Asian Cinema Thread

I'm reviving this thread because I forgot we had a topic focused on Asian cinema!

I also wanted to remind folks that Arrow Video's Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale concludes on Monday 15th July, and they have a number of Asian titles (primarily Japanese films) included in their offer. The offer ranges from £15-18 for single films, £25 for three film sets, and £40-50 for limited edition box sets.

Here is the list of films offered:
The following are also available to buy on their website, but are NOT part of the Arrow sale:
I should also mention that Blind Woman's Curse supposedly had a stealth re-issue to improve the transfer of the release, therefore if you order through Arrow's store you'll have the newer version. The code on the disc which is based on the newer version is A0102432897-A511 1000.
 
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Very short notice, but Eureka Entertainment also has a sale going on that finishes on 15th July at 9am BST (aka tomorrow morning!)

Here is the list of films offered:
And while these lots aren't included in the sale, they were distributed by Eureka. Note that some are no longer in print:
 
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Looks like we have ourselves our very first Asian film to be released on 4K Ultra HD in the UK region.

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Shadow is coming to Blu-ray & 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray by Universal Pictures this September. The Chinese film is directed by Zhang Yimou, known for releasing the classics Hero and House of Flying Daggers as well as the notorious The Great Wall.
 
A brief mention for those interested, Bong Joon-ho's 2019 film Parasite (기생충) is coming to the UK & Ireland via distributor Curzon Artificial Eye. Details are slim but it'll likely be given a limited theatrical release and a Blu-ray release later down the line.


Parasite won this year's Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and is the first Korean film to do so.
 
There are some good news and bad news regarding Arrow Video's release for Oldboy.

The bad news is that it turns out that Arrow Video did not have the rights to release select extras for their upcoming Blu-ray release and thus will not be included in the end (that's because they were made exclusively for the South Korean release).

The good news is that to make up for it, Arrow was able to license and include the remaining two films in the Vengeance movie trilogy; Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance with the Limited Edition release. The LE will now be on 4 Blu-ray discs containing the following:

Disc 1 - Oldboy
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative supervised by director Park Chan-wook
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo
• Original Korean and English soundtracks
• Music and effects track
• Newly translated, optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Korean soundtrack
• Audio commentary with director Park Chan-wook
• Audio commentary with Park Chan-wook and cinematographer Jung Jung-hoon
• Audio commentary with Park Chan-wook, and actors Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
• New audio commentary with critic Jasper Sharp and writer Simon Ward
• Out of the Past, new video appreciation by Asian film expert Tony Rayns
• Deleted scenes with optional director commentary
• Behind the scenes featurettes
• Extensive cast and crew interviews
• “Bring My Love” music video by Starsailor, using clips of the film
• Trailers and teasers
• Image gallery

Disc 2 - Old Days (Feature-length Documentary)
• Old Days: An Oldboy Story (110 mins), acclaimed feature-length 2016 documentary about Park Chan-wook's masterpiece
• Autobiography of Oldboy, a three-and-a-half-hour video diary of the making of Oldboy

Disc 3 - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo
• Newly translated English subtitles
• Audio commentary by director Park Chan-wook and filmmaker Ryoo Seung-wan
• Screaming for Vengeance, Kim Newman on the Vengeance Trilogy and the tradition of revenge films
• Extensive archival making-
of featurettes, behind the scenes featurettes and cast and crew interviews
• Trailers
• Image gallery

Disc 4 - Lady Vengeance
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of two versions of the film, the original theatrical version and the fade to black and white version
• Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo
• Newly translated English subtitles
• Audio commentary by director Park Chan-wook, director of photography Jung Jung-hoon and art director Joh Hwa-seong
• Audio commentary by director Park Chan-wook and actress Lee Yeong-ae
• Audio commentary by academic Richard Peña
• Extensive archival making-of featurettes, behind the scenes featurettes, cast and crew interviews and deleted scenes
• Trailers
• Image gallery

The limited edition packaging contents include newly commissioned artwork by Matt Ryan Tobin and a Limited edition 100-page hardbound book featuring new writing by Simon Abrams, Kat Ellinger, and archival articles.

The Arrow Video listing is now sold out but it can still be ordered through Amazon UK. The Limited Edition artwork will also be revised to mention all three films within the coming weeks, but the listing will stay the same. The release date has also been pushed back from the end of August to the end of September 2019.

(Disclaimer: Amazon link is affiliated to help support me financially)
 
Criterion US has announced plans to release Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 Blu-ray collection.

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The box set features all 15 films produced during the Showa Japanese period across 8 Blu-ray discs:
  • Godzilla (1954)
  • Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
  • King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
  • Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
  • Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
  • Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
  • Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
  • Son of Godzilla (1967)
  • Destroy All Monsters (1968)
  • All Monsters Attack (1969)
  • Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
  • Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
  • Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
  • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
  • Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
It's priced at SRP $224.95 and is scheduled for 29th October 2019.
 
HMV has started a new Buy One Get One Free promotion once again. This time it's Arrow Academy.

