Also, all of the Brazilian Versatil releases of Rocha's films (rich with extras and far superior to Mr Bongo) have English subtitles. The only caveat is that the disc of Black God, White Devil - the first release - doesn't include subs for the extras.

Whatever happened to this release?

Gorin, Downey and Mailer. Three reasons why Eclipse is the best thing going. What other company would have the guts to release stuff like this? Criterion give a damn about the entire breadth of world cinema-- the masterpieces alongside the near misses-- which is why we love em. One question though: why no Glauber Rocha or Hou Hsiao Hsien??? Seems like the two most glaring omissions in their otherwise flawless catalog. The rights on these films must be a mess or something.

I have been down this path.

It still puzzles me that out of 600 spines, Criterion has never released a single Brazilian film. There are so many good titles to choose from...

I may be wrong (I certainly hope so) but weren't most of the old Fox Lorber/Winstar titles - all those not purchased at the time of liquidation by Criterion - transferred to Genius Products...and then to the Weinstein Co.? If so, every Hou film since 1990 with the exception of Millennium Mambo would currently be controlled by the Weinsteins. Terrible to think of such a scenario...

I think that leaves Dust in the Wind as the only Hou instantly ready for a U.S. Blu-ray.

I'm pretty sure a good portion of the earlier Hou films (particularly City of Sadness) are in some sort of rights hell due to various legitimate and not so legitimate groups (supposedly something with Triad ties?) involved in production and distribution.

I would take on the Triads myself to get a City of Sadness blu release.

Just be wary when they come asking for a favour in return.
That always ends badly.

I'd love for someone like Criterion to release some Hou Hsiou-Hsien. Tsai Ming-Liang even more so! Haven't risked any of the Asian releases, as they all sounded a little underwhelming.

Which of Criterion's many Asian releases do you find "underwhelming"? Surely they have released something to suit just about anybody's taste.

(Well, maybe not if someone's favorite director is Tsai). ;~{

I misread it at first too, he means that he's heard the Asian DVD releases of those directors are underwhelming

Much more sensible reading than my own. ;~}

So far as I know, the best release of a HOU film is the French (but English-subbed) Millennium Mambo (not sure how the Blu Ray of Dust in the Wind compares to this, however). Hou's own Taiwan release of some of his earlier films suggests a lot of restoration/preservation work might be needed for his films. I sprt of suspect we might never see fully satisfactory releases of most of his work.

Didn't think I was being so oblique, but in re-reading my post I can see how confusion might arise. I was actually referring to the Blu-Ray releases from Taiwan: Vive l'Amour, Dust in the Wind, Terrorizers etc.
I guess the threads' subject didn't help the clarity either.

The Blu-rays are very good...with the exception of Dust in the Wind.

Dust in the Wind isn't 1080p/24fps, they simply repeat every fourth frame giving the image a fairly jerky quality. Apparently some Blu-ray players can straighten it out but not one of my three seem capable of doing this. The disc also has some noticeable color and contrast boosting, giving the film a decidedly blue hue, but I've found a way to get rid of that problem (it really does work.)

That said, it's an enormous improvement over the DVD, something the dvdbeaver screencaps don't at all tell, and it's not just the video quality; the audio is unimaginably superior, not at all like the tinny, flat, static sound of the DVD. I would never have expected it to look and sound as good as it does. I can't say the motion problem is unnoticeable but the film is motionless enough that it isn't as huge of a problem as it could have been. Despite that issue, I think it's worth getting - it's been available for two years and it doesn't look like anyone in America or the U.K. is interested in picking it up.

You know, it may just be that at the time I decided to hold out for a possible US/UK release, that might provide improved transfers (along with mistakenly recalling that it was due to lack of quality).
Though your right, as time stretches on, this looks less and less likely.
Perhaps it's time to give them a go. Anything has to be better than the old Fox Lorber/Winstar releases.

The Triad-financing line is an all-purpose explanation that's probably been applied to every unavailable Hong Kong or Taiwanese film at some point. There has definitely been Triad involvement in the film industries there -- moreso in Hong Kong -- but I don't think this really applies to City of Sadness, which was produced ERA International, probably Taiwan's biggest media conglomerate at the time. Not that this automatically rules out Triad involvement, but there's a less sinister explanation: ERA hasn't been active in the film industry for over a decade (except for a couple of mainland co-production deals that never went anywhere) and eventually pulled completely out of the media game. They're now a mining equipment company, of all things. I'd say there's a good chance they simply stopped caring about their film holdings; the hole in that theory is that their other big productions from this period -- To Live and Raise the Red Lantern -- haven't been quite so unobtainable. But even their availability has been spotty, with the MGM DVDs going out of print very quickly, coming back into print a few years later, and then going OOP again.

City of Sadness also underwent a restoration and limited airing in new 35mm prints a few years ago, so somebody must have a vested interest in it. The question is who, and what's holding up the long-overdue Blu / DVD release.

The 2009 reissue was done by the Taiwanese Government Information Office. There was no restoration involved -- the GIO had a new subtitled print struck and toured around the U.S. by Taiwan's sort-of embassy. At best it means that good elements exist and the rights holder is not completely incommunicado, but a private company hoping to license it for normal distribution (with the presumed intention of actually making some money off it) is going to face a different set of challenges.

There are leaders and then there are followers. Criterion used to be a leader.
Majority of what they release these days has been released in other regions in excellent editions (2 Lane Blacktop, Tin Drum, Pina 3D). These will appeal only to those who are region-locked.
They have rights to a mass of material that has not been released anywhere in Blu Ray format. But these items remain in the closet for years.
Ask the question: which of MoC releases are leading the field (i.e., first in the English-speaking world), and which of the Criterions?
And even when they follow, they do not always do as well as the leaders (e.g. Tin Drum has been already issued in 2 versions; Criterion has only one. Same for Carlos.)
I have long given up trying to understand Criterion's decision-making process. Perhaps it makes sense to them. It does not make sense to me.

Region-locking is an unfortunate reality I'm sure Criterion would admit. There are plenty of MOC-editions which are better than the Criterion, and a few visa-versa, and ample room for argument on the subject. Criterion certainly shouldn't elect not to release something just because it was released in another region.

you have to understand a large majority of their retail base is region locked. while you and I may know there's a decent version of Ugetsu over in the UK, 85% of the people that are interested in that movie that live in the US are unable to get it. it's simple, Criterion does things for their market, and I'm sure they'll sell plenty of copies so you can eventually get your super-rare obscure movie from a third world country.

I know I'll be buying Pina and Two-Lane Blacktop.

I feel like anytime within 12 months of the release of Lonesome- on blu ray, with two bonus features, and commentary- is a bad time to complain about Criterion not being sufficiently adventurous.

Not to mention the news just yesterday that A Brighter Summer Day and possibly other WCF titles should be coming out sooner rather than later.

This time it's just the low number of films new to the collection. The Hitchcock and the Wenders are both very fine selections, but is that really all for a January? Not even an Eclipse set (Etaix or otherwise)?

if I'm correct, didn't January 2011 only feature one new title (Broadcast News) and last year feature three new titles and one upgrade? it's all fluctuation. I'm glad we got a large amount of upgrades given how October, November, and December each only saw one upgrade (though they were all pretty big ones)

I'm sure February will see more new releases than upgrades.