1136 Drive My Car

[Never Cursed]

The master for this film is at 2K resolution, so I'd say it's doubtful (not that anyone should deprive themselves of seeing this)

[swo17]

Is it uncommon for new non-mainstream films to get a 4K master?

[mfunk9786]

That's the unfortunate thing with digital, the reason a restoration of a 35mm print is so revelatory is because the source format is, in essence, approaching 6K resolution in most cases (can vary depending on a number of factors). Drive My Car wasn't even shot in 4K, let alone finished in it (as mentioned above). Surely if there were a higher budget or it was a priority of the filmmaker, it could have been, but if it's digitally recorded in a state that is lesser than the eventual format it's released on disc in, it would just be a digital to digital upscaling job and (again as mentioned above) would require a whole new mastering job of a film that was just mastered.

However, The Worst Person in the World was shot in 35mm and finished in 4K, so there is no reason at all that it had to miss that bump by Criterion (aside from, presumably, financial considerations). Guessing that based upon some of the Kino titles coming along and the oopsie on the Uncut Gems announcement just being Blu at first, they're not looking to release everything in that format despite having kind of dipped their toe in the water.

[Never Cursed]

From what I understand, most mainstream films shot on digital are not shot in 4K - Black Panther, a decidedly larger and more expensive production than this, was mostly shot on the same model camera and at the same resolution as the Hamaguchi

[mfunk9786]

You're precisely correct, Never Cursed.

The home video biz has never cared too much about how a film was originally shot and/or exhibited because it's always lagged so far behind in what it can deliver vs a theatrical experience. But now that you're talking about putting 100 GB of a two hour film on a disc and exhibiting it at 2160p, there are definitely sumptuous, massively impressive 70mm films that are only out on Blu-ray (or worse, DVD) despite having the room to expand onto a format several times more grand than UHD Blu-ray, and plenty of films finished at 2K (Black Panther being a good example) that are upscaled into the UHD format. Makes no sense at all, really, but it's where we're at.

Drive My Car, however - thankfully is where it belongs.

[yoloswegmaster]

I wonder if they will make this a 2-disc release, with the 2+ hour behind-the-scenes documentary that is on the Japanese CE release included on the 2nd disc.

[therewillbeblus]

It would be silly not to include that, good call

[swo17]

BD and DVD July 19

[yoloswegmaster]

I wonder if they will make this a 2-disc release, with the 2+ hour behind-the-scenes documentary that is on the Japanese CE release included on the 2nd disc.

It seems like they aren't including this, unless the program listed on this release is the documentary ( if it is, then I do wonder why they aren't putting it on a second disc and putting it all on 1 disc).

[zedz]

It would be silly not to include that, good call

Having watched a lot of Japanese making-of docs in my time, I don't think we'll be missing much. They're generally anodyne ("It was such an honour to work with Director X. The role was very challenging. Everybody on the shoot was so nice." Multiply by entire cast.), formulaic and punishingly over-extended.

[ryannichols7]

I wonder if they will make this a 2-disc release, with the 2+ hour behind-the-scenes documentary that is on the Japanese CE release included on the 2nd disc.

It seems like they aren't including this, unless the program listed on this release is the documentary ( if it is, then I do wonder why they aren't putting it on a second disc and putting it all on 1 disc).

so I got our answer to this, as I ordered the Japanese CE and just got it in today. the second disc in the set is a DVD and the making of is hilariously SD quality. even at 2:12 it shouldn't compromise too much quality on the main feature. I only sampled it so far but it opens with making of footage of the Hokkaido sequence, really cool stuff.

I do wish Criterion had included the Japanese interview with Hamaguchi and Nishijima, as well as the Japanese press conference, but I'm sure there's a lot of overlap. would've been interesting to see what questions the Japanese ask versus what questions they ask in the west.

for anyone besides me who was curious about this: the Japanese BD does feature the email in both English and Japanese (English plays first!), and the final title of the movie is indeed in English, which I found really interesting. the transfer is gorgeous, which shouldn't shock anyone. I really love the movie so I wanted to make sure to have both editions, very curious to see the Criterion.

[dwk]

Drive My Beaver

[cdnchris]

It would be silly not to include that, good call

The behind-the-scenes featurette is only 35-minutes long and seems to be pretty standard of its type so far. I haven't been able to watch the whole thing yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be simply a sampling from the longer documentary.

[yoloswegmaster]

It would be silly not to include that, good call

The behind-the-scenes featurette is only 35-minutes long and seems to be pretty standard of its type so far. I haven't been able to watch the whole thing yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be simply a sampling from the longer documentary.

Someone emailed Criterion and they confirmed that it's an edited version of the longer doc. Though that could be a blessing to some, as this is what DVDCompare had to say about the documentary:

Three hours of extras, but it is quantity over quality on this release. The lengthy documentary is basically a production diary without much depth, there are no interviews with Murakami on the original story or what he thought of the adaptation, and little to nothing about the process of expanding the short story into a feature film. Hopefully a future release from Criterion in the US who have hinted a release will have better extras included.

[ryannichols7]

I haven't found time for the entire doc yet but mark my words I'll sit through the entire runtime and report to it here. I owe a scan of Masters of Cinema's Vampyr disc I haven't gotten to yet either, but if anyone is curious I'll definitely be sure to circle back here after watching the whole thing.

Haruki Murakami notoriously does not do too many interviews so I do think that would've been a pipe dream, but I do think something about the adaptation (and how Hamaguchi took from several short stories) would've proved beneficial here, though admittedly he may touch on that in his interview, which I'm sure Chris will cover, since like me, he's often interested in comparisons between base work and adaptation - whether the works are included (totally not an option here, surely, but worked well for Ugetsu and others) or there's some sort of feature covering it. I personally would've loved to see them bring in one of Murakami's translators, who are all generally fascinating (to anyone interested, I have to plug Jay Rubin's book about learning Japanese for anyone who has ever wanted to learn the language, it's totally essential) and I'm sure would've brought a good bit to the table. not to mention anything about Chekov, which Criterion should know plenty about since they released Vanya on 42nd Street after all!

and as with my usual gripes for more booklet content...I'm sure a piece by Murakami would've been far easier to secure than an interview, or any sort of further appreciation. for such a big title (at least I think it is, and in good demand) this package, while it does seem nicely designed, feels pretty slight. this isn't another tossed off Aki Kaurismaki or Olivier Assayas contemporary title, it's an Oscar winner by a relative newcomer director who's already generated a large following! but, as usual for the contemporary films, I shouldn't be too surprised.

[Never Cursed]

Lovely music video for the film's main theme, which captures the film's mood pretty succinctly and has a cute button at the end