Ran (Akira Kurosawa) New 4K restoration (StudioCanal)

[Loiterur]

Please forgive me if this has already been stated somewhere, but...

It is 3-disc set, i know of course one disc is the 4K transfer of the film, but...
what do the other two discs contain ?

[Sommerswerd]

Originally Posted by Loiterur

Please forgive me if this has already been stated somewhere, but...

It is 3-disc set, i know of course one disc is the 4K transfer of the film, but...
what do the other two discs contain ?

Probably the two discs from the original Blu-ray release: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ran-Blu-ray/148662/

[Cholly]

Originally Posted by goldenarm84

I just received my copy of the UK 4k UHD release today and took a quick 10 minute look at it and this is heads and shoulders above the original Lionsgate release with the orange cover (from 10 plus years ago.) The level of detail and color saturation in this is much much improved. The previous (orange cover) release was straight up blurry in comparison. You can see the creases and detail in the costumes, the blades of grass moving etc. Screenshots don't do it justice. This film to me is like a moving painting.

Oof, I cant disagree more. The encoding on this disc is absolute dogshit. Macroblocking abounds as well as a decent amount of chroma noise. I was hoping that when the film moved to interiors that it would improve but it really doesnt. I was looking in particular at the moment when lady Kaede is talking about her childhood, and at her red skirt. So much detail was lost by the mushy encode.

I also disagree with tama's statement about the teal being better, its alleviated a little bit by the wider gamet but the black levels still look milky and blue in a lot of areas. To top things off, I've also spotted a few shots of frozen grain here and there. I would actually think it were a pretty good looking 4k disc overall if it werent for the horrendous encode.
Kurosawa's final masterpiece deserves so much better than what we've gotten since Criterion lost the rights.

[wobelix]

Blast!
My copy is now officially lost in the mail; shipping the replacement on monday (from Zavvi)...

[sjt]

Originally Posted by Cholly

Kurosawa's final masterpiece deserves so much better than what we've gotten since Criterion lost the rights.

Well you plainly think less of his last three films than I do. But even if you consider Rhapsody in August to be no more than a largely unsuccessful hybrid experiment, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss either Dreams, or his actual last film, Madadayo, the latter criminally underexposed in the west - where it never even saw the light of day in the US and UK - and mining the same nostalgic vein of old-age reflective wisdom as Fellini's similarly overlooked La voce di luna.

[wobelix]

Originally Posted by sjt

Well you plainly think less of his last three films than I do. But even if you consider Rhapsody in August to be no more than a largely unsuccessful hybrid experiment, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss either Dreams, or his actual last film, Madadayo, the latter criminally underexposed in the west - where it never even saw the light of day in the US and UK - and mining the same nostalgic vein of old-age reflective wisdom as Fellini's similarly overlooked La voce di luna.

That is odd indeed, both for Fellini's 'Luna' and 'Madadayo'
I'm holding on to my dvd of the latter one as if my life depended on it...

Strange how that goes in 'the market', where 'Dreams' got huge exposure.
I love that one too, and tripple dipped gracefully through the decades to get a nice version on disc.
I'd gladly do the same for 'Madadayo'!
\ 0 /

[wobelix]

Originally Posted by wobelix

Blast!
My copy is now officially lost in the mail; shipping the replacement on monday (from Zavvi)...

Well!!!

I should have started moaning and complaining earlier (or, maybe, not at all), because just now RAN did indeed arrive!
(E.T.A. was July 12th...)

So RAN it is for this nice saturday!
\ 0 /

The hold up was at the Netherlands Customs, because at the Royal Mail (I ordered my RAN at Zavvi) someone put the extra Barcode sticker right over the IOSS sign on the enveloppe (see attached photo).
And the Netherlands officials couldn't see the IOSS sign, so has to figure out what 21% of 25,99 is, and took some 20+ days to send me notice...

It seems pretty silly, all in all.

That extra barcode, by the way, must be pretty redundant, because that same barcode is already on the original sticker with all the info?


