Kagemusha (Akira Kurosawa)

[Yami]

Akira Kurosawa's Palme d'Or-winning Kagemusha is getting a UK release on March 17th courtesy of Fox.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Yami

Akira Kurosawa's Palme d'Or-winning Kagemusha is getting a UK release on March 17th courtesy of Fox.

Sweet! As predicted, as soon as more Kurosawa gets released (first Ran, now Seven Samurai) it should come in floods. Would like to see more BFI editions though! Surprised Optimum haven't released Rashomon still (my DVD copy is really nice)!

[manicsounds]

Most likely the same disc as the international Fox release. Only the shorter international cut and not the full Japanese cut as was on the Criterion disc.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by manicsounds

Most likely the same disc as the international Fox release. Only the shorter international cut and not the full Japanese cut as was on the Criterion disc.

and probably like seven samurai most bonus features will be missing as well.

[Marcus Aurelius]

In that case I will get the Criterion at some point in the future. I'd rather have the special features especially for a film of this stature.

[I KEEL YOU]

One of the more underrated and forgotten Kurosawa movies. This one doesn't seem like a conventional Japanese samurai movie. To me, it seems to focus more on history than "samuraism". It's more like a historical epic like the historical movies from the west, a great historical, political and military movie with a lot of military tactics.

I've just ordered the French digibook. I've never seen the longer Japanese version. But at 3 hours it really seems insanely long. The shorter international version is still very long at 2 hours and 40 minutes.

As for the transfer, there are some notable differences. The Criterion is full of digital noise, while the Fox is soft. I've analyzed the screenshots closely, and I tend to lean more to the Fox version, which is why I ended up buying it. It definitely looks better on these shots:

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...ss=1#vergleich

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...=168#vergleich

Then there are other places where I lean towards the Criterion, but it's still very noisy.

[hedliniv]

Are the uk versions region a friendly? I want to pick up the shorter version but I don't have a region free player... Any insight would be appreciated!

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by hedliniv

Are the uk versions region a friendly? I want to pick up the shorter version but I don't have a region free player... Any insight would be appreciated!

My friend has a Fox release of Kagemusha that plays on his region C player, so it is very likely region free but don't take this as confirmed

[KEROUAC1957]

Just dropped to £6.75 on Amazon so ordered a copy.