BD 96 Youth of the Beast
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Youth of the Beast
Right on the heels of the riotous Go to Hell, Bastards: Detective Bureau 2 3, Seijun Suzuki unleashed what would come to be seen as his true breakthrough, the film that would cement "the Suzuki sensibility": Youth of the Beast [Yajû no seishun]. A kaleidoscopic fantasia that contains "youth" and "beast" onlly insofar as 1963 pop/youth culture was that violently upstart thing, not unlike the yakuza?
And so Youth of the Beast is a yakuza tale with a premise like Akira Kurosawa's Yôjinbô, but denuded of an easy definition of which side is which. It stars Suzuki's iconic '60s regular Jô Shishido, with his dare-you-to-call-them-out artificial cheek implants like new acting blasphemy. There are drug-addled whores, gunfights in a new colour apocalypse, and at least one alien landscape — the sudden mind-searing eruption of a sulphur yellow desert like an action-figure playset with overspill of unbridled lust.
Suzuki's infectious go-for-broke energy is assisted by a telephoto lens that serves at once phallus and yoni in the masterful, Minnelli-worthy 'Scope framing. His film would go on to inspire John Woo's forthcoming remake titled Day of the Beast; Nikkatsu have in recent times deemed this one of their treasures. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Youth of the Beast in a Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition based on their new HD master.
DUAL FORMAT RELEASE INCLUDING BLU-RAY AND DVD VERSIONS OF THE FILM
• New high-definition 1080p presentation of the film on the Blu-ray, and progressive encode on the DVD.
• New and improved optional English subtitles
• New video interview with critic and scholar Tony Rayns
• Original theatrical trailer
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay by Frederick Veith, and rare archival imagery
Right on the heels of the riotous Go to Hell, Bastards: Detective Bureau 2 3, Seijun Suzuki unleashed what would come to be seen as his true breakthrough, the film that would cement "the Suzuki sensibility": Youth of the Beast [Yajû no seishun]. A kaleidoscopic fantasia that contains "youth" and "beast" onlly insofar as 1963 pop/youth culture was that violently upstart thing, not unlike the yakuza?
And so Youth of the Beast is a yakuza tale with a premise like Akira Kurosawa's Yôjinbô, but denuded of an easy definition of which side is which. It stars Suzuki's iconic '60s regular Jô Shishido, with his dare-you-to-call-them-out artificial cheek implants like new acting blasphemy. There are drug-addled whores, gunfights in a new colour apocalypse, and at least one alien landscape — the sudden mind-searing eruption of a sulphur yellow desert like an action-figure playset with overspill of unbridled lust.
Suzuki's infectious go-for-broke energy is assisted by a telephoto lens that serves at once phallus and yoni in the masterful, Minnelli-worthy 'Scope framing. His film would go on to inspire John Woo's forthcoming remake titled Day of the Beast; Nikkatsu have in recent times deemed this one of their treasures. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Youth of the Beast in a Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition based on their new HD master.
DUAL FORMAT RELEASE INCLUDING BLU-RAY AND DVD VERSIONS OF THE FILM
• New high-definition 1080p presentation of the film on the Blu-ray, and progressive encode on the DVD.
• New and improved optional English subtitles
• New video interview with critic and scholar Tony Rayns
• Original theatrical trailer
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay by Frederick Veith, and rare archival imagery
- The Elegant Dandy Fop
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
This is what I'm talking about! I feel Masters of Cinema has been in a bit of a dry spell in the last year, but this is going to be great. One of the most manic of Suzuki's 60s features with an amazingly loud, almost Naked City-ish soundtrack.
- L.A.
- Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
- Location: Helsinki, Finland
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Like Arrow's Branded to Kill, would love to see a second film included in the same package as well.
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Like Detective Bureau 2-3
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
DVDBeaver compares it to the Criterion DVD.
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- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:50 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
The pace of this film is intoxicating, I think I blinked twice during the whole thing.
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- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Are the black levels correct on this?
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- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
What's Eureka/MOC's track record on correct black levels for their Japanese BDs?
- EddieLarkin
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Consistently good today, not so much in the past. Profound Desires of the Gods, Vengeance is Mine and Burmese Harp are all wrong, whilst I'm undecided on The Insect Woman/Nishi Ginza Station, Ugetsu monogatari/Oyu-sama and Sansho Dayu/Gion bayashi. Worth experimenting. The rest are all fine.
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Gion Bayashi is fine. It's a little bright perhaps, but nothing like an improper black levels. I think it's the same for Oyu sama & Ugetsu (weirdly, it seems I haven't saved the screen caps I've done at the time).
As for The Burmese Harp, I think the real issue is on the Criterion DVD which is contrast boosted as hell. I prefer the look of the MoC BD which certainly lacks so time of black depth but I recall the Criterion DVD being more often oddly-timed (due to the boost) than the MoC BD.
As for The Burmese Harp, I think the real issue is on the Criterion DVD which is contrast boosted as hell. I prefer the look of the MoC BD which certainly lacks so time of black depth but I recall the Criterion DVD being more often oddly-timed (due to the boost) than the MoC BD.
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- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
thanks!EddieLarkin wrote:Consistently good today, not so much in the past. Profound Desires of the Gods, Vengeance is Mine and Burmese Harp are all wrong, whilst I'm undecided on The Insect Woman/Nishi Ginza Station, Ugetsu monogatari/Oyu-sama and Sansho Dayu/Gion bayashi. Worth experimenting. The rest are all fine.
- EddieLarkin
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
I double checked The Burmese Harp because you mentioned this before. It is definitely wrong. Even if you change the levels it doesn't come out as contrasty as the Criterion, if that's what you're worried about. The MoC disc is one of the worst I've seen and it looks infinitely better with the levels changed.
As for the Mizoguchi films I'm really not sure. With Ugestu, I will say during the scene with Genjuro at the mansion there is some really really funky compression noise all over the dark spaces, that of course disappears when the levels are changed. But the rest looks fine and I wouldn't bother making a change myself.
As for the Mizoguchi films I'm really not sure. With Ugestu, I will say during the scene with Genjuro at the mansion there is some really really funky compression noise all over the dark spaces, that of course disappears when the levels are changed. But the rest looks fine and I wouldn't bother making a change myself.
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- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:27 pm
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
I'm going to be in Tokyo next week and I would really like to order this disc from Amazon.co.jp (region B import) to watch in our hotel room... does anyone know whether the HD content (i.e. 1080p feature) would be compatible on what I can only assume would be a region A-locked Blu-Ray player made for the Japanese market?
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
No, a Region B locked disc would not play on a Region A locked player.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
I thought Japan was Region A though?
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
- Location: Washington
- Contact:
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
They are but he's talking about the MOC disc (i think) and it's region B.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
Yeah, he's asking if the Region B MoC disc will play in a Region A Japan player. The answer is no.
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- Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 1:01 pm
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
.... but the DVD that comes with the Blu-ray should be in region 2 (Isn't R2 the Japanese standard in DVD). So if the DVD image is enough, it should play.
- htdm
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 3:46 am
Re: BD 96 Youth of the Beast
But the DVD would be R2 PAL, Japan is R2 NTSC.
- MichaelB
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
- Location: Worthing
- Contact:
BD 96 Youth of the Beast
MoC’s DVD will be R2 NTSC. Unless the film originated at PAL speed (for instance, ‘Colossal Youth’), their policy for many years (certainly well before ‘Youth of the Beast’) is to encode as NTSC - it’s just as compatible with European systems, and doesn’t run into pitch-shift issues.htdm wrote:But the DVD would be R2 PAL, Japan is R2 NTSC.