Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[CelestialAgent]

Is Third Window the only label to use those DVD/Blu-ray hybrid logos?

[Rutger Lundgren]

In for Melancholic, and as for Fish Story... Eh, who am I kidding? I'm probably going to upgrade, just not straight away. My DVD copy arrived slightly damaged anyway, that's a good enough excuse.

Last night I saw A Gentle Breeze in the Village, it's a really sweet little film. Any chance we could see it from Third Window?

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

In for Melancholic, and as for Fish Story... Eh, who am I kidding? I'm probably going to upgrade, just not straight away. My DVD copy arrived slightly damaged anyway, that's a good enough excuse.

Last night I saw A Gentle Breeze in the Village, it's a really sweet little film. Any chance we could see it from Third Window?

A gentle breeze is Asmik Ace who are a massive pain to work with, so it would cost too much to license a film which wouldn't make that much back.

Regarding FISH STORY, I do want to stipulate that the extras are in standard definition and not in great quality. There are a whole bunch of them, but most are talk shows and live performances which were filmed on tape 10 years ago and only ever made it to ntsc digibetas.

[NormanicGrav]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

Regarding FISH STORY, I do want to stipulate that the extras are in standard definition and not in great quality. There are a whole bunch of them, but most are talk shows and live performances which were filmed on tape 10 years ago and only ever made it to ntsc digibetas.

So are the extras going to be on a DVD disc like your first Blu-ray titles were (Kamikaze Girls as an example)?

[azrael79]

Delighted Fish Story is making it to blu ray. I would love it to sell well and maybe one day see more of Nakamura's work make it to the format over here (specifically Golden Slumber & A Boy and his Samurai).

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by NormanicGrav

So are the extras going to be on a DVD disc like your first Blu-ray titles were (Kamikaze Girls as an example)?

extras will be on the bluray.

[nabelnabel]

Hadn't heard of Fish Story before but it looks great so I'll be sure to pre-order. Stardust Brothers was one of the best blind buys I've gotten in recent memory, too. I'm loving all these quirky gems.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by nabelnabel

Hadn't heard of Fish Story before but it looks great so I'll be sure to pre-order. Stardust Brothers was one of the best blind buys I've gotten in recent memory, too. I'm loving all these quirky gems.

i'd say 'quirky' best describes our catalogue as a whole.
We released a whole many more fantastic 'quirky' films on DVD before like 'Fine Totally Fine', 'Fukuchan of Fukufuku Flats', 'Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers', 'Adrift in Tokyo', 'How to use guys with secret tips', etc

[Dougling]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

i'd say 'quirky' best describes our catalogue as a whole.
We released a whole many more fantastic 'quirky' films on DVD before like 'Fine Totally Fine', 'Fukuchan of Fukufuku Flats', 'Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers', 'Adrift in Tokyo', 'How to use guys with secret tips', etc

All of those are great releases too, happy to have them in my collection. In particular, Adrift in Tokyo completely melted me. It's one of those movies you come across occasionally that just sticks with you afterwards and simultaneously reminds you why you fell in love with cinema in the first place.

[Rutger Lundgren]

I'd love to see Adrift in Tokyo on Blu-ray, my DVD copy has a glitch near the end where it skips a frame or two (tested on two players). As for the film, I liked it quite a bit, although I have to say that it didn't entirely live up to my expectations, considering all the praise. Still, some parts of it were very lovely indeed.

[thenexus6]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

I'd love to see Adrift in Tokyo on Blu-ray, my DVD copy has a glitch near the end where it skips a frame or two (tested on two players). As for the film, I liked it quite a bit, although I have to say that it didn't entirely live up to my expectations, considering all the praise. Still, some parts of it were very lovely indeed.

Never been able to see this one, would like to watch eventually.

[roguejp]

I saw Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory between a Criminal & a ***** last night. Whatever you think of the film, you'll have to admit it's a special film. No spoken dialogues, but a lot of music to accompany the images shot by Doyle. And all of this stuffed into a film that's an hour without aftercredits. Apparently the movie itself was also shot in 24 hours (!).

The introduction of the main players is done in such a beautiful scene and I was already sold before the film actually started. Although not all music is really my taste, I can get over that because it all contributes to the great vibe of the movie. As a bonus for me personally, the movie has a beautiful scene supported by Pachelbel's Canon in D. Not as mesmerizing as in My Sassy Girl, but that's a tall order .

It's a great release by Third Windows, the limited edition not only comes with a separate soundtrack (which will find it's way to the CD player of my car for the time being...), but one of the special features is 'Music Access', as they had with For Love's Sake, so you can quickly listen to a song again after you've seen the movie. Love it!

[Faustus]

I agree, and I really liked the film. If I'm not mistaken, Stereo Total did some of the music. They also did the soundtrack to another TWF film, Underwater Love, which I also really enjoyed. That release (DVD) included a CD, too.

[sumsar]

Nice, I blind purchased Love Exposure last year (not being familiar with either the length of the movie or of Sion Sono), absolutely loved it and bought more of his films so I'm delighted to see this sale and finally add Cold Fish and Land of Hope to the list!

Purchased Ruined Heart and Tetsuo too..

PS I got into collecting boutique blu-rays when I blind purchased an arrow movie about three years ago, since then I discovered other labels and these days Third Window are my label of choice.. haven't had a bad blind purchase yet! Keep it up.

[floor pie]

Could thirdwindowfilms comment on the splice marks on A Snake of June? Are they intentional or not?

