Diskino's World Cinema Library / MLIFE Series

[qw0aszx]

The 3-disc UHD release of Hibiscus Town is detailed. It is sourced from the 4K restoration of complete 164-minute version from the original camera negatives, done by Shanghai Film Studio in 2018.

DISC 1 - UHD BD-100
Feature film presented in 2160p with new Dolby Vision / HDR10 grade
Original uncompressed Mandarin mono track

DISC 2 - BD-50
Feature film presented in 1080p
Original uncompressed Mandarin mono track

DISC 3 - BD-50
Visions: Cinema in China - An Account by Tony Rayns (53 minutes) - A 1983 TV documentary hosted by Tony Rayns on filmmaking in China from its beginnings in the 1920s to 1982, featuring interviews with various important figures in Chinese film history, including Xie Jin. This documentary is sourced from a brand new transfer from the master 1-inch videotape. (in original English and burnt-in English subtitles for Mandarin parts, optional Chinese subtitles included)
The Peak Achievement of Humanist Melodrama (HD, 43 minutes) - New interview with Tony Rayns on the career of Xie Jin and Hibiscus Town. (in English with optional Chinese subtitles)
Remembering the Hibiscus: Making of Hibiscus Town (HD, 65 minutes) - New documentary with the crew remembering making of the film, includes never-before-seen archival interviews with director Xie Jin, cinematographer Lu Junfu, production manager Tang Lixuan, costume designer Jin Qifen and editor Zhou Dingwen. (in Mandarin, no subtitles)
Actors on Hibiscus Town (HD, 90 minutes in total) - Five never-before-seen archival interviews with actors remembering making of the film, including Jiang Wen, Liu Xiaoqing, Zhang Guangbei, Zhu Shibin and Xu Songzi. (in Mandarin, no subtitles)

Also, the upcoming release of Xie Jin's Two Stage Sisters is confirmed to be UHD as well.

[andyli]

Packaging overview. It's added quite a few extras since the last time I heard about it.

SpoilerShow

The Tony Rayns 1983 program seemed to belong to a series made for Channel 4 called Visions? One can see a very young Tony, and Shanghai was so different then... too.

[colinr0380]

The Tony Rayns 1983 program seemed to belong to a series made for Channel 4 called Visions? One can see a very young Tony, and Shanghai was so different then... too.

Thanks for bringing that to our attention andyli! That episode is up in four parts here.

[Michael Kerpan]

I wish these were more conventionally available for purchase (or has it gotten easier?)/

[swo17]

It's not really difficult, just expensive. Here's where you can join the group buy

[fdm]

So you have to buy it in order to find out how much it's gonna cost you?

[swo17]

I assume it'll end up costing about $140-$150

[Michael Kerpan]

I assume it'll end up costing about $140-$150

That cost is, in itself, "difficult".

[swo17]

Yep. And the copious written supplements being either exclusively or mostly in Chinese makes it an even tougher sell, but man these things are pretty

SpoilerShow

[qw0aszx]

The Tony Rayns 1983 program seemed to belong to a series made for Channel 4 called Visions? One can see a very young Tony, and Shanghai was so different then... too.

And the new transfer looks different too, way better than that VHS source from youtube, even it's just a new transfer from 1 inch tape.

[swo17]

I assume it'll end up costing about $140-$150

That cost is, in itself, "difficult".

This ended up being $162.99

[Michael Kerpan]

swo -- Holy cow!

[mrb404]

swo -- Holy cow!

I did a number of these group buys and, yeah, they always end up costing a fortune, quite probably because of the shipping.
eBay is even much worse of course, and finding anything for a decent price once it's sold out is just impossible.

I ended up turning to https://www.buyoyo.com and it works really well. They're located in Kowloon and, in addition to the regular HK releases, they list Chinese titles, including the WCL/MLIFE series. My copy of "Hibiscus Town" is currently on the way and it ended up costing me about 125 USD, shipping included to Canada.

Packaging is very intense (layers of plastic over newspaper and cardboard over bubble wrap, over more bubble wrap, all taped together). I've never received anything damaged in the past 3 years (close to 30 orders). Also, under the intense packaging, the WCL/MLIFE releases always come in their own original very efficient cardboard boxes which include protective foam. The only thing is you have to figure out the best shipping strategy according to your location (more info here: https://www.buyoyo.com/buyoyo/eng/showS ... Service.do).

Right now, they have Xie Tian's The Teahouse (1982, WCL #055, release: Dec.25, 2022) on preorder for about 40 USD (+shipping), and most of the WCL/MLIFE releases going back to August 2021 seem to be still currently available. But waiting too long is never a good idea because once these are out of stock, they're gone for good. And then the only option is eBay...

