Janus Films

[yoloswegmaster]

Three Kinuyo Tanaka fulm now on the Janus site...
Forever a Woman
The Moon Has Risen
Love Under the Crucifix

Page for The Wandering Princess has also been added.

Edit: Time to open the monthly guessing thread?

[Ribs]

The new restoration of Lost Highway will be opening at Film at Lincoln Center June 24

Janus is also co-presenting the Mike Leigh retrospective, though we won't know which titles that is relevant for until the details are announced in a few months.

[FrauBlucher]

Three Kinuyo Tanaka fulm now on the Janus site...
Forever a Woman
The Moon Has Risen
Love Under the Crucifix

Page for The Wandering Princess has also been added.

Edit: Time to open the monthly guessing thread?

A main page for the Kinuyo Tanaka films is up

[sabbath]

Three Kinuyo Tanaka fulm now on the Janus site...
Forever a Woman
The Moon Has Risen
Love Under the Crucifix

Page for The Wandering Princess has also been added.

Edit: Time to open the monthly guessing thread?

A main page for the Kinuyo Tanaka films is up

A new trailer for the Kinuyo Tanaka Retrospective at Film at Lincoln Center

[Ribs]

Janus is distributing Johnny To’s The Heroic Trio

[yoloswegmaster]

Janus is distributing Johnny To’s The Heroic Trio

Woohoo! I'm glad that Fortune Star has seen the renewed interest in Johnnie To's oeuvre and has begun to restore the films that they own of his (hopefully they also restored the sequel). Since this is being licensed from Fortune Star, does that mean this was a Golden Harvest title?

[dwk]

That was with Miramax. So maybe there is hope that the rest of the Hong Kong titles will be freed soon.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Very surprised to see this is the next To they've acquired! It's sort of uncharacteristic when compared with his more well known post-2000s work.

[Finch]

More Johnnie To! I've not seen this one but Cheung, Mui and Yeoh in the same film and as the leads? Yes, please.

[Michael Kerpan]

It is "interesting" -- but sometimes pretty gruesome. More violent than Election 2 even (if I recall correctly).

[colinr0380]

More Johnnie To! I've not seen this one but Cheung, Mui and Yeoh in the same film and as the leads? Yes, please.

Its really good and from what I recall provides enough material for each of the three leads to prove themselves in different spheres of action, though I'm probably biased as this was the first Hong Kong action film I ever bought back in the day (on VHS even, on that "Made In Hong Kong" label!) and was also the first time I saw the throwable guillotine device in action in a film, which was quite an eye-opener! Though that seems to be a weapon that has a long legacy going back to (unsurprisingly given its title!) 70s films such as Master of the Flying Guillotine.

I still have not seen the, apparently post-apocalyptic set, sequel film as yet but have long been curious about it.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

It’s also worth noting that it’s the film that Jean-Pierre Leaud’s character in Irma Vep watches that inspires him to cast Maggie Cheung. I always found it to be an interesting connection to the persona of Maggie Cheung as The Heroic Trio certainly is representative of how Cheung was often casted at that time as a goofy, comedic character while Irma Vep and the last decade of her career changed her completely as an actress to her more somber self. Olivier Assayas was smart to make it a vital part of the film.

[Michael Kerpan]

colin -- the sequel was even more brutal.

What I'd really love to see is a first-rate release of Wu Yen/

[yoloswegmaster]

Poster for the Kinuyo Tanaka series:

[ryannichols7]

I'll admit to spamming it on their social media a bit, but I really hope that's a boxset...it even looks like the cover of a boxset. I can understand them maybe not doing a box of Juzo Itami's films despite having the rights to all of them, since that's 12 movies. but Tanaka is only 6 movies, it would be a real shame if they roll these out with their usual method of one per year over 6-7 years instead of getting them all in a box together. there seems to be a decent bit of interest so hopefully they go that route, since it's unsure if they will with Mészáros

[therewillbeblus]

Seems like the kind of thing that would sell better as a box set. I feel like Criterion tends to place lesser-known bundles of work in a large package as a more enticing buy for those of us who might take a gamble to slowly explore a new filmmaker’s work vs blind-buy individual obscure titles. I imagine this isn’t just a me thing and they know that, and will release it as such to boost sales.

[Michael Kerpan]

I've seen half of these Tanaka films -- all were worth seeing. I'd love a box set.

[hearthesilence]

I caught Forever a Woman at MoMA last month (where they premiered the same restoration) and it definitely looks good. The English title keeps changing though - IIRC it was more commonly known as The Eternal Breasts which to be fair may sound too awkward even if the translation is correct.

[Black Hat]

What did you think of it? I’m still flummoxed by it. One of the more unusual films I’ve ever seen.

[hearthesilence]

What did you think of it? I’m still flummoxed by it. One of the more unusual films I’ve ever seen.

I was actually a little disappointed by how conventional it became after it focused on Fumiko's struggles with cancer - not in terms of the filmmaking, but what the film concentrated on exploring. To be fair, it's based on real-life poet Fumiko Nakajo, and once cancer progresses to a certain point with anybody, everything else in life is a distant priority compared to physically surviving, so it's an understandable development in the movie. But before that happens, I thought the film was pretty great for what it challenged about a woman's place in contemporary society and how it did that by busting through a lot of taboos that haven't completely gone away, especially in Asia. I haven't had time to do this, but it was enough to make me wonder about Tanaka's working relationship with Mizoguchi on those forward-thinking masterpieces - that is, it would be interesting to see how one influenced the other or what each one brought to those films.

I may need to refresh my memory about specifics - I'm sure my memory about it isn't that sharp since I was binge-watching a ton of films at that festival (at least two films a day almost every day) and I was completely green about the film going in - but what was flummoxing about the film for you? I'll see if I remember a similar impression.

[Black Hat]

I found her hysteria really annoying but I think, as a poet, this rang true. The journalist seemed random too like a lubricant for us having endured her for so long.

[hearthesilence]

The journalist was kind of strange - as she mentioned, he's basically hired as deathwatch so he can report on her imminent passing - and given the other elements of their relationship I'm not sure how much of that was dramatic license.

I think the hysteria comes after she was finally diagnosed with (most likely Stage 4) cancer - if I'm remembering that right, I think I found that off-putting myself, but it may have been understandable due to everything she had already gone through with her family. But it probably added to my disappointment - a conventionally melodramatic take on dying from disease, at least as it was scripted.

[andyli]

Janus is distributing Johnny To’s The Heroic Trio

According to Janus this is a new 4K restoration.

[vsski]

I really hope this will be a Criterion release down the line, and hopefully a UHD. It is one of my favorite Johnny To films and a favorite of the Hong Films I have seen. I own both this one and the sequel on DVD, but the quality is terrible, so any improvement is welcome.

[swo17]

I doubt this would make the cut for UHD unless they got to the point where they were releasing everything in the format