Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

Discuss internationally-released DVDs and Blu-rays or other international DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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L.A.
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Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#1 Post by L.A. » Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:15 am

Hope it's okay to start the thread with a question...

I'm going to Tokyo in the last week of May. Any good film stores there, e.g. where I could buy the Hiroshi Shimizu box sets?

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manicsounds
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#2 Post by manicsounds » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:40 am

Used shops llike Disk Union, Book Off carry lots of used discs, finding Shimizu boxsets are hit and miss but you may get lucky.

In other Japanese news the bluray of Ozu's Tokyo Story has finally been announced for July 6th.
English and Japanese subtitles available, extras include a trailer and an audio commentary by crew members recorded in 1984.

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andyli
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#3 Post by andyli » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:47 am

Image
The description on amazon.co.jp says this is gonna be mastered from the 2012 4K restoration. \:D/

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hearthesilence
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#4 Post by hearthesilence » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:49 am

Argh, just bought the BFI BD, I didn't know there was a 4k restoration! Did they find better materials for it, or did they use the same film elements as before?

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andyli
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#5 Post by andyli » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:59 am

This thread has some discussion about the restoration.

According to this piece, Tokyo Story is supposed to be the first of a series of new restoration projects on Ozu films, as part of the 110th anniversary celebration. And more blu-ray releases are on the way.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#6 Post by hearthesilence » Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:15 am

Are those two one and the same? The other screened at TIFF in October 2011 - forgot about it - and the new one has press releases dating from this year. Anyway, given manicsounds' praise, it does sound enticing. The BFI BD isn't bad, but when I watch it, I get the strong impression it was really limited by its source material.

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htdm
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#7 Post by htdm » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:30 pm

L.A. wrote:Hope it's okay to start the thread with a question...I'm going to Tokyo in the last week of May. Any good film stores there, e.g. where I could buy the Hiroshi Shimizu box sets?
I'm guessing that you already knew that the following Shimizu titles are being rereleased on individual DVDs (with English subs) on 5/29?

Children in the Wind
Mr. Thank You
Nobuko
Masseurs and a Woman
Ornamental Hairpin
Introspection Tower

If you're there, I would try Kinokuniya in Shinjuku - they are certain to have them.

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L.A.
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#8 Post by L.A. » Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:24 pm

Everybody, thank you for your replies so far.

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L.A.
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#9 Post by L.A. » Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:52 am

htdm wrote:If you're there, I would try Kinokuniya in Shinjuku - they are certain to have them.
Thanks for this tip - I found the first Shimizu set there (on May 31st to be exact), unfortunately they didn't have the second one then and couldn't find that anywhere else either like Tower Records and Tsutaya for example. The Japanese Amazon seems to have it so might give it a try.

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htdm
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#10 Post by htdm » Sat Jun 08, 2013 2:04 am

Cheers - these are magnificent sets!

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#11 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:55 am

htdm wrote:Cheers - these are magnificent sets!
I am SO glad I bought these two Shimizu sets the instant they were released. Too bad the proposed volumes 3 and 4 got scrapped (because not enough other people snapped up the first two boxes).

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feihong
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#12 Post by feihong » Sat Jul 20, 2013 3:50 am

Turns out Swallowtail Butterfly was released on Blu-ray in japan. I bought the disc. The movie was shot in pretty extreme soft focus, with lots of focus-pulls and smoke and stuff. Some scenes have always appeared as if they were shot very poorly.

But for the most part the film gains sharpness and grain, color separation that was missing from both dvd releases, way cleaner audio, and extraordinary depth of field that never appeared to exist in any previous disc. There is some visible noise reduction once in a while, but more often than not the original film grain is evident. Close-ups look unerringly gorgeous. Night scenes come off surprisingly good.

It has no English subtitles. But 50% of the movie is in English to begin with. I never thought the lack of translation ever got in the way of understanding the film. Every scene where they explain the plot of the film is totally useless, anyway.

Pretty interesting! Makes me want to see what the Japanese blu ray of Hana & Alice looks like.

I realize also that I am falling in love with the picture anew as I see it. The implausibilities of the story and the terrible phonetic line deliveries had driven me to real weariness with the movie. But seeing it big and colorful and vibrant and looking like a real movie brought back all the thrill of seeing it for the first time, and it lets me ride over all the ludicrous stuff in the film and find all the great things in it the film. Every scene is amazingly crafted. Every image is to die for. Every actor seems just right, even if Chara can't pronounce a word of Chinese or English credibly. The movie is in fact very worthwhile, after all. I also didn't realize how much it borrows visually and in its subject matter from Dodes'kaden.

