BFI: 32 Ozu Films

[Matt]

That looks good, just one minor niggle - why, if the 'Dual Format Edition' is labelled up top on the grey banner, does it have to be labelled again in the bottom right hand corner, with a smaller 'Dual Format Edition' on white strip?... Surely the second could be lost, making for a less cluttered cover?

Perhaps the banner on top is just a sticker. That seems most likely because printing on the top of a case like that would be pretty expensive.

[doc mccoy]

Could it be a planned digi-pack/cardboard case instead of Blu-ray casing? BFI likes to do that with some titles - e.g GPO, Jan Svankmajer, especially when there is more than one disc.

[peerpee]

I bought the Artificial Eye VHS of TOKYO STORY from Moviemail back in 1995/1996 for about £18. I used to run ozuyasujiro.com (for about 8 years, now archived at: http://mastersofcinema.org/ozu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) --- and there was mention of a proper restoration taking place at Tokyo University.

I wondered whether the new master for the BFI BD was newer/better than what Criterion used for their DVD 5 or 6 years ago?

[stalker_ozu]

They should put in a box with the 2 dvd/bluray cases, and in the cover the NAME of both films, THE ONLY SON is as important as LATE SPRING.

[andyli]

I bought the Artificial Eye VHS of TOKYO STORY from Moviemail back in 1995/1996 for about £18. I used to run ozuyasujiro.com (for about 8 years, now archived at: http://mastersofcinema.org/ozu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) --- and there was mention of a proper restoration taking place at Tokyo University.

I wondered whether the new master for the BFI BD was newer/better than what Criterion used for their DVD 5 or 6 years ago?

Nick, you mean the Tokyo University restoration happened after that CC DVD?

[peerpee]

My understanding was that the Tokyo University restoration was started but never finished. However, this is 5 year old information.

[ellipsis7]

E-mail from Amazon tells, the 3rd Ozu, LATE SPRING (+ THE ONLY SON) has slipped to 21st June...

[Tommaso]

Noticed that, too. Sad, because that is the one of the three sets I definitely wanted to get first because both films are missing from my collection. It also makes little sense if you indeed regard the three main films as a trilogy; "Late Spring" being the first of the three should be released first, then.

[Jonathan S]

From a seasonal viewpoint, Early Summer would also be a more appropriate title than Late Spring to release on 21 June!

[Michael Kerpan]

I've never heard any definitive word on whether the Tokyo University restoration of Tokyo Story was finished. As far as I know, Shochiku has never made any use of this material.

Nice to see What Did the Lady Forget being released. But ... this really should be paired with its direct descendant, Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice.

[MichaelB]

For unspecified technical reasons, the first three Ozu discs have been delayed until July 19.

But, looking on the bright side, Tommaso will be glad to hear that Late Spring will now be coming out at the same time as the others.

[Tommaso]

But it still means that I have to wait until even late spring is over....

[Svevan]

So if Floating Weeds doesn't have a chance to be part of this exciting BFI series, who will release it on Blu? AE? Criterion? It's such a prime candidate for Blu-ray (and a color re-do) even though it's hardly an under-released or under-appreciated title. I'm secretly hoping BFI has a trick up their sleeves.

[ellipsis7]

Tomorrow - Thursday 17th June - is Setsuko Hara's 90th birthday! Peter Bradshaw pays his tribute on Film Guardian....

[MichaelB]

They should put in a box with the 2 dvd/bluray cases, and in the cover the NAME of both films, THE ONLY SON is as important as LATE SPRING.

For the record, while the presence of the second feature is only highlighted in a sticker on the front cover, both films are listed on the spines, and their titles identically-sized, i.e.:

EARLY SUMMER
WHAT DID THE LADY FORGET?
Yasujiro Ozu

The supporting feature also gets a blurb and credits on the back cover - not quite as much as the main feature, but not much less. So there's no danger of the supporting features getting buried, even though they're not getting the hi-def treatment.

[Michael Kerpan]

Did Late Spring get pushed back until the release date of the other two Ozu releases? Amazon UK _seems_ to indicate this has been released, but i haven't seen any reviews anywhere.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Do we know when the next batch is due to be announced?

[MichaelB]

Did Late Spring get pushed back until the release date of the other two Ozu releases? Amazon UK _seems_ to indicate this has been released, but i haven't seen any reviews anywhere.

Nothing has been released yet, and the first three discs are coming out on the same day, July 19th. The only review I'm aware of is the one in the current Sight & Sound, but that says more about the films than the discs.

And I can confirm that final shrinkwrapped copies (with the Dual Format sticker outside the shrinkwrapping) already exist, so there should be no barriers towards getting them out there on time.

[MichaelB]

Framegrabs from Tokyo Story and Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family.

In a nutshell, Tokyo Story is the Criterion transfer (the booklet confirms this), while Toda Family is the same transfer as released by Panorama, though the subtitles are in better English. Both DVD transfers come across as native PAL - there's no sign of ghosting or other standards-conversion giveaways - which means that if Toda Family had an NTSC source, the BFI did the conversion properly (i.e. slowly and carefully).

As for the BD, I've only had time to have a quick spin through it, but it looks as good as I could realistically have expected given that Tokyo Story is unavoidably never going to be pristine. Grain is gratifyingly (if not overly obtrusively) visible, and if there's been any digital cleanup at all, it's been applied as lightly as possible - in short, it looks like a proper film print.

[Finch]

Does the same (CC transfers as the basis for the BFI Blus) apply to Early Summer and Late Spring? I thought Criterion's transfer of the latter left a lot to be desired (whites far too blown out).

[MichaelB]

It's nearly midnight, and I don't have time to examine it in detail, but it is the Criterion transfer.

However, I've just had a quick spin through Late Spring in fast-forward, and it looks superb - noticeably less contrasty than Tokyo Story, and with no problems with blown-out whites that I could see. But this is based on a very cursory spin.

Also, there's a very welcome bonus on this particular release (i.e Late Spring/The Only Son), which is that both films are included in 1080p on the Blu-ray.

[Cash Flagg]

That is welcome news! Does that mean we can expect some of the future double-features to follow suit?

[MichaelB]

The policy is that if materials of sufficient quality exist for a 1080p transfer, that's what it'll get. If not, it'll be DVD only.

Which is fair enough - while Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family is very watchable, there was clearly no point in upscaling it - not least because the viewer at home can always do it by their own preferred method.

[Peacock]

Wow great news!! I thought it would be a simple case of the 'less known' titles being SD and the 'big' titles being 1080p.
I hope we don't have too long to wait for the second wave of titles (Tokyo Twilight among them I hope?)

[ellipsis7]

I wonder if THE ONLY SON is also the Criterion (HD) transfer, hence it finding its way onto Blu...