of the 6 of these weren't upgrades, and 2 of the 3 directors represented are new to being released by BFI...

I do wonder how things are regarding deals with the Japanese studios. I'm curious to know whether Eureka, for example, merely extended their license for Kwaidan or actually have more Toho titles lined up. And similarly, if the BFI have an active deal with Shochiku, whether they've licensed more titles from their library (for example Nomura's The Castle of Sand, Gosha's Sword of the Beast, Suzuki's Pistol Opera etc).

[CrockettandTubbs]

Probably still with Tartan, but I wish someone in the UK would release When The Last Sword Is Drawn.

I'll be hanging onto my 2 disc dvd until then...

[aewb]

One film I'd love to see get released is Noburo Nakamura's The Shape of Night. I saw a new restoration at the BFI a couple of years ago but I don't think it's ever had any kind of home video release.

Also whilst we are on the subject of Japanese cinema, a Yuzo Kawashima season has just started on Mubi.

[floor pie]

What an amazing slate of Japanese films! Hopefully there'll be no more shoddy encodes like on An Actor's Revenge...

[hamsterburger]

Originally Posted by floor pie

What an amazing slate of Japanese films! Hopefully there'll be no more shoddy encodes like on An Actor's Revenge...

I was not aware of any problem with the BFI blu of An Actor's Revenge. Du you have a link to some review that covers this? Thanks

[Anthony Thorne]

The Kitano collection is a brilliant announcement. I wonder if they'll be releasing BROTHER separately? I would have thought it would be a decent seller.

[Areopagita]

Great news, for me especially the Ozu titles. Hopefully more will follow (though my silent favourites - Tokyo Chorus and Passing Fancy - could probably only get a DVD release, as most of Ozu's silents from BFI). Some Kurosawa on Blu-ray would be excellent, too (Stray Dog, High and Low, Red Beard, anything really). And how about Naruse?

[ravenus]

The US release of Funeral Parade of Roses apparently had some video issues, although my untrained eye didn't specifically spot them in the screenshots. Perhaps the BFI transfer will ameliorate those (and not introduce any fresh ones). I had been thinking this would be an MoC release given that they did the DVD.

[Dougling]

Very excited for all of those Japanese announcements, especially the Kitano set.

I wonder if Tokyo Story will keep Sisters of the Today Family as an extra like the previous BFI release.

[floor pie]

Originally Posted by hamsterburger

I was not aware of any problem with the BFI blu of An Actor's Revenge. Du you have a link to some review that covers this? Thanks

It was discussed earlier in this thread. (I think I was the first to point it out.)

[fredzappa]

Very good announcements. Now give us the Mikio Naruse set, please.

[thenexus6]

TAKESHI KITANO COLLECTION!!!!

My prayers have been answered!! Violent Cop, and Boiling Point have such bad DVD versions its almost not possible to watch them. Have wanted to re-watch them for years now!

Shame they won't match my already Third Window Takeshi collection but oh well.

Violent Cop has such a good soundtrack, probably my favourite theme of any of his films

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfTC...ature=youtu.be

[magnetiques]

are you joking me

god i love bfi

[mpreed]

A couple of years ago, the Pet Shop Boys posted on Twitter that they were working on a blu ray release of a remastered version of their film 'It Couldn't Happen Here', which would be available the following year.

It never appeared.

Does anyone know if there was a reason for it's delay?

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by mpreed

A couple of years ago, the Pet Shop Boys posted on Twitter that they were working on a blu ray release of a remastered version of their film 'It Couldn't Happen Here', which would be available the following year.

It never appeared.

Does anyone know if there was a reason for it's delay?

I doubt it's a priority for them, especially as they have a new album out any day now and are doing (already done?) a greatest hits tour. But they will know there is a demand for a remastered version (I don't recall it getting a DVD release anywhere, my copy was an UK ex-rental big box VHS which gave up the ghost after literally two watches) and I'm sure it will reappear sometime.

As we've already had three Jack Bond/Jane Arden titles from them the BFI would seem like the obvious people to release It Couldn't Happen Here on blu-ray but who knows what the situation is? Maybe music rights issues or the film simply hasn't been/isn't being restored?