Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[crazybee]

I am beyond excited for this Ishii box set! Shark Skin Man is one of my absolute favorite Japanese films, and I really hope all this Ishii love can lead to a release of his animated Trava: Fist Planet sometime down the line (or as a bonus on another film’s disc, since it is technically a series of shorts). Love Trava (it’s kind of a prequel to the insane Redline, and focuses on two of the supporting characters from that newer film).

Fun fact: way back in the day, the only way to see Trava was split up onto multiple volumes of a short film compilation series called Grasshoppa presents. I had to move heaven and earth to find all 4 DVD volumes, but I got them all eventually. Grasshoppa’s vignette presentation also influenced Funky Forest and features a lot of the same creative talent.

[nabelnabel]

Another instant pre-order for me! Can't wait. Will there still be a release of Survive Style 5 somewhere down the line? I think last year it was mentioned some European company was restoring it. With those Ishii films coming out, SS5 is my next most anticipated release :P

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by nabelnabel

Another instant pre-order for me! Can't wait. Will there still be a release of Survive Style 5 somewhere down the line? I think last year it was mentioned some European company was restoring it. With those Ishii films coming out, SS5 is my next most anticipated release :P

From last March when asked if there were any TWF titles coming from other labels in other countries that people should wait for:

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

Apart from the previously announced Suicide Club, Summer Time Machine Blues and Obayashi set, those three (Party, Survive, Shark) are the only 3 which I can say for sure at the moment. And since I'll be the one making all the bonus features as well, I'm sure the TWF disc will be out there before Spectrum anyways

[nabelnabel]

Right, that was over a year ago now though. Just curious if it's still on track.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by nabelnabel

Right, that was over a year ago now though. Just curious if it's still on track.

It was delayed as the film cannot be sold to a US distributor due to music rights (which I didn't find out until way after initially making that statement) which meant a loss of finances required to remaster it. So I'm trying to raise the money by selling the film to people like Spectrum in France and other distributors so I can make a new master. And that's taking more time than expected.

[ZombAid]

Anyone else having trouble with the english subtitles and how they are simply too fast in some instances to ever have a chance to follow up. Sometimes it's just a split of a second readable and then, gone. you don't even have the chance to pause at that moment, as the timeframe is too short to react that fast. Very annoying sometimes. Especially when you can see that you missed a whole sentence of at least seven words. This problem was just recently in Samurai Punk.
Is that a problem with my player or with the encode? Don't have these problems with other releases, only TWF.
I got an Oppo BDP-93 as my main player, if this Information is anything worthy of note.

I love their output and I'm always supporting the Japanese releases, but that is one of the few things that bum me out regularly.

[nabelnabel]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

It was delayed as the film cannot be sold to a US distributor due to music rights (which I didn't find out until way after initially making that statement) which meant a loss of finances required to remaster it. So I'm trying to raise the money by selling the film to people like Spectrum in France and other distributors so I can make a new master. And that's taking more time than expected.

Thanks for the update - hope everything gets worked out smoothly.

[crazybee]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

It was delayed as the film cannot be sold to a US distributor due to music rights (which I didn't find out until way after initially making that statement) which meant a loss of finances required to remaster it. So I'm trying to raise the money by selling the film to people like Spectrum in France and other distributors so I can make a new master. And that's taking more time than expected.

Is this because of the Cake song featured at the end of the movie? One of my absolute favorite needle drops in cinema!

[Sifox211]

Hi Adam - I was looking to buy Nobuhiko Obayashi's 80s Kadokawa Years from the Arrow sale, but it's no longer listed. The other two Obayashi titles are still there - so it's not even showing as out of stock.

What's the situation with this - is it likely to re-appear or should I hunt it out at some other retailer? Thanks!

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

Hi Adam - I was looking to buy Nobuhiko Obayashi's 80s Kadokawa Years from the Arrow sale, but it's no longer listed. The other two Obayashi titles are still there - so it's not even showing as out of stock.

What's the situation with this - is it likely to re-appear or should I hunt it out at some other retailer? Thanks!

It is listed here, just out of stock: https://www.arrowfilms.com/blu-ray/n.../13939745.html

It's because Arrow's site is the same as Zavvi's, so when stuff goes OOS it disappears when you search for it. It'll reappear when they restock, whenever that is. It already disappeared once in the sale, IIRC, as I was considering getting it at the start of the sale (unfortunately I'd just bought loads of Arrow and Second Run titles so couldn't really afford to drop £40 plus postage).

[Sifox211]

True enough - there were several Second Run titles on my radar that went OOS before I placed my order. I guess I have a week for it to come back in stock before considering someone else. Next best price is Rarewaves.

[Sifox211]

Back in stock already (finally, Arrow's annoying email alerts became useful!) and ordered

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by rapta

It is listed here, just out of stock: https://www.arrowfilms.com/blu-ray/n.../13939745.html

It's because Arrow's site is the same as Zavvi's, so when stuff goes OOS it disappears when you search for it. It'll reappear when they restock, whenever that is. It already disappeared once in the sale, IIRC, as I was considering getting it at the start of the sale (unfortunately I'd just bought loads of Arrow and Second Run titles so couldn't really afford to drop £40 plus postage).

I didn't realise they could still be found. I used to always just cut and paste the specs from the Arrow site onto eBay when I was selling things on and then they updated the site and all the LEs disappeared so I've been hunting them down on other website announcements instead. Odd system rather than just having things findable saying they're out of stock when they could be restocked in the future.

[Sifox211]

Agreed! It even disappeared off my wishlist, but that didn't stop them from sending "an item from your wishlist is back in stock" email

[Yami]

The new restoration of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's The Guard from Underground will have its UK premiere at ICA London next week.

(On an unrelated note, I see that they're screening Shunji Iwai's Picnic from 35mm on Sunday, which will surely interest some people here)

[AndrewFM]

Obayashi's Anti War Trilogy only £35 on Arrow Films for any still on the fence about it. I finally snagged it.

[theosh]

Originally Posted by Yami

The new restoration of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's The Guard from Underground will have its UK premiere at ICA London next week.

Nice. Could this be one of the Kurosawa films that Third Window are releasing later in the year??

[Yami]

Originally Posted by theosh

Nice. Could this be one of the Kurosawa films that Third Window are releasing later in the year??

I think there's a reasonable chance; we know that Third Window are releasing two films that were produced by the 'Director's Company' and I don't know of any other Kurosawa films that have been recently restored.

[ZombAid]

Originally Posted by ZombAid

Anyone else having trouble with the english subtitles and how they are simply too fast in some instances to ever have a chance to follow up. Sometimes it's just a split of a second readable and then, gone. you don't even have the chance to pause at that moment, as the timeframe is too short to react that fast. Very annoying sometimes. Especially when you can see that you missed a whole sentence of at least seven words. This problem was just recently in Samurai Punk.
Is that a problem with my player or with the encode? Don't have these problems with other releases, only TWF.
I got an Oppo BDP-93 as my main player, if this Information is anything worthy of note.

I love their output and I'm always supporting the Japanese releases, but that is one of the few things that bum me out regularly.

Nobody else having this issue?!

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by ZombAid

Nobody else having this issue?!

I've not noticed it but I've got Samurai Punk and I'm happy to take a look if you have a time reference and see if it's the same on my Panasonic.