Janus Films

[dwk]

Pages added for
Eastern Condors
Compensation
Four Nights of a Dreamer

[Captain Paranoia]

Miramax has let the rights to basically everything expire that they didn't produce with just a few exceptions, no? Trainspotting I was really surprised came from Paramount, but basically all their other titles (Amelie, Exotica, etc) went back to the original producers

Yes, I believe so. And it is one of the reasons I think the last owners had a hard time selling the catalog. Hell they only have the rights to one of the Tarantino movies they produced (Pulp Fiction.)

I really hope that All the Pretty Horses has been liberated and can be restored to its original length

On a similar note, I'm holding out for Sling Blade to be liberated and see a release in its original cut (StudioCanal put out a release in the UK in 2012, both this and Buena Vista's Blu-Ray of the theatrical cut are long OOP as far as i know).

[ryannichols7]

over the moon to be posting this as I love the movie very, very much - The Burmese Harp will be touring in a new 4K restoration from Nikkatsu! with the 4Ks of Branded to Kill and Demon Pond, I really hope Criterion elect to go this route for Ichikawa's film too. the MoC Blu-ray has served me well for a long time, but it's definitely time for a bump up!

[starmanof51]

Hopefully Fires on The Plain is close behind

[andyli]

What’s more exciting is that these Nikkatsu restorations are of much higher quality than what Toho and Shochiku have to offer (I believe Nikkatsu had the good sense to hire IMAGICA for these top-notch jobs). Sincerely hoping Profound Desires of the Gods is not far behind. The new 4k transfer is gorgeous and serves the picture well.

[yoloswegmaster]

What’s more exciting is that these Nikkatsu restorations are of much higher quality than what Toho and Shochiku have to offer (I believe Nikkatsu had the good sense to hire IMAGICA for these top-notch jobs). Sincerely hoping Profound Desires of the Gods is not far behind. The new 4k transfer is gorgeous and serves the picture well.

Press note on the Janus site confirms this restoration was done by IMAGICA:

This 4K digital restoration, made possible by Nikkatsu and the Japan Foundation, was supervised by Kon Pro Inc. and Chizuko Osada at Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc.

Speaking of the Janus site, page for Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is now up.

[brundlefly]

Bigger news for me in the Variety article is that Janus has picked up Payal Kapadia‘s All We Imagine as Light, her follow up to A Night of Knowing Nothing.

Trailer.

[ryannichols7]

What’s more exciting is that these Nikkatsu restorations are of much higher quality than what Toho and Shochiku have to offer (I believe Nikkatsu had the good sense to hire IMAGICA for these top-notch jobs). Sincerely hoping Profound Desires of the Gods is not far behind. The new 4k transfer is gorgeous and serves the picture well.

yes, Imagica are pretty great with their restorations. I've been pleased with Shochiku's Ozu restorations so far, where the materials were good enough, of course

[yoloswegmaster]

Trailer for new restoration of Il Grido + poster:

[black&huge]

Only took em 15 years from the MoC dvd release. Success!

[hearthesilence]

Janus is listed as the licensor for Parajanov's Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors

Saw this at Lincoln Center. I think this was the opening title card:

SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS was scanned in 4K by Fixafilm laboratory in Warsaw using a low contrast 35mm print donated by Eric Liknaitzky to Daniel Bird and now deposited at the Austrian Film Museum. A vintage print for the Harvard Film Archive was used as a reference for grading. Restoration work was completed in 2024 by L'Immagine Ritrovata.

So I don't want to oversell because obviously if they had access to the OCN, this would look a lot better, but as-is, it still looks really good, and most importantly the color looks really good - it doesn't jump out as possible revisionism, etc. It does look a bit on the soft side at the beginning, which may be from grain management - not ideal for my tastes, but at least it's at a tolerable level. When they jump to the teenage years, the texture and detail noticeably improves. If there's a Blu-ray that manages to capture what was screened, I'll definitely buy it. Incredible film, it feels like something that may have been massively influential on a subsequent generation of filmmakers around the world until you realize it may have been tough to find.

[dwk]

New stills have been added to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Wages of Fear

[Blutarsky]

New stills have been added to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Wages of Fear

Hoping for a Wages of Fear 4K. The current blu-ray is now 15 years old, and isn’t even the full uncut version. I imported the BFI blu ray disc and that disc looks incredible.

[Hogfather]

New stills have been added to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Wages of Fear

Hoping for a Wages of Fear 4K. The current blu-ray is now 15 years old, and isn’t even the full uncut version. I imported the BFI blu ray disc and that disc looks incredible.

The version on the channel is 148 minutes, but the pages on the Janus and Criterion sites list it as 153 minutes, which is closer to the version listed on the BFI release.

[dwk]

The Wages of Fear 4K restoration theatrical release poster

[yoloswegmaster]

What a lovely poster. I doubt they will change the cover when they decide to release the 4K upgrade but if they do, then I hope they change it to this.

[dwk]

They used the new theatrical art for the UHDs of Le samourai and The Rules of the Game, so I assume they'll do the same with The Wages of Fear (and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, if they are doing a new poster for it.)

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

They used the new theatrical art for the UHDs of Le samourai and The Rules of the Game, so I assume they'll do the same with The Wages of Fear (and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, if they are doing a new poster for it.)

In The Mood For Love and 8 1/2 as well!

[ryannichols7]

that's one of the best Janus posters I've seen in some time, I'd love a print of it + hope the upgrade uses that art, as everyone else has said. I love the BFI 4K but I've never owned any Criterion edition and want to for their unique extras, so that would be another incentive to get it..

[dwk]

Umbrellas of Cherbourg 4K poster

[CSM126]

Starlet

Four-Letter Words

Prince of Broadway

[brundlefly]

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the rights to Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio

Trailer.

[yoloswegmaster]

Janus have the rights to Will (1981) and Dutchman (1966). Have never heard of either title but they both look really interesting.

[therewillbeblus]

Dutchman is probably my favorite theatre adaptation. My writeup:

Well I’ve just seen Dutchman and I doubt if I’ve ever seen a more intense limited character chamber piece. While this is a film about social engagement across racial lines, Freeman is a tempered presence to comfortably convey any audience surrogate to the situation he finds himself forced into - and this kind of menace isn’t specific in an era of fears around sexualized weaponry. This feels like Pinter on steroids, and the claustrophobic intimacy we’re forced into with Knight’s unpredictable histrionic nightmare-personified is so entrancing and anxiety-provoking it reaches new levels for this idea. The medium of film is used well to push us into physical traps to signify the psychological ones. Knight gives one of the best, loudest performances I’ve ever seen in my life, and I recognize the hyperbole but it simply is. She uses her skills at exhibiting sexuality to exploit our own arousal levels throughout her seesawing insanity, and that’s not an easy thing to do to both excite and terrorize interchangeably. Actresses have tried to do this tirelessly over the years but never has one perf struck the polar extremes so masterfully so that we reach our breaking point right with Freeman after being helplessly seduced against our will. The characters remain mysteries in a daring authentic act so that all we get is our own psyches flaring up in a flood of provocative social discomfort. This isn’t my favorite film that is a theatre adaptation but it’s one of the best uses of the medium to capture the strengths of a theatre adaptation, and certainly the best social horror. This is 54 minutes but if it had been a minute longer my heart may have exploded.

[beamish14]

Dutchman is a major acquisition. I never thought that would get a legit release. A shitty tape upload has been on YouTube for ages