BFI: 32 Ozu Films

[perkizitore]

Are the rights for End of Summer still with Artificial Eye? I was wondering why the BFI skipped this and some other titles. It is also disappointing that Tokyo Twilight and Early Spring were relegated to DVD, but I guess that's an extra incentive to pick up the expensive Japanese BDs.

[Michael Kerpan]

It looks like BFI has lost all interest in further Ozu releases and the person who had shepherded the series is long gone from BFI.

[rapta]

Perhaps Criterion or Arrow will pick this up in the near future for a big box set effort. The BFI had a good try but they fumbled it a little by releasing them one by one rather than a big box set - I fear it was just a casualty of bad timing more than negligence, though. Similar to how Naruse was put out on DVD by both BFI and Eureka, and now both labels are somewhat discouraged from releasing any Naruse in HD.

[reaky]

Anyone in the UK near a Fopp could have a bash at putting together their own BFI Ozu set right now, as they’re all on sale for £6 each.

[rapta]

Two new Ozu releases from BFI confirmed:

The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (Dual Format Edition) - May 18th
Tokyo Story (4K Restored Blu-ray Edition) - June 15th

[What A Disgrace]

What does a guy have to do to get his Blu-ray of Early Summer.

[therewillbeblus]

I'm guessing The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice is also the 4k restoration Criterion used? Interested to see if there are any different enticing extras considering Criterion's great edition.

Has Early Summer had a recent restoration? Probably my third favorite Ozu, and the first two have perfect blu-ray releases so I'm with you on wishing for that next

[Cash Flagg]

Extremely disappointing that they (apparently) couldn’t at least include one of the orphaned films in SD with Green Tea. I wonder if Toda has been dropped from the Tokyo Story reissue.

[EddieLarkin]

Anyone know who would be the person to contact at the BFI these days who would be best placed to do something about the audio on the Green Tea release?

I think it's important they're made aware of what Shochiku are touting as the restored soundtrack, because it sounds fucking diabolical. Comparisons can be found at Moshrom's blog.

Consequently the 3 already available Blu-rays of this film are heavily compromised releases. The BFI can solve this issue and be by far the superior release by ditching Shochiku's restored track and using an older one from the DVD releases, or at least offering it as an alternative, like Masters of Cinema did back in the day for Vampyr.

[Michael Kerpan]

I do have the Shochiku DVD -- alas (besides being unsubbed -- except in Japanese), it doesn't _look_ nearly as good as the new restorations. No excuse for the restorer's botching of the sound, however.

[tenia]

A few thoughts about this :
* Tokyo Story : this is likely not to be the same 4K restoration used by Criterion and Carlotta in 2013 but the newer 2017 4K restoration. It does look better than the older restoration and its AQ also sounded better (to my ear).
* The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice : most certainly the 2017 4K restoration. Unfortunately, it's far from being the best of the bunch. It's performed from an IP AND it's clearly been filtered. Early Summer, Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight all offers better PQ than Green Tea (same applies for Tokyo Story) and would have been better choices in this regard. Its AQ is also VERY problematic and here again, other movies would have been better choices. To me, only Tokyo Twilight comes close to this kind of issues, with Early Spring and Early Summer both faring much better (to my ear again).
* Extras : it seems all of the new Amazon product pages pretty much list no detail of the extras. I thus would rule out yet the SD movies will be dropped. It certainly would be a shame for Toda, since it's indeed AFAIK the only easily findable way to see it on disc for occidental viewers.

[Michael Kerpan]

I have never heard any explanation for why the (apparent) best source for Green Tea is even worse than that for Tokyo Story.

[Moshrom]

* Tokyo Story : this is likely not to be the same 4K restoration used by Criterion and Carlotta in 2013 but the newer 2017 4K restoration. It does look better than the older restoration and its AQ also sounded better (to my ear).

Interesting, this is the first I'm hearing about a 2017 restoration. I'm having trouble finding any information about it on the web - anything you can point me to?

[tenia]

Green Tea was restored from an IP, Tokyo Story an IN, both in 4K, in 2017 and by Imagica.
My only guess considering this and how they look, is that Green Tea simply was DNRed for some reason, but Tokyo Story hasn't been.

* Tokyo Story : this is likely not to be the same 4K restoration used by Criterion and Carlotta in 2013 but the newer 2017 4K restoration. It does look better than the older restoration and its AQ also sounded better (to my ear).

Interesting, this is the first I'm hearing about a 2017 restoration. I'm having trouble finding any information about it on the web - anything you can point me to?

Here are a few :
http://www.film-foundation.org/cannes-2018
https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/jah ... filmStills
https://www.imagica.com/e/news/ozu-4k/

It's the restoration included in the Carlotta Ozu 2019 boxset, meaning it's a different source than their 2013 individual release.

