1305 The Blade

[Finch]

Among the boldest accomplishments of Hong Kong cinema’s golden age, this uniquely visceral martial-arts movie puts a gritty new spin on the story of the one-armed swordsman, an iconic figure from the moment he was introduced by the Shaw Brothers studio in 1967. Composed in a whirlwind of immersive close-ups and fractured editing, The Blade follows the young sword-maker Ding On (Vincent Zhao), who, after losing an arm in an ambush, transforms himself into a furious avenger. With its intentionally disorienting stylization and starkly brutal tone, The Blade was a rare commercial disappointment for Tsui Hark, but it has since been reclaimed as one of the director’s most radical visions—a tour de force of action expressionism, and a scathing reappraisal of the wuxia genre’s code of masculinity, that achieves a feverish intensity.

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
New audio commentary featuring Hong Kong cinema expert and producer Frank Djeng
Action et vérité (2006), a documentary featuring director Tsui Hark, coscreenwriter Koan Hui, and actor Xiong Xin-xin
New video essay by filmmakers Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou (Every Frame a Painting)
New York Asian Film Festival Q&A with Tsui from 2011
Alternate English-dubbed track
English-version opening and end credits
Trailer
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: An essay by author Lisa Morton

New cover by Oliver Barrett

[Finch]

This announcement single-handedly makes up for lackluster February but the rest of the lineup isn't too shabby either. Absolutely delighted Criterion were able to get this film!

[tenia]

I'm speechless.

[dwk]

A tease, since the WB Golden Harvest dam has been breached, we should be getting other titles from other labels.

[Finch]

Pedicam Driver would be their second Sammo Hung title if they asked for that one as well. What a wonderful time to be a HK movie fan! They even included a documentary and the Frank Djeng commentaries are among the few I bother to listen to.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

A tease, since the WB Golden Harvest dam has been breached, we should be getting other titles from other labels.

It was already breached with Once Upon a Time in China IV and V. Given the four-year wait between those and this I'm only cautiously optimistic about what this augurs for other WB Golden Harvest holdings.

[Calvin]

A tease, since the WB Golden Harvest dam has been breached, we should be getting other titles from other labels.

Fingers crossed for the other Tsui Harks: The Lovers and Love in the Time of Twilight, which I've only ever been able to see in atrocious quality

[Finch]

I don't remember where I saw it but someone once said post-release that it was pretty difficult to get IV and V from WB, so hopefully this new announcement does mean WB are more flexible now.

[dwk]

Pedicam Driver would be their second Sammo Hung title if they asked for that one as well. What a wonderful time to be a HK movie fan! They even included a documentary and the Frank Djeng commentaries are among the few I bother to listen to.

I was told that, despite the rumor that Criterion had Pedicab, they don't have it. Maaaaybe it is coming from someone else.

It was already breached with Once Upon a Time in China IV and V.

After they licensed those two, WB reportedly said no to any other requests for any of the other GH titles. Also, it was rumored to be really hard for Criterion to get OUATIC IV and V from WB.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The fact that Criterion were the only ones who could do it (AFAICT nobody else anywhere in the world has released those two on Blu) is itself a sign of how difficult WB has been with this catalog.

I'm surprised this is from a 4K master given that WB haven't exactly prioritized these titles. When Comrades: Almost a Love Story got its restoration over a decade ago it was spearheaded by Peter Ho-sun Chan's company "in collaboration with Warner Bros.," and my hunch is that this is a similar situation with Tsui, which might bode well for The Lovers and Love in the Time of Twilight. For anything else I'll believe it when I see it.

[beamish14]

Guys..this is a victory for the entire forum. We did it.

[domino harvey]

Can someone give me a tl;dr here, I have no idea what’s going on!

[beamish14]

But honestly, is there anyone besides Frank Djeng who can do commentaries? Lisa Morton wrote the only major book on him in English

[beamish14]

Can someone give me a tl;dr here, I have no idea what’s going on!

We’re just ecstatic. This is a favorite for a lot of us, and I think many agree that it’s Hark’s very best work

[dwk]

But honestly, is there anyone besides Frank Djeng who can do commentaries? Lisa Morton wrote the only major book on him in English

I'm kinda surprised that Djeng is back after they fired him off of the subtitles for their Eastern Condors release.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Can someone give me a tl;dr here, I have no idea what’s going on!

Warner Bros. bought 170-odd Golden Harvest titles outright in the late '90s and has never done anything with them outside a handful of Jackie Chan films and four others (I think) that were released on DVD-R through Warner Archive (some of which were also briefly available in HD via streaming). They also released the aforementioned restoration of Comrades: Almost a Love Story in some Asian territories. AFAIK the only ones they've ever licensed out are Once Upon a Time in China IV and V and now this.

[beamish14]

A tease, since the WB Golden Harvest dam has been breached, we should be getting other titles from other labels.

Fingers crossed for the other Tsui Harks: The Lovers and Love in the Time of Twilight, which I've only ever been able to see in atrocious quality

Please, please Too Many Ways to be Number One

[Finch]

I'm just grateful it's not James Mudge.

[Mr Sausage]

Fuck yeah. This is such a jagged, primal movie. To follow up his triumphant, nationalist Once Upon a Time in China series and the luscious fantasies Green Snake and The Lovers with a return to his nihilistic roots proves what an unpredictable, mutable filmmaker Tsui was back then. I think this is the last masterpiece he made. I like some subsequent stuff like Time and Tide and his Zu sequel/remake, but none of them have the same strength. It’s like Tsui poured all of his remaining creative brilliance into this hopeless shout, and then settled into jittery impatience and finally anonymous blockbuster work. I don’t know that this quite becomes an apocalyptic movie, but the thing really takes stock of loss and deprivation, of the effect of momentary selfishness and petty decisions that have devastating effects. A summing up of all that went wrong and our place in it. Good stuff.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

But honestly, is there anyone besides Frank Djeng who can do commentaries? Lisa Morton wrote the only major book on him in English

I'm kinda surprised that Djeng is back after they fired him off of the subtitles for their Eastern Condors release.

Wait - they did?

[Maltic]

But honestly, is there anyone besides Frank Djeng who can do commentaries? Lisa Morton wrote the only major book on him in English

Sean Gilman would've done a good job. Of course, there's Tony Rayns, Jonathan Clements. I don't mind Djeng, though.

[dwk]

Wait - they did?

That is the rumor.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Sean Gilman would've done a good job. Of course, there's Tony Rayns, Jonathan Clements. I don't mind Djeng, though.

Rayns doesn't actually like this movie and is pretty ambivalent about Tsui in general. He's perfectly capable of speaking insightfully on films he doesn't like and I'd rather have an informative commentary from a skeptic than a lousy commentary from a fan, but for this particular movie I don't think there's a shortage of qualified admirers.

[Maltic]

Good point. I just remembered Rayns doing the commentary for Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain.

[bottlesofsmoke]

I'm excited for this release, but it did give me a little twinge of sadness to remember that David Bordwell couldn't be involved, as I first watched this movie after reading about it in Planet Hong Kong.