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manicsounds
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#13 Post by manicsounds » Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:03 pm

Color 4 Ozu Blu-ray set, March 8th from Shochiku Japan

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joshua
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#14 Post by joshua » Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:17 pm

English subtitles again. Nice.

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zedz
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#15 Post by zedz » Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:15 pm

I can't wait to see how these look. Amusingly, the Google-translated version of the title of his final film is the perfectly compromised and exquisitely ridiculous "Taste of Autumn Afternoon."

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#16 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:15 am

zedz wrote:I can't wait to see how these look. Amusingly, the Google-translated version of the title of his final film is the perfectly compromised and exquisitely ridiculous "Taste of Autumn Afternoon."
Google really screws up then -- since sanma is actually this: http://shizuokagourmet.com/japanese-sea ... erel-pike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

;~}

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manicsounds
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#17 Post by manicsounds » Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:46 am

One of the google translation entries of the word "Sanma" translates as "An Autumn Afternoon", was probably just submitted by a user who knew the Ozu film. Anyway, the first kanji of "Sanma" is "Autumn" so it's not too far, but the word for "Afternoon" is not anywhere in the original Japanese title.

I'm sure there's been discussion about this before...

Anyway, I wonder if this 4K restoration of "An Autumn Afternoon" will finally rid of the weird audio/video unsynced jump near the beginning of the film.

shaky
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#18 Post by shaky » Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:51 am

You know, I'm still a bit on the fence about the new 4k restoration of TOKYO STORY. That sepia/tanish contrast looks very strange to me after having watched the BFI blu-ray these last few years. It also looks like the grain structure might have been compromised a little bit, though I obviously need to see this baby in motion to be sure. Finally, the new restoration looks a touch soft, but again I need to see it in motion. Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me, or perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about :-k

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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#19 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:24 am

manicsounds wrote:Anyway, I wonder if this 4K restoration of "An Autumn Afternoon" will finally rid of the weird audio/video unsynced jump near the beginning of the film.
I've always assumed that the version used must have had a number of missing frames.

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manicsounds
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#20 Post by manicsounds » Tue Aug 13, 2013 8:24 pm

I also don't get the sepiatone for Tokyo Story. I saw the restored version projected and it was clearly in black and white with a lot of grey tones. Not sharp blacks and whites, but a lot of grey hues. No browns.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#21 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:04 pm

I watched the new Japanese Blu-Ray of Tokyo Story -- and don't recall it being especially sepia-ish....

artfilmfan
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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#22 Post by artfilmfan » Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:23 pm

Michael,

Could you look at the screen captures from the Japanese Blu-ray of Tokyo Story at DVDBeaver and let us know whether what you saw of your copy had the same "brownish" look like that? Or maybe the screen captures at DVDBeaver don't look "brownish" to you.

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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#23 Post by longstone » Wed Aug 14, 2013 1:40 am

I have both the BFI Blu and the Japanese Blu of Tokyo Story, given I have very little technical knowledge of film restoration at all and I'm just a fan of Ozu viewing on a 32" screen I thought for the average viewer the Japanese restoration appears a large improvement . In that it fixes lots of frame wobble and reduces the sections where dark and light areas fluctuate . I could also see more detail in a lot of scenes ( especially outside like the train passing near the beginning or the first view of chimneys )
I didn't notice the Japanese Blu looking sepia while actually watching even though I had seen the Beaver comparisons and read the various threads here. I thought strangely that some of the whites looked a little too "white" such as the youngest sisters blouse . Having said all that I thought the BFI Blu was great when I got it and would still happily view that but I suspect if I showed a direct comparison in motion to any of my friends who enjoy film they would instantly say the Japanese restoration is the better experience.

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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#24 Post by artfilmfan » Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:21 pm

So, we now have three separate accounts/recollections that are contrary to the screen captures from the Japanese Blu-ray at DVDBeaver.

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Re: Japanese Films on DVD/Blu-ray

#25 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:53 pm

I would say that the DVD Beaver screen caps do NOT looked sepia-toned to me -- having checked on two different monitors. (There was an old French DVD and an even older HK VCD that were more sepia-ish). Rather, to me, it looks like there is a wider range of middle tones and less extremes of either black or white. When compared side-by-side to the more more starkly deep black and brilliantly bright white BFI alternative, I see a sort of optical illusion of color outside the black-gray-white family -- but nothing like the older releases that did have a brownish-tinge to them. ;-}

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