The Funeral (1984)

[MifuneFan]

Criterion will be releasing Juzo Itami's The Funeral (1984) on May 17th. This is Criterion's second Itami release after Tampopo.

https://www.criterion.com/films/28879-the-funeral

SPECIAL FEATURES

• High-definition restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interviews with actors Nobuko Miyamoto and Manpei Ikeuchi
• Creative Marriages: Juzo Itami & Nobuko Miyamoto, a short program produced by the Criterion Channel
• Commercials for Ichiroku Tart by director Juzo Itami
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by author Pico Iyer and, for the Blu-ray, excerpts from Itami’s 1985 book Diary of “The Funeral” and from a 2007 remembrance of Itami by actor Tsutomu Yamazaki

New cover by Tatsuro Kiuchi

[tsetse27]

awesome!! maybe Taxing Woman will be next?

How about just release all Itami's ten films in a box set, that would be day-one for me

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by tsetse27

awesome!! maybe Taxing Woman will be next?

How about just release all Itami's ten films in a box set, that would be day-one for me

Pretty was hoping for an Itami boxset, but I'll take what I can get. Either way, glad this is coming.

[roiroiroi]

Does this film have the same kind of comedy as Tampopo? If so it will be a blind be for me!

[DukeTogo84]

Just watched this and haven't seen it close to 20 years? Either way, I remember finding it a lot more humorous than I did this time around.

My aunt died a few months ago, so a lot of this reminded me of that experience, and maybe I just wasn't in the right state of mind, but the movie felt a lot more morbid than I would have liked. When the worker at the crematorium started talking about how they have to lower the flames when burning the bodies of babies, it felt very disturbing.

Still, a well made film, although the random sex scene felt a bit gratuitous. As for the disc, looks great. I hope we don't have to wait another 5 years before Criterion releases one of his films.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Still, a well made film, although the random sex scene felt a bit gratuitous.

Haven't seen this one, but I felt that way about the gangster and his moll segment in Tampopo, which I thought was otherwise a family-friendly movie.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Haven't seen this one, but I felt that way about the gangster and his moll segment in Tampopo, which I thought was otherwise a family-friendly movie.

This one seemed even more out of the blue. Itami was an "interesting" person for sure, so it might have just been one of his perversions to include these scenes in his films.

[riku2]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

was hoping for an Itami boxset, but I'll take what I can get.

Many years ago I went on holiday to Japan for the first time and did find a Juzo Itami box set (DVD). It had all the films with english subtitles and some disks of extras although the extras did not have English subtitles.

The set was great but the price (as with all DVD/Blu-Rays in Japan) was incredibly high and the box set cost more than my flight ticket Europe-Japan!

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by riku2

Many years ago I went on holiday to Japan for the first time and did find a Juzo Itami box set (DVD). It had all the films with english subtitles and some disks of extras although the extras did not have English subtitles.

The set was great but the price (as with all DVD/Blu-Rays in Japan) was incredibly high and the box set cost more than my flight ticket Europe-Japan!

Was it one or both of these?

[riku2]

Yes, it was both those. I think they cost about 250euro per box. So about 500e for the two sets.

[moviemaker]

2025 and it's criminal that A Taxing Woman has not received a blu-ray release. I assume Criterion has the rights to it as it's been on the Criterion Channel for years. In fact both A Taxing Woman and A Taxing Woman's Return + 6 other films, his short film and all his directed TV Commercials are available on the channel for viewing as we speak.