[qw0aszx]

Disk Kino just announced a bunch of upcoming releases, aside from already mentioned UHD releases of Stage Sisters and Kusturica's Black Cat, White Cat, here are the newly announced WCL titles:
Zheng Junli's Crows and Sparrows (1949)
Xie Jin's Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain (1985, will be a 3 BD set)
Zhang Jianzhong's The Spring Festival (1991)
Wu Tianming's The Old Well (1986)
Zhang Jianya's SanMao on Campaign (1992)
Huang Shuqin's A Soul Haunted by Painting (1994, UHD+BD set)
King Hu's Dragon Inn and A Touch of Zen (both are UHD only)

[yoloswegmaster]

Specs for Two Stage Sisters:

DISC 1 - UHD BD-100

Feature film presented in 2160p with new Dolby Vision / HDR10 grade
4K restoration from the interpositive, done by L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2014, with new color grading done in 2022.
Original uncompressed Mandarin mono track
Audio Commentary with film scholar Shi Chuan


DISC 2 - BD-50

Feature film presented in 1080p
4K restoration from the interpositive, done by L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2014, with new color grading done in 2022.
Original uncompressed Mandarin mono track
Audio Commentary with film scholar Shi Chuan


DISC 3 - BD-50

The Key Film for the World to Recognize Chinese Cinema (HD, 36 minutes)
An exclusive interview with Tony Rayns, he talks about the history of this film and how it introduced the Chinese cinema to the western world.
Remembering Two Stage Sisters (HD, 85 minutes in total)
Never-before-seen archival interviews with cast and crew remembering Two Stage Sisters. Includes director Xie Jin, composer Huang Zhun and two leading actress Xie Fang and Cao Yindi. (in Mandarin, no subtitles)
Story of Movie Episodes (60 minutes in total)
Two episodes from the TV series "Story of Movie", includes "Dedicated to the Film Master Xie Jin" on Xie Jin's career and "Two Actresses" on making of Two Stage Sisters. (in Mandarin, with original burnt-in Chinese subtitles)

SpoilerShow

[swo17]

Specs for Two Stage Sisters

I just noticed the MP Group Buy opened around the same time you posted this. Fortunately it's still open. I also looked into ordering from buyoyo.com but it looked like it was going to cost about the same as the Hibiscus Town group buy did

[swo17]

Group buy for Crows & Sparrows by Zheng Junli, one of the directors of The Spring River Flows East

[qw0aszx]

Disk Kino detailed their upcoming UHD releases of two King Hu's films.

Dragon Inn - BD100

- 4K restored feature presented in UHD with Dolby Vision / HDR 10
- Original Mandarin LPCM Mono track
- Audio Commentary with critic Edmond Wong, actor Shih Chun and actress Shangkuang Ling-fung, recorded in 2017
- 2017 Interview with critic Tu Hsiang-Wen and actor Shih Chun (HD, 10 minutes)
- Premiere Newsreel (UHD, 2 minutes)
- 2012 documentary on King Hu, Time and Tide Wait for No Man: A Touch of King Hu (HD, 102 minutes)


A Touch of Zen - BD100+BD50

- 4K restored feature presented in UHD with Dolby Vision / HDR 10
- Original Mandarin LPCM Mono track
- The epic two-part documentary The King of Wuxia presented in the standalone BD50 disc, with DTS-HD MA 5.1 track and optional Simplified Chinese and English subtitles (HD, 221 minutes)


Similar to the release of Two Stage Sisters, Disk Kino did the additional color adjustments to the master of Dragon Inn. Here are some comparisons (not 100% the final color on the disc but you can get the idea):

SpoilerShow

[tenia]

Yet another restoration that, in the end, labels have to color-correct themselves (but at least, someone is fixing this).

[yoshimori]

I don't think this has been mentioned, but in case anyone else is interested and (like me) didn't see this until just now, Diskino put out a 4-disc box of the mainland series "Why Try to Change Me Now" in 4K UHD last month. The group buy is over, but I was able to get a copy from eBay.

The series played in Berlin at the beginning of the year and again more recently, in its entirety, at the Tokyo IFF. It's the best thing I've seen from 2023. Directed by a protégé of Diao Yinan (Black Coal, Thin Ice and Wild Goose Lake).

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The series's director Zhang Dalei is a pretty well-established figure in his own right, mainly from his debut feature The Summer Is Gone (which was good if a bit too derivative of the Taiwanese New Cinema coming-of-age cycle). Unfortunately I didn't think his follow-up Stars Await Us was much more than a novel setting—a Chinese community in the Russian Far East at the end of the Soviet era—wrapped up with some gangster-film posturing, though it didn't deserve to completely disappear the way it did. I feel he's still struggling with the anxiety of influence (also present in the short All Tomorrow's Parties, which is apparently an extra on the Why Try to Change Me Now release) so I wouldn't be surprised if Diao's hand is evident, even though I don't believe he and Zhang have any prior relationship.

Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to watching it and buying these releases on eBay is probably the way to go at this point, since the groupbuys take absolutely forever to arrive even when they don't get stuck in customs (where The Teahouse has supposedly been since February).

[Finch]

Is there a particular ebay account that stocks these discs?

[qw0aszx]

No particular ebay account but I think most Disk Kino releases will go up to Buyoyo.

[Finch]

Thank you!

[yoshimori]

The series's director Zhang Dalei ...

Thanks much for the career-to-date summary. I've seen none of Zhang Dalei's prior work. The "anxiety of influence" - specifically that of Diao Yinan - does indeed feel palpable in this series, which Diao exec produced. But since I quite like Diao's recent work, it's a direction of influence I support!

Added:
The source for the series, Shuang Xuetao's novella "Moses on the Plain", was also the source for a 2021 Chinese film on my "to see" list, Zhang Ji's Fire on the Plain, also exec produced by Diao Yinan.