EDIT : I forgot I could also sum up the recent restorations :
Late Spring : 4K/2015/Cineric (+ possibly Imagica)/most likely from the same 2 sources used before : IP + 35mm print
Early Summer : 4K/2016/Imagica
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice : 4K/2017/Imagica/IP
Tokyo Story : 4K/2017/Imagica/IN
Early Spring : 4K/2017/Imagica
Tokyo Twilight : 4K/2017/Imagica
Equinox Flower : 4K-2K/2013/Imagica
Good Morning : 4K-2K/2013/Imagica/OCN
Late Autumn : 4K-2K/2013/Imagica
An Autumn Afternoon : 4K-2K/2013/Imagica/OCN
(all 4 Color restorations look extremely similar, so it's very likely Equinox Flower and Late Autumn were also restored from the OCN since the other 2 were)

Floating Weeds has also been restored, seemingly in 4K but possibly only scanned in 4K and restored in 2K (since it looks similar to the other 4 color movies), and most likely in 2017.

[nitin]

Why was Tokyo Story restored again only a few years later?

[tenia]

I have no definitive clue for this question. I can only guess that Imagica launched this big project of restoring in 4K a bunch of Ozu movies, and they felt Tokyo Story's older restoration could be bettered (which was true, and turned out to be the case) and/or the most renowned Ozu movie should be included to buff the project up.

[nitin]

How much better is it in your view? Is it marginal or fairly substantial? I am quite happy with the Criterion blu but if it’s a substantial upgrade, will definitely pick up the BFI.

[tenia]

Somewhere in between. I'd say it's slightly better in terms of fine details and delineation, but it's noticeably cleaner and more stable (both in terms of frame stability but also in terms of flicker).
EDIT : I compared the older Carlotta disc (which has an improper sepia tone the Criterion doesn't have but otherwise is similar) to the newer Carlotta disc here. Newer caps are #31 to 35 and the older caps are #36 to 40.

[Orlac]

Anyone know who would be the person to contact at the BFI these days who would be best placed to do something about the audio on the Green Tea release?

I think it's important they're made aware of what Shochiku are touting as the restored soundtrack, because it sounds fucking diabolical. Comparisons can be found at Moshrom's blog.

Consequently the 3 already available Blu-rays of this film are heavily compromised releases. The BFI can solve this issue and be by far the superior release by ditching Shochiku's restored track and using an older one from the DVD releases, or at least offering it as an alternative, like Masters of Cinema did back in the day for Vampyr.

Has anyone spoken to the BFI about this?

[tenia]

I did and have been told that the info has been passed to the relevant person.

[Orlac]

Oh good, thank you!

[MichaelB]

As a general rule, it's very safe indeed to assume that if anything gets mentioned here, a member of the BFI Video production team will read it. If it seems particularly important to draw their attention to it, you can also rest assured that the man at the top will have been personally contacted by me.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that anything will come of it, as there may be contractual and/or technical barriers in the way - but I stress that I don't know either way.

[Orlac]

Good to know, thank you

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced for the new edition of Tokyo Story:

Tokyo Story
Directed by Yasujirô Ozu

Blu-ray release on 15 June 2020

Currently available to stream on BFI Player’s Subscription service in a small collection of Yasujirô Ozu films that will be expanded to 25 films from 5 June 2020 as part of JAPAN 2020, a major new BFI season celebrating Japanese cinema.

A constant fixture in critic’s polls, Tokyo Story is Yasujirô Ozu’s most enduring masterpiece and a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret. From the simple tale of an elderly couple’s visit to their grown-up children in Tokyo, Ozu draws a compelling contrast between the measured dignity of age and the hurried insensitivity of a younger generation.

Also included on the release is Ozu’s incisive satire, Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941), which explores similar themes, as, following the death of her husband, Mrs Toda and her youngest daughter receive a frosty reception from the extended family.

Special features
• Re-mastered in 4K with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack;
• An Introduction to Tokyo Story (2020, 26 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns provides an introduction to Ozu’s most acclaimed film;
• Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941, 105 mins): following the death of her husband, Mrs Toda realises she has been left with sizeable debts and an extended family reluctant to support her;
• Talking with Ozu (1993, 40 mins): a tribute to the legendary director featuring filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders;
• Furnival and Son (1948, 19 mins): recounts the difficult choice a recently demobbed serviceman has to make between an unexpected job offer elsewhere, and resuming his pre-war position as his father's right-hand man in their small cutlery firm, Furnival and Son;
• Image gallery
• ***FIRST PRESSING ONLY*** Fully illustrated booklet including an essay by Professor Joan Mellen, archival writing by John Gillett and Lindsay Anderson and a biography of Yasujirô Ozu by Tony Rayns

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1383 / U
Japan / 1953 / black and white / 136 mins / Japanese language, with English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / BD50: 1080p, 24fps, PCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit)

[Cash Flagg]

Is this the same 4K restoration used for the 2013 Criterion release, or the newer 2017 one noted by Tenia on previous page? I’m wondering if I should keep my double-dip pre-order.