Janus Films

[Peacock]

I always wondered why the Kino Blu went out of print so quickly. Hopefully Criterion don’t wait forever to put it out.

[beamish14]

I always wondered why the Kino Blu went out of print so quickly. Hopefully Criterion don’t wait forever to put it out.

I’d love to see the footage that Carax deleted. The rough cut was at least an hour longer, and the film also changed a bit as a result of Denis Lavant’s on-set accident

[dwk]

I always wondered why the Kino Blu went out of print so quickly. Hopefully Criterion don’t wait forever to put it out.

Kino had licensed it from Miramax and Miramax's rights expired.

[andyli]

The Lovers on the Bridge is wonderful news. Just saw this at HKIFF. It has Studio Canal logo at the beginning and the 4K restoration is gorgeous. Was wondering when I could hold this in a UHD edition.

[dwk]

Disappointing that the listed runtime for Platform (154 minutes) is exactly the same as the standard version that's been around for 25 years, and not the 193 minutes of the Venice cut or something in between (which is what I had expected when Tony Rayns wrote ages ago that Jia was working on a "definitive cut"). I'm also curious if Unknown Pleasures has been Inland Empire-fied—the footage used in Caught by the Tides is upscaled to fit better with the later, higher-def material (you can see examples of this in the trailer, e.g. at the 25-second mark) but I'm a little concerned that Jia might've decided to do the entire restoration that way. The stills on the Janus site look like the original DV-to-35mm, so that's a good sign. My guess is that one or both will be in the Cannes Classics lineup.

(Another good sign for a completely unrelated reason: the Caught by the Tides trailer includes a shot 19 seconds in that was censored for the Chinese release—that version crops out the slogans on the left and right sides of the frame referring to Marxism-Leninism and the Communist Party, since someone didn't appreciate the juxtaposition of those concepts with a liquor ad. The domestic release made a lot of other changes from the festival cut but I'm assuming the latter is what Janus is distributing.)

From this interview Jia Zhangke , it sounds like they are working on it, but there are only two copies of the long cut that they can find.

Years ago I saw an extended cut of Platform that I think ran about 200 minutes––a version that’s never played here again, and I really feel fortunate to have seen it. Have you restored this version? Or if not, where does that cut exist for you, in your relationship with Platform generally?

We are currently working with the French company Celluloid Dreams; we are trying to find the best way to restore Platform. We currently only have two copies of the film that we can find: one has English subtitles, the other has Italian subtitles. And we really want to, if we can, find the original negatives––restore based on the negatives, rather than using the two best copies that we have with the English and the Italian subtitles. So that is in the works, and then––hopefully with the collaboration of Criterion, also the French distributor––we will be able to accomplish that.

And would this be the longer version?

Yes, longer version.

[Stefan Andersson]

Les Deux Timides:
https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2260

The Italian Straw Hat:
https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2259

René Clair at Janus:
https://www.janusfilms.com/films/grid?d ... 3%A9+Clair

[Stefan Andersson]

Kira Muratova series with several titles credited to Janus:
https://www.filmlinc.org/series/kira-mu ... aos/#films

[dwk]

Tomboy
Christine F.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Christine F.

Still haven't seen this one despite hearing about it because of Bowie. Hopefully they get Kier-La Janisse for the disc release.

[beamish14]

Does Janus still have Kenji Fukusaku’s Fall Guy? So many of his films have received Blu-Ray upgrades, and that is a big hold-out

[dwk]

It is still streaming on the Channel (I don't think it has ever been listed on Janus' site.)

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Does Janus still have Kenji Fukusaku’s Fall Guy? So many of his films have received Blu-Ray upgrades, and that is a big hold-out

I just can't imagine Janus caring about this film unless Shochiku gives it some sort of restoration. The old HVE DVD has some strange ghosting/framerate stuff too, so it could use the upgrade. It's a real personal favorite of mine and one I've been recommending people to for years. Does Janus also have Under the Flag of the Rising Sun?

[dwk]

If they have Under the Flag of the Rising Sun I would assume they would be streaming it, but they never have put it on Hulu/Filmstruck/the Channel.