Examples of titles from Asia included in Arrow Academy's list:
  • After the Storm - Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
  • Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji - Dir. Tomu Uchida
  • Departures - Dir. Yôjirô Takita
  • The Human Condition Trilogy - Dir. Masaki Kobayashi
  • The Third Murder - Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
  • Woman is the Future of Man, Tale of Cinema: Two Films by Hong Sangsoo - Dir. Hong Sang-soo
 
farzam1999 said:
Don't know if it's part of the promotion, but I would highly recommed A Simple Life, really great film.
It's an Arrow release, just don't know if it's Academy.
Click to expand...
You referring to this one right? Much like Hirokazu Kore-eda's I Wish and Like Father, Like Son, it's one of those older releases of theirs and therefore not under either Academy or Arrow. So it's either out of print/license expired or could have been re-released in a LE box set like the other two Kore-eda films did.
 
I honestly don't know with regards to Sonatine to be honest, but at least I now know that the Japanese release has English subtitles.

Speaking of which, do we have the absolute complete list of every Asian title released in the UK?
 
Tokyo Gore Police (東京残酷警察), a 2008 Japanese film that was once released under the 4Digital Asia label has been rescued by Yume Pictures for a Blu-ray release. Available starting 19th August 2019 and can be ordered through Amazon UK. (note: link is affiliated so if you buy anything it'll support me financially).

Yume Pictures have released other Asian films but only on DVD including Takashi Miike's Over Your Dead Body and Hitoshi Matsumoto's R100.

UK Blu-ray artwork:
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88 Films have three Jackie Chan titles coming to Blu-ray in October/November time. You can find all three titles over on Amazon UK.

Crime Story, scheduled on 7th October. Specs below:
  • Brand New 2K Remaster from The Original 35mm Negative in 1.85:1 Aspect Rati
  • Remastered Uncompressed Classic English Monoaural Audio
  • Remastered Uncompressed Cantonese Monoaural Audio
  • Newly Translated English Subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by Film-Maker Arne Venema & Hong Kong Film Expert Mike Leeder
  • Looking for a new Direction: Longtime Jackie Chan Assistant Director P'ng Kialek remembers Crime Story
  • Interview with Bruce Law
  • Deleted Scene
  • Interview with Teddy Chan Talk-Sum
  • Trailers

Dragons Forever, scheduled for 18th November.

The Protector, scheduled for 21st October.

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Also coming to the UK is the Godzilla: Showa-era collection from Criterion. The release will be the same as the North American release but the discs are locked to Region B. The 15 film set is scheduled with a limited pressing for 25th November 2019 at £150 (£10 per film basically) on Amazon UK.

Bonus features specification:
  • High-definition digital transfers of all fifteen Godzilla films made between 1954 and 1975, released together for the first time, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
  • High-definition digital transfers of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the 1956 U.S.-release version of Godzilla; and the 1962 Japanese-release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla
  • Audio commentaries from 2011 on Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters featuring film historian David Kalat
  • International English-language dub tracks for Invasion of Astro-Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Terror of Mechagodzilla
  • Directors Guild of Japan interview with director Ishiro Honda, conducted by director Yoshimitsu Banno in 1990
  • Programs detailing the creation of Godzilla’s special effects and unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monsters
  • New interview with filmmaker Alex Cox about his admiration for the Showa-era Godzilla films
  • New and archival interviews with cast and crew members, including actors Bin Furuya, Tsugutoshi Komada, Haruo Nakajima, and Akira Takarada; composer Akira Ifukube; and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai
  • Interview with critic Tadao Sato from 2011
  • Illustrated audio essay from 2011 about the real-life tragedy that inspired Godzilla
  • New English subtitle translations
  • Trailers

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From Eureka Entertainment as part of their Masters of Cinema line-up, King Hu's The Fate of Lee Khan is coming to Blu-ray on 21st October 2019. Specs below:
  • 1080p transfer of the film on Blu-ray, with a progressive encode on the DVD
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Original Mandarin audio, available in original mono (uncompressed on Blu-ray) and restored 5.1
  • Optional English audio, available in original mono (uncompressed on Blu-ray) and restored 5.1
  • Brand new and exclusive commentary by critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
  • A brand new and exclusive video essay by David Cairns
  • Original Trailer
  • PLUS: a collector s booklet featuring new and archival writing on the film

(Disclaimer: Amazon links above are affiliated to help support me financially)​
 
HMV has updated their Buy One Get One Free offering, by concluding the Arrow Academy sale and commencing the British Film Institute (BFI) sale.

For the Asian Cinema catalog that BFI has, these are the following that should be available:
  • An Actor's Revenge (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Kon Ichikawa
  • An Autumn Afternoon (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film A Hen in the Wind on the DVD disc
  • Early Summer (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film What Did the Lady Forget? on the DVD disc
  • Equinox Flower (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film There Was a Father on the DVD disc
  • Good Morning (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film I Was Born, But... on the DVD disc
  • The Kurosawa Samurai Collection (Blu-ray) - directed by Akira Kurosawa
    • Includes the films The Hidden Fortress, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo
  • Late Autumn (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film A Mother Should Be Loved on the DVD disc
  • Late Spring (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film The Only Son on the Blu-ray & DVD discs
  • Rashomon (Blu-ray) - directed by Akira Kurosawa
  • Seven Samurai (Blu-ray) - directed by Akira Kurosawa
  • Tokyo Story (Blu-ray/DVD) - directed by Yasujiro Ozu
    • Includes the film Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family on the DVD disc
It's been reported that the recent Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Koreeda collection (which features the films; Maborosi, After Life, Nobody Knows, Still Walking) is not included in the sale on the box set side.
 
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