Svet took that as a minus in his review, but I don't see how he could do so with full confidence, since it very well could be Mr. Tsukamoto's preference.

A similar, even more egregious error can be seen in the site review for Dead or Alive 2, with its complaint about a blue tone that is clearly an artistic choice.

All in all there seems to be a weird snobbery present on the reviews on the site, where if something has a bit of a grungier, rougher look to it, it has to be a fault in the video presentation. Like somehow everything needs to look pristine and beautiful.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on matters of video quality, and I might be overreading here, but in general there seems to be somewhat of a paradox in the aesthetic matters of reviewing the PQ of a movie (or bluray specifically): how do you score a film that has an intentionally "ugly" (or anything near that category) look? Everything can't be judged by the same criteria as a Malick film, for instance.

[Eibon]

The problem with internet reviews is they cause as much confusion as sales. There is no level playing field in terms of reference standards or film / technical knowledge so the advice generally is to stick with sites you trust. This particular issue of splice marks is a perfect example.

This is one of my favourite Tsukamoto movies and I was aware that he was working closely with Third Window on the transfer. I owned a Chinese (Unsubbed) dvd and the UK Tartan release. I had never noticed any problems with these releases but any review I read called attention to this problem as if it was a fault that was newly introduced, perhaps caused by negative deterioration. Consequently I held off buying it until about a week ago and missed out on the slipcase (I have all others). Expecting to see a horrid sliver of white flash at every splice, I discovered this release had the exact same anomalies as per previous editions albeit with improved image and clarity. I can’t repeat the specifics of the cause but the lines relate to the printing of 16mm on 35mm stock or at the least are a byproduct of the transfer and this issue has with us since the beginning. I never noticed the issue previously and only see it now because of the reviews. The lines are barely perceptible. The previous transfers have always been very open, even showing the curved corners of the frame. I’m glad the framing was retained and not cropped to remove them. It also has the beautiful blue hue I’ve always associated with this movie. The release is stunning and I regret giving any of the reviews and idle thread chatter the time of day as I missed out on a slipcase and the chance to give TW an immediate return on investment with an earlier purchase.

[nitin]

Yes I thought it had been addressed before, something along the lines of the printing process that Tsukamoto used to achieve the blue tint photochemically meant that the splice marks are inherent to the source.

Having said that, I personally put my tv in overscan mode when I watch this so that the splice marks are not viewable.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by floor pie

All in all there seems to be a weird snobbery present on the reviews on the site, where if something has a bit of a grungier, rougher look to it, it has to be a fault in the video presentation. Like somehow everything needs to look pristine and beautiful.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on matters of video quality, and I might be overreading here, but in general there seems to be somewhat of a paradox in the aesthetic matters of reviewing the PQ of a movie (or bluray specifically): how do you score a film that has an intentionally "ugly" (or anything near that category) look? Everything can't be judged by the same criteria as a Malick film, for instance.

Imagine the tech spec reviews Stan Brakhage would get.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by floor pie

Could thirdwindowfilms comment on the splice marks on A Snake of June? Are they intentional or not?

Svet took that as a minus in his review, but I don't see how he could do so with full confidence, since it very well could be Mr. Tsukamoto's preference.

A similar, even more egregious error can be seen in the site review for Dead or Alive 2, with its complaint about a blue tone that is clearly an artistic choice.

All in all there seems to be a weird snobbery present on the reviews on the site, where if something has a bit of a grungier, rougher look to it, it has to be a fault in the video presentation. Like somehow everything needs to look pristine and beautiful.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on matters of video quality, and I might be overreading here, but in general there seems to be somewhat of a paradox in the aesthetic matters of reviewing the PQ of a movie (or bluray specifically): how do you score a film that has an intentionally "ugly" (or anything near that category) look? Everything can't be judged by the same criteria as a Malick film, for instance.

(just speaking in general and not about Svet's review):
as you say, and also in my opinion, I think people are a little too used to new films and/or Hollywood classics, and forget that there are a lot of older and low-budget films from around the world that don't, nor ever did look the way to what younger people nowadays have become used to.
Regarding older titles, the fact is that restorations are expensive, so they're pretty much focused on major, bigger budget films which have better original materials, so it also does increase a certain 'level' of expectations too.
Not sure why people are so critical of these things, but I'd say it just comes down to not knowing as much. It's an argument I often make coming from a VHS background and from a time when the only way people could see a lot of titles was from nth generation copies.
In the cases of old 8mm or 16mm films which are from countries which don't have stable film industries or government support/film preservation, it's very common to have these sort of issues in quality. In the case of Snake of June, Tsukamoto himself supervised the remastering, but remastering in Japan is not great at the best of times, so even with somebody as detailed as Tsukamoto supervising, you still won't get the best results. Though the process of Snake of June shooting in 16mm and then blowing up to 35mm and tinting the film blue, it means that the 35mm is what was scanned and therefore is a theatrical print and also already blown up, so it makes splices and such even more visible. Though in the end, Tsukamoto did OK it all, so you'd have to say that if the director himself says its ok, then there's no reason for anyone else to say otherwise.
Film 'grain' is another common complaint from people who are used to newer films and in that situation also removing grain brings complaints too.

Though in the end, it's all a lose-lose situation. Always going to get complaints whatever one does unfortunately.

[roguejp]

From TWF's Insta: both the Pink sets are almost gone. Not surprised with the limited run. Get 'm while you can!