There are two more Zavvi orders missing in the mail, and one did show up yesterday, at my local postal service pick up point.
I have to pay 9,46 euros for VAT and handling (4 bucks).

Since Zavvi is already sending replacements for all of them (I wrote them immediately when RAN came in, but Murphy has it that the replacements have already been sent...), I'm gonna let that enveloppe rest at the postoffice, and then let them ship it back.

[Cholly]

Originally Posted by sjt

Well you plainly think less of his last three films than I do. But even if you consider Rhapsody in August to be no more than a largely unsuccessful hybrid experiment, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss either Dreams, or his actual last film, Madadayo, the latter criminally underexposed in the west - where it never even saw the light of day in the US and UK - and mining the same nostalgic vein of old-age reflective wisdom as Fellini's similarly overlooked La voce di luna.

Havent seen Madadayo or Rhapsody in August yet but I have seen Dreams. I like it but dont think its as close to the level of Ran.

[MifuneFan]

I love Rhapsody in August, one of my favorite to films to watch in well..August. Just has a great nostalgic Summer vacation feel to it. I wouldn't call Dreams, Rhapsody, or Madadayo masterpieces so I would certainly agree that Ran was his last. Pretty common opinion actually.

[joenostalgia23]

Finally watched my copy and the difference between the 2016 Studio Canal Blu-ray and the 4K is bigger than I thought. The 4K has much coarser grain, and the colors look less saturated than BD, almost washed-out in comparison. That might be a good thing for people who had issues with the 2016 colors looking too blue-tinted.

The HDR isn’t that noticeable.

One thing to note is the 4K disc has a totally different menu, both the top menu and the pop-up menu are in a new style. And the movie plays with English audio by default on the 4K. On the BD, the default is the Japanese 5.1 with English subtitles.

[MikeyD360]

I brought this and bizarrely only 2 discs in the case. 4K and extras. BD nowhere to be found. Anyone else run into this?

[SML]

Originally Posted by MikeyD360

I brought this and bizarrely only 2 discs in the case. 4K and extras. BD nowhere to be found. Anyone else run into this?

Did you by any chance buy the Australian release?
I don't have it myself, but that seems to be the only release that has 2 discs, while the other releases in Europe have 3 discs.
Maybe this answers your question in some way .

[MikeyD360]

Originally Posted by SML

Did you by any chance buy the Australian release?
I don't have it myself, but that seems to be the only release that has 2 discs, while the other releases in Europe have 3 discs.
Maybe this answers your question in some way .

I do have the Aus release, but its marked on the cover as 4K + Bluray.
I checked at the store and all are like that.

Bugger up by manufacturer for sure.

[A Tortured Duckling]

On the fence between ordering this one or waiting for the upcoming Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook.

[andantelise]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

On the fence between ordering this one or waiting for the upcoming Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook.

Same here, but I think I'm going to wait for the SteelBook.

[A Tortured Duckling]

Originally Posted by andantelise

Same here, but I think I'm going to wait for the SteelBook.

I probably will, too. The artwork is crazy cool.

[andantelise]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

I probably will, too. The artwork is crazy cool.

It really does. I wonder what encode will be better, though.

[KarmaNL]

Netherlands Customs is screwing me over every single time on every order from zavvi.

I have to pay them even though Zavvi prepaid the customs charges already.

It is then stuck at customs for a minimum of 10 days before the deliver it.

Luckily Zavvi reimburses it, but I have to do this song and dance on every single order.

If I want to file a complaint with the dutch Post, there's this long list of things I have to supply in order for them to process it. (send invoice, description of contents, price, vat number, weight of item, bill of sales, proof that I paid for it etc etc). This is just to discourage people from complaining.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by MikeyD360

I do have the Aus release, but its marked on the cover as 4K + Bluray.

And the package contains a 4K disc and a Blu-ray disc.

[MifuneFan]

I don't think I've ever seen a release that states Blu-ray on the top banner, implying a combo pack, and that BD is simply an extras disc.