Janus Films

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Weirdly, The Heroic Trio is currently available for rental or purchase through Drafthouse's VOD platform. No idea if it's the 4K version, and since I'll be seeing it theatrically in a week, I'm not inclined to rent it myself. (The trailer is of no help, since it's a VHS rip of the Miramax trailer.) They also offer the sequel.

[dadaistnun]

Interview with the head of digital film restoration at Imagica Group, the company that worked on the digital Kinuyo Tanaka restorations.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Saw the Heroic Trio restoration tonight. There's a card at the end stating that the restoration was done by Ritrovata with color grading by One Cool Production. I didn't see any evidence of the classic Ritrovata color signature and it looked pretty natural color-wise (well, as natural as a movie like this should look). I was a bit worried in the first scene that they'd gone too heavy on the grain management, but then that first scene is mostly set outdoors in broad daylight, so it occurred to me that there's no particular reason it should be grainy. As the movie transitions to more indoor scenes, it became obvious there's still plenty of grain, just very, very fine. And there's more obvious grain where it should be, e.g. slow-motion or optical effects shots, so I doubt there was much in the way of degraining done. To's movies aren't generally grainy anyway. The amount of detail is very impressive, maybe even excessive—like a lot of HK movies of the era, this wasn't terribly concerned with making sure all the fancy wirework was invisible to the camera, but I suspect there's some here that wasn't evident on 35mm, and it's also evident that at least a couple of stunt doubles are guys in drag.

The biggest letdown was the subtitles, which I'm pretty sure are just a slightly cleaned-up version of the original English subs, with awkward turns of phrase like "Is my face still looking good?" and "Let me get my stuffs first," plus an inconsistent approach to onscreen text (Chinese newspaper headlines with some bearing on the plot are left unsubtitled, but subtitles are provided for computer displays that are in English to begin with). If Criterion does release this I hope they take another pass at the subs, or redo them from scratch.

[yoloswegmaster]

Janus is distributing Johnny To’s The Heroic Trio

Janus has now uploaded pages for The Heroic Trio, as well as the sequel. A page for Jia Zhang-ke's 'Xiao Wu' has also been uploaded to the Janus site. I'm excited for Criterion/Janus to release more Chinese-language cinema, whether it be action or dramas. I recall them posting an image of Chen Kaige holding his Palme D'Or prize on the Janus Twitter page a couple years back, so I'm hoping that they are able to get the rights to 'Farewell My Concubine' from Miramax.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Interesting news about Xiao Wu. It would be a little odd if Janus released it and not the other three Jia films (Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World) that they seemingly acquired at the same time. This makes me slightly hopeful that Platform will turn up at Cannes, but after last year's inclusion of Revolution of Our Times I'm not expecting to see any Chinese filmmakers in the official selection except maybe an "underground" figure like Wang Bing.

[Finch]

Do we know if Farewell My Concubine has had a restoration lately? (I couldn't find anything online) The film turns 30 next year so that would be good timing for Janus to tour a new print in the second quarter of 2023, followed by a Blu-Ray (which the US has not had this far).

[jsteffe]

Saw the Heroic Trio restoration tonight. There's a card at the end stating that the restoration was done by Ritrovata with color grading by One Cool Production. I didn't see any evidence of the classic Ritrovata color signature and it looked pretty natural color-wise (well, as natural as a movie like this should look). I was a bit worried in the first scene that they'd gone too heavy on the grain management, but then that first scene is mostly set outdoors in broad daylight, so it occurred to me that there's no particular reason it should be grainy. As the movie transitions to more indoor scenes, it became obvious there's still plenty of grain, just very, very fine. And there's more obvious grain where it should be, e.g. slow-motion or optical effects shots, so I doubt there was much in the way of degraining done. To's movies aren't generally grainy anyway. The amount of detail is very impressive, maybe even excessive—like a lot of HK movies of the era, this wasn't terribly concerned with making sure all the fancy wirework was invisible to the camera, but I suspect there's some here that wasn't evident on 35mm, and it's also evident that at least a couple of stunt doubles are guys in drag.

The biggest letdown was the subtitles, which I'm pretty sure are just a slightly cleaned-up version of the original English subs, with awkward turns of phrase like "Is my face still looking good?" and "Let me get my stuffs first," plus an inconsistent approach to onscreen text (Chinese newspaper headlines with some bearing on the plot are left unsubtitled, but subtitles are provided for computer displays that are in English to begin with). If Criterion does release this I hope they take another pass at the subs, or redo them from scratch.

