Pre-ordered more new Asian Cinema releases from the Terracotta Store and they have arrived. This haul pretty much focused on the latest from Arrow Video, Eureka Entertainment and Radiance Films.
Starting off with Ringo Lam's 1987 film
City on Fire (龍虎風雲) on 4K Ultra HD. This is a huge release because it's the first of many Golden Princess titles that Arrow Video licensed from Shout! Factory for the UK and while there's been some discussions over how the US versions were handled (for example the subtitles), the UK release does have additional care to make sure everyone is happy. The limited edition set comes with a slipcase and booklet.
Next we have the limited edition Blu-ray for
Radical Japan: Cinema and State - Nine Films by Nagisa Ōshima from Radiance Films. I've been familiar with his work on
Cruel Story of Youth (which Eureka previously released),
In the Realm of the Senses (currently available from Criterion) and
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (currently available from Arrow Video), but never owned any of them so this box set will be my first introduction to his work.
The films included are as follows:
- The Catch (飼育), 1961.
- Yunbogi's Diary (ユンボギの日記), 1965.
- Death by Hanging (絞死刑), 1968.
- Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (新宿泥棒日記), 1969.
- Boy (少年), 1969.
- The Man Who Left His Will on Film (東京战争戦後秘話), 1970.
- The Ceremony (儀式), 1971.
- Dear Summer Sister (夏の妹), 1972.
- 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (百年日本映画), 1995.
Just like previous Radiance Films limited edition box sets, this one is also housed in a rigid box with three Scanavo cases to house the films across seven Blu-rays. The book included in this set features various essays and interviews about the films.
Last new release from Terracotta in this package is from Eureka Entertainment with
Triple Threat: Three Films with Sammo Hung. It's been well over five years since we last saw a multi-film pack of Sammo Hung films from the distributor so here we have a few more that starred the actor in this collection; Wu Mai's 1974 film
The Manchu Boxer (七省拳王), Alfred Cheung's 1988 film
Paper Marriage (過埠新娘) and Teddy Robin's 1990 film
Shanghai, Shanghai (亂世兒女).
Now what makes this limited edition stand out is that there's a bonus Blu-ray disc that features extended international versions of
The Manchu Boxer and
Shanghai, Shanghai, which won't be included in the standard edition. It is rather uncommon for these to happen but I made sure to get this set sooner than later.