2024 HAUL - JANUARY CHAPTER: BATCH #5 + FEBRUARY CHAPTER: BATCH #1
Two more packages this week, one that arrived at the start of the week which didn't make my overall collection haul post but I got that updated today. The other arrived today which starts the February chapter haul.
Starting off the week with the final items for the January haul! These came from retailer Terracotta Distribution.
The first one is Reiki Tsuno's 2023 film
Mad Cats which I first heard about from Third Window Films themselves when they were promoting it for their festivals. It looked like an interesting film to watch and considering its not part of their first print slipcase editions I decided to support them because they have said their non-LEs don't perform as well, which makes sense considering there's less of a rush on doing so.
The second one is an interesting addition for various reasons.
Tokyo Decadence (トパーズ) is a 1992 film by director Ryū Murakami, who was also notable for writing a lot of novels including Audition which was adapted into a film by Takashi Miike. This is an erotic one, similar to the Pink genre, but what makes this release fascinating is that it's actually distributed by 88 Films as part of their new Japanarchy line-up. This is the first time that I can recall 88 Films actually releasing a Japanese film, because they have mainly released Hong Kong films with some South Korean films at one point.
This is also mirroring Radiance Film's design which I am not against but I don't know if they got permission from them to do that (so hopefully both are on good terms since I do think this obi-cover idea should be used more because it's a good solution for the UK releases). The limited edition is very much like Radiance Films in general with the reversible cover having alternate artwork and information while the obi has the rating, plus the booklet inside the Scanavo case.
Starting off the February haul is another Radiance Films package! This time we have three films from France which will continue my ongoing World Cinema collection that I have been going through these past few months.
The first is François Truffaut's
The Bride Wore Black (La Mariée était en noir), which is now officially sold out of its limited edition release as this was one of the last seven available on the retailer's site. Interesting to see MGM's logo on the spine.
Next we have Alain Cavalier's
Fill 'er Up with Super (Le Plein de Super) which I didn't bother with initially but I heard it was a very good film and worth a watch so I decided to order it.
And to wrap up the package is Jean-Denis Bonan's
A Woman Kills (La Femme Bourreau), an older film that was rediscovered not long ago and is one of the first releases by Radiance Films. This one is not as loved as the other French films that the distributor has put out but I figured I'll own it to see how it is and its short films from my perspective.