My guess is that Janus received the DCP already with English subs from the rights holder. At least that is what happened when Janus picked up The Color of Pomegranates. For the home video release Criterion did commission new, meticulously translated subs.

[beamish14]

Do we know if Farewell My Concubine has had a restoration lately? (I couldn't find anything online) The film turns 30 next year so that would be good timing for Janus to tour a new print in the second quarter of 2023, followed by a Blu-Ray (which the US has not had this far).

I'd love to finally have some of Kaige's films on Blu in North America. I don't know if it had a full-scale restoration, but I did see a new 35mm print of Yellow Earth some years back, and I keep hoping they can give that masterpiece the attention it deserves

[andyli]

Do we know if Farewell My Concubine has had a restoration lately? (I couldn't find anything online) The film turns 30 next year so that would be good timing for Janus to tour a new print in the second quarter of 2023, followed by a Blu-Ray (which the US has not had this far).

I'd love to finally have some of Kaige's films on Blu in North America. I don't know if it had a full-scale restoration, but I did see a new 35mm print of Yellow Earth some years back, and I keep hoping they can give that masterpiece the attention it deserves

Yellow Earth did receive a full scale 4K resto a few years ago. The surname is Chen, by the way.

[Buttery Jeb]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but according to Film Forum's website Janus Films now has Mai Zetterling's Loving Couples, Night Games, The Girls and Amorosa.

[jwd5275]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but according to Film Forum's website Janus Films now has Mai Zetterling's Loving Couples, Night Games, The Girls and Amorosa.

They also have Scrubbers through Handmade Films, which is currently on the Criterion Channel with both Criterion and Janus logos...

[FrauBlucher]

Janus picked up a bunch of Mike Leighs'...

Naked
Secret and Lies
Life is Sweet
Topsy-Turvy

[Finch]

All of those have a spine number already though Naked could arguably use an upgrade since it's been bettered by the BFI disc from last year.

[dwk]

The first three were already with Janus. The news, I guess, is that Universal/Focus Features' rights to Topsy-Turvy have expired and Janus picked it up.

Naked is rumored to be getting a UHD.

[Finch]

Topsy-Turvy does have a Criterion BD.

[FrauBlucher]

Yes, of course they have spine numbers. The point is if you want to book theatrically you can now do it through Janus.

[yoloswegmaster]

Janus will be distributing the new 4K restoration of Jean Eustache's 'Le Mamain et la putain' later this year.

[hearthesilence]

Janus will be distributing the new 4K restoration of Jean Eustache's 'Le Mamain et la putain' later this year.

With the restoration premiering at Cannes? That was quick!

[sir_luke]

In addition to the aforementioned film, Janus has just announced via social media that they have in fact acquired Eustache’s entire filmography.

[Ribs]

Janus will be opening the new restoration of Sambizanga at Metrograph next month.

[yoloswegmaster]

Here are some stills of the 4K restorations for 'The Heroic Trio' and 'Executioners' that come from the Janus site:

Spoiler

The new restorations look glorious based on the stills alone, and I can't wait for Criterion to release this on disc.

[therewillbeblus]

In case anyone who makes these decisions is listening, a pitch: This selling well + the raves for Yeoh’s latest film = some prioritized releases of Yeoh’s 80s work

[yoloswegmaster]

In case anyone who makes these decisions is listening, a pitch: This selling well + the raves for Yeoh’s latest film = some prioritized releases of Yeoh’s 80s work

A user on the BR forum who works on the German releases of HK titles had revealed last year that 2K restorations were being done for Yes Madam, Royal Warriors, and Magnificent Warriors (as well as the Tiger Cage trilogy and the other 2 ITOLD films). The user had also revealed that Fortune Star had listed them as pre-sales for the UK and German labels, so I wouldn't be surprised if Eureka or 88 Films have already picked up the rights.

[therewillbeblus]

That is the best news ever- if they want to keep going down the David Chung pipeline, I think It's a Drink! It's a Bomb! would kill with foreign audiences. It's such universal fun.

[jwd5275]

Janus picked up a bunch of Mike Leighs'...

Naked
Secret and Lies
Life is Sweet
Topsy-Turvy

Janus just added three more Mike Leigh Films (ones without spine numbers):

Career Girls
Bleak Moments
High Hopes