[beamish14]

If they have Under the Flag of the Rising Sun I would assume they would be streaming it, but they never have put it on Hulu/Filmstruck/the Channel.

The HVE disc has a wonderful commentary from Linda Hoagland, who also created the subtitles. These 2 films are major omissions from his works in HD

[dwk]

Black Lizard too, but that is finally getting a release in Japan (in either June of July), so I assume someone will be releasing it in the UK and or US sometime later this year/next year.

[Stefan Andersson]

Days and Nights in the Forest licensed for the US:
https://filmheritagefoundation.co.in/fi ... 1970-supp/

[Ribs]

Janus Films has acquired H. Palmason’s The Love That Remains

[Lowry_Sam]

Black Lizard too, but that is finally getting a release in Japan (in either June of July), so I assume someone will be releasing it in the UK and or US sometime later this year/next year.

Actually in its early days, the Criterion channel did have both Black Lizard and Black Rose (along with some other Fukasakus no longer on). It would be nice for either these 2 to be paired together or for both Inoue's & Fukasaku's Black Lizard to be paired together (ala Lower Depths & The Killers) in a Criterion release.

[dwk]

Black Lizard too, but that is finally getting a release in Japan (in either June of July), so I assume someone will be releasing it in the UK and or US sometime later this year/next year.

Actually in its early days, the Criterion channel did have both Black Lizard and Black Rose (along with some other Fukasakus no longer on). It would be nice for either these 2 to be paired together or for both Inoue's & Fukasaku's Black Lizard to be paired together (ala Lower Depths & The Killers) in a Criterion release.

Are you talking about in the FilmStruck days? Because I have been subscribed to the Criterion Channel since it launched after WB shut down FilmStruck and Fall Guy is the only Fukasaku I've ever seen on there. (I do remember in the Hulu days they used to stream a movie for free on Fridays and one time they said it was going to be Fukasaku's Black Lizard but it turned out to be the Inoue one.)

[Lowry_Sam]

I never subscribed to Filmstruck. I actually watched Black Rose on the channel, which I haven't seen anywhere else or bought, so that one I'm certain of and even had downloaded it onto my iPad app for viewing on a plane trip. I also had Black Lizard at one point in my watch list, but am not as 100% certain that it was Fukasaku's on Criterion (and not some free site). In the first year of the channel I did searches for Japanese directors by their last name: Fukasaku, Suzuki,Kurosawa, Teshigahara and added all the titles I wanted to watch (probably over 100, many of which slowly disappeared over the years) to my watch list & I don't think I searched for Inoue. I hadn't known how extensive Criterion's Japanese collection was until I did a name search for each director as they didn't have a visible presence on the main page. I know I've streamed bits of Black Lizard just to revisit the scenes with Mishima in them (I originally saw it in the theater in its early 90s re-release) and I think I discovered that there was a second Black Lizard (Inoue's) through the Criterion Channel. My recollection is that Fukasaku's version disappeared from my watchlist or app & when I did a search to find it, I discovered there was another version on the channel replacing Fukasaku's.

[dwk]

I had no idea that any Fukasaku except Fall Guy was ever on the channel. That stuff must have never appeared on the Leaving Soon section, which I check out every month and makes up the bulk of my viewing on the channel.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I never assumed there was any Fukasaku by Janus on Criterion Channel. Under the Flag of the Rising Sun was the one that came to mind as it’s owned by Toho and not Toei or Shochiku, right? If we were talking HVE releases, there’s no HD versions of the excellent Blackmail is My Life and If You Were Young: Rage, but all these titles feel more like obvious Radiance releases at this point rather than Criterion. I mean, they already got their hands on the HVE Suzukis and Black Tight Killers.

[swo17]

Except Fran recently said they're taking a break on more Fukasaku

[Lowry_Sam]

Just did current search for Suzuki and Fukasaku, both had at least a dozen on the channel in the early days. I don't recall many titles being after 1970 or in color & don't think Fall Guy was one of them. Most of the Japanese titles seemed to be dvd rips and weren't restored in any way, which is why I had held off viewing most as I was holding out for HD upgrades. The current Suzuki selection is also a fraction of what it was.

[Hogfather]

This is pretty surprising: In the Mood for Love 2001