Hou Hsiao-hsien

Discussion and info on people in film, ranging from directors to actors to cinematographers to writers.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#351 Post by swo17 » Sun Dec 17, 2017 8:30 pm

Very cool

wattsup32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:00 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#352 Post by wattsup32 » Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:43 am

jindianajonz wrote:Here's a cool souvenir I picked up in Taipei- the theater that Hou founded was selling this tote bag bundled with the 1995-2001 DVD Box Set
Image
I'm in Taipei right now. Is this at The Spot Theater? Did they have more (and what was the price, if you don't mind staying)?

User avatar
jindianajonz
Jindiana Jonz Abrams
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#353 Post by jindianajonz » Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:19 pm

I got mine at the Huashan SPOT, but I'm guessing either of the two theaters would carry it. I saw the same bundle at another DVD store as well, though I can't remember which- likely either the Eslite or one of the ones just outside the main station. I don't recall the price, but probably 1000-1500 NT- alongside the DVD set, it also included a couple postcards for the theater itself.

wattsup32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:00 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#354 Post by wattsup32 » Tue Dec 19, 2017 12:43 am

Thank you for the info. I will go soon.

Also, thanks for the the name of the bookstores that sell DVDs. I have been trying to find DVDs with Mandarin tracks for my youngest daughter and have had little luck. The stores I bought from last time I was here 2 years ago no longer carry digital media. This'll give me a few places to try to find some animated/anime in Mandarin instead of having to go broke at YesAsia (which has sometimes sent me discs with Cantonese instead of Mandarin).

User avatar
jindianajonz
Jindiana Jonz Abrams
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#355 Post by jindianajonz » Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:06 pm

wattsup32 wrote:Thank you for the info. I will go soon.

Also, thanks for the the name of the bookstores that sell DVDs. I have been trying to find DVDs with Mandarin tracks for my youngest daughter and have had little luck. The stores I bought from last time I was here 2 years ago no longer carry digital media. This'll give me a few places to try to find some animated/anime in Mandarin instead of having to go broke at YesAsia (which has sometimes sent me discs with Cantonese instead of Mandarin).
The Eslite Dunnan store is their flagship store; the bottom floor has a great selection of DVDs. They are the Taipei equivalent to Barnes and Noble. And I think the one by the main station was 光南大批發 台北許昌店, or at least it looks pretty similar based on the pictures in Google Maps. It's located at No. 40, Xuchang Street, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100. You'll know it's the right place from the street; the rows of DVDs are very apparent.

wattsup32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:00 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#356 Post by wattsup32 » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:28 pm

The bad news is that SPOT was completely sold out of the tote at all stores. The good news is I got the box set, the Terrorizers, and one more HH-h that I can't recall at the moment AND a free poster for spending over $2k.

Is there anything you (or anyone else) recommend I pick while here that I can't get in the states (keeping in mind it has to have English subs since I can't read or speak Mandarin)? I was hoping to get the Ghibli/MIyazaki blu-ray sets here to that they'll have a Mandarin language track for my daughter, but can't find them anywhere. I have also tried to find as much Satoshi Kon as I can, but have no luck there either. I found Tokyo Godfathers, but it has no English subs. Maybe I'll just get it anyway and deal with not knowing what's being said.

auteur
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:36 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#357 Post by auteur » Thu Jan 10, 2019 3:02 pm

Some Blu-ray players can load external subtitles.
Oppo can do that for sure but it's pricey.

The other option is to rip the Blu-ray and add external English srt.

Στάλθηκε από το ONEPLUS A6000 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk


Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#358 Post by Calvin » Tue Apr 14, 2020 5:37 pm

Flowers of Shanghai was released on Blu-Ray in Taiwan today

From a 4K restoration, English subtitles are listed

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#359 Post by zedz » Tue Apr 14, 2020 6:15 pm

(Swoon)

User avatar
whaleallright
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:56 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#360 Post by whaleallright » Tue Apr 14, 2020 8:21 pm

neat!

they better not have fucked this up and crushed the (very very deep) blacks.

also, I generally have very little hope that Taiwanese releases will have particularly fluent (or even proofread) English subs. but this film in particular poses a challenge; it's full of ellipitical and allusive dialogue that really requires a lot of careful, culturally- and historically-sensitive translation.

a Chinese film scholar once posted to a popular torrent site a customized "scholarly edition" of this film that included, in addition to freshly-translated subtitles, a lot of helpful (though visually distracting) onscreen "footnotes" explaining much of the dialogue. if Criterion ever puts this out (as it is rumored they will), I hope they not only take care with the subtitles, but include some sort of written and/or visual essay that helps provide this necessary context.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#361 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Tue Apr 14, 2020 9:27 pm

An interesting note on the subtitles here, written after a screening of the restoration at last year's Il Cinema Ritrovato:
Antti Alanen wrote:The English subtitles are credited in the original film credits to Tony Rayns, but after the screening Tony was furious because his work had been ignored and replaced by an inferior set of subtitles. After the festival Tony reported that this is being corrected. He told that he had worked closely with Chen [sic] Tien-wen to get the nuances right in the dialogue based on the original novel's Wu, a now rare variety of Chinese unintelligible to Mandarin or Cantonese speakers, including Hou himself.
Aside from the last part about Wu being "now rare"—modern Wu speakers probably outnumber speakers of the author's native Finnish by at least ten to one—the curious thing here is whether the inferior subtitles were first used for the restoration, or if they've been used the entire time and Rayns had never noticed. (I'll also add that Chu Tien-wen is no slouch at English herself and actually has a degree in it.)

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#362 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:50 pm

Unfortunately it seems the Blu uses the inferior subs shown at Ritrovato, which apparently contain inappropriate colloquialisms like "Hey guys" and are just generally clunky. Speaking personally, this makes it a lot easier to hold off on the Taiwanese Blu and see if the rumors of a Janus/Criterion release come to anything. Less likely to be addressed by any future release are the signs of Ritrovatazation in screen captures, with a strong yellow cast quite different from the amber hues seen on 35mm and earlier video releases.

User avatar
jsteffe
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#363 Post by jsteffe » Fri May 01, 2020 12:57 pm

I just received this Blu-ray today and took a look at it briefly. I'm looking forward to sitting down and watching the entire film soon.

Spot-checking individual scenes, I did notice that a number of them had strong yellow highlights from the lamps and flames, as The Fanciful Norwegian has noted. I can't comment on the authenticity of that look. But there is a fair bit of variation in the intensity among individual shots. For instance, one shot with daylight coming in through the window has a normal white balance. Some shots are more amber. My guess is that they made shot-by-shot grading choices, including the yellow highlights from much of the candlelight. The distinctive Ritrovata color signature that we have seen apparently results from grading within a color space defined by a LUT that is applied for technical reasons such as printing out to film. (If I understand correctly.)

User avatar
dadaistnun
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:31 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#364 Post by dadaistnun » Fri Sep 18, 2020 8:11 am

The 4K restoration is playing at NYFF and will be available as a virtual screening.

User avatar
whaleallright
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:56 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#365 Post by whaleallright » Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:45 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:50 pm
Unfortunately it seems the Blu uses the inferior subs shown at Ritrovato, which apparently contain inappropriate colloquialisms like "Hey guys" and are just generally clunky.
Call it the "Tommy Wiseau version" of Flowers of Shanghai.

User avatar
L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#366 Post by L.A. » Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:26 am

Cheerful Wind (1982) Blu-ray coming from Carlotta Films in August. I take it that the company’s releases are not English-friendly?

derekbd
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:39 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#367 Post by derekbd » Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:07 pm

L.A. wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:26 am
Cheerful Wind (1982) Blu-ray coming from Carlotta Films in August. I take it that the company’s releases are not English-friendly?
Seems to be the case.

But with this film, do we really care? It's available on blu already.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#368 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:21 pm

Unless I missed something, this is its Blu-ray debut. It's the only one of Hou's films from the period that wasn't restored by Cinematek (the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute handled it instead) and isn't part the MoC set.

derekbd
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:39 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#369 Post by derekbd » Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:28 pm

Oh, sorry. I got it wrong.


IGNORE ME!

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#370 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:32 pm

Assayas's HHH has been digitally remastered and is getting a re-release in Japan starting in September. Here's a trailer that looks pretty good to me all things considered. Hopefully the weird rights issues I learned about a few years ago (clips not being cleared for international commercial screenings) have been resolved as well.

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#371 Post by tenia » Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:50 am

It's included on Carlotta's release of Flowers of Shanghai and it's indeed very good looking. It's actually looking more filmic and overall better than the main feature.

User avatar
yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#372 Post by yoloswegmaster » Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:06 am

Someone on Reddit emailed 3H Productions regarding a restoration for 'A City of Sadness' and they received this response:

Image

Hopefull this news is true and we get some word on it soon!

Speaking of restorations, the restoration for Millenium Mambo was recently shown at the Lumiere Festival. Has anyone heard anything regarding thing regarding the quality of the restoration?

User avatar
Michael Kerpan
Spelling Bee Champeen
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:20 pm
Location: New England
Contact:

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#373 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:48 am

>> Millennium Mambo

I will feel heart-broken if they screw up the color on this....

User avatar
ryannichols7
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:26 pm

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#374 Post by ryannichols7 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:05 am

yoloswegmaster wrote:
Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:06 am
Speaking of restorations, the restoration for Millenium Mambo was recently shown at the Lumiere Festival. Has anyone heard anything regarding thing regarding the quality of the restoration?
I sent up a follow up email regarding this.. hopefully we get some word. I have a feeling Criterion has it coming, as the Palm Pictures DVD is out of print and it appears they no longer have the rights. this movie seriously deserves justice

(as does Goodbye South Goodbye, which I couldn't resist mentioning in my email)

User avatar
jegharfangetmigenmyg
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:52 am

Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#375 Post by jegharfangetmigenmyg » Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:21 am

ryannichols7 wrote:
Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:05 am
yoloswegmaster wrote:
Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:06 am
Speaking of restorations, the restoration for Millenium Mambo was recently shown at the Lumiere Festival. Has anyone heard anything regarding thing regarding the quality of the restoration?
I sent up a follow up email regarding this.. hopefully we get some word. I have a feeling Criterion has it coming, as the Palm Pictures DVD is out of print and it appears they no longer have the rights. this movie seriously deserves justice

(as does Goodbye South Goodbye, which I couldn't resist mentioning in my email)
The French TF1 dvd of Millenium Mambo was pretty strong, I thought? There's also a very strong dual layer R3 dvd of Goodbye, South, Goodbye out in Taiwan. It was certainly a hassle to buy from overseas, but I'm very happy with it. The one Hou film that begs the most for a restoration -- or at least an upgraded release -- now is Good Men, Good Women. The single layer dvd is interlaced and it looks horrible. (I'm not mentioning The Puppetmaster, because it's highly unlikely we'll ever see a proper home video release of that film).

Post Reply