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What A Disgrace wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 8:03 pm I would love to see a UHD of Smile. It would fit with their poaching of former Fun City titles for upgrades.

That's the first film I thought of. A film that everybody else seems to like more than I do, so it must have an audience!

zedz wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 8:37 pm

What A Disgrace wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 8:03 pm I would love to see a UHD of Smile. It would fit with their poaching of former Fun City titles for upgrades.

That's the first film I thought of. A film that everybody else seems to like more than I do, so it must have an audience!

I have always loved it along with the other quirky but flawed satires of the time (Honky Tonk Freeway, Middle Age Crazy, Up The Sandbox , Fun With Dick And Jane) that felt like a counterbalance to the more saccharine comedic fare that usually screened on HBO in its heyday. They might not have achieved the mastery of Nashville , they were still quite enjoyable to a teen with a tv & cable and little access to anything else in the days before Blockbuster.

Finch wrote: Sun Dec 07, 2025 10:44 pm Surprised this wasn't posted yet but today's teaser was for "a French epic". All I could think of was Queen Margot; maybe La Roue since Napoleon is obviously off the table for the UK.

Le Soulier de satin? Or maybe that's just ultra-wishful thinking on my part.

BoltzmannBrain wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 6:44 pm

Maladroit Aggregator wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 1:30 am Did they not release it previously? Just an assumption on my part.

That they released the movie over ten years ago hardly means that they own it, more than likely they just had it under license and the license has expired a long time ago. The DVD sports the logo of Lakeshore Entertainment so I'm thinking that's where it came from.

I never suggested they still owned the rights. I asked if they did. Anything else, tough guy? Jesus, chill out.

>> Anything else, tough guy? Jesus, chill out.

You got a perfectly civil answer to your question. And you returned a snide and snotty rejoinder. Good work....

Hardly poaching if Fun City aren't interested in renewing rights. Smart if you ask me as Radiance can both upgrade these titles to 4K (where possible), add extras and get both US and UK rights too.

Therefore Smile is a good guess, and I suggested it could also be Joe or even Network (though I'd be very surprised if both Criterion and Arrow missed the chance to release that). Would be UK-only of course.

WrathOfAguirre wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 4:24 pm Death Race 2000 4K?

Would have to wait for Signal One's rights to expire first, and they only released it 2 years ago.

Lowry_Sam wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 7:00 pm

criterionsnob wrote: Mon Dec 08, 2025 6:53 pm Radiance loves Altman, so maybe a UHD of The Player? Doesn't look like there is a Blu of that one in the UK yet?

I would imagine Criterion UK would probably be trying to get the ones that have already been released n the US.

Trying, but not always succeeding, or just prioritising new titles over older ones.

Last I checked, rights to The Player seem to be with Blue Finch Releasing, whose She Dies Tomorrow was licensed by Radiance. Second Sight have licensed several from them too (Swallow, A Bittersweet Life, Pusher Trilogy, Dead Man's Shoes), and other labels like Eureka (Cloud), Fractured Visions (Dobermann) and Arrow (The Beta Test) have gone through them too.

I especially want Radiance to get The Player, if indeed it is with Blue Finch, but also attempt to acquire The Chaser, Meek's Cutoff, The Vourdalak, and maybe even The Beach Bum and Frances Ha. Perhaps films by Korine or Baumbach might be too 'Criterion-adjacent', but the others would be very welcome and would fit quite well in their library.

Bogdanovich's Nickelodeon was the first thing that came to my mind. An opportunity to include both theatrical and director's cuts and colour and black and white versions.

"A crime film from the Japanese New Wave."

andyli wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 3:15 pm "A crime film from the Japanese New Wave."

I haven't really kept up with which Fukasakus & Suzukis have & haven't been released now. If it's only one though, it doesn't bode well for my top choice as I would like to think they would either release Black Lizard with Black Rose or release both Fukasaku's version and Inoue's version at the same time.

But neither of those directors count as Japanese New Wave surely?

Could it possibly be a hint for Masumura’s Afraid to Die?

Calvin wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 7:05 am Bogdanovich's Nickelodeon was the first thing that came to my mind. An opportunity to include both theatrical and director's cuts and colour and black and white versions.

A worthy film for release but not a satire

Peacock wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 8:35 pm But neither of those directors count as Japanese New Wave surely?

Probably only one or two of Suzuki's actually qualify as New Wave. I was just considering the general time period so I had an excuse to mention Black Lizard as I haven't had a chance to email Radiance or join their Discord. It's been a while since Fukasaku's version & Black Rose have dropped from the Criterion Channel and no sign of any release for them.

TechnicolorAcid wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 8:37 pm Could it possibly be a hint for Masumura’s Afraid to Die?

I think Masumura is kind of marginal to the New Wave as well, as his career predates it by a few years. I would be gobsmacked if Radiance were audacious enough to release it, but Masao Adachi's A.K.A. Serial Killer would be an amazing choice (and it was referenced multiple times on the recent Oshima set).

Michael Kerpan wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 12:20 am >> Anything else, tough guy? Jesus, chill out.

You got a perfectly civil answer to your question. And you returned a snide and snotty rejoinder. Good work....

You bore me, Gramps.

Continue with that attitude and you can take a short vacation.

zedz wrote: Wed Dec 10, 2025 12:13 am

TechnicolorAcid wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 8:37 pm Could it possibly be a hint for Masumura’s Afraid to Die?

I think Masumura is kind of marginal to the New Wave as well, as his career predates it by a few years. I would be gobsmacked if Radiance were audacious enough to release it, but Masao Adachi's A.K.A. Serial Killer would be an amazing choice (and it was referenced multiple times on the recent Oshima set).

Fran, don’t let zedz speak to you like that, prove him wrong

Adachi got his first US Blu very recently, Gushing Prayer (which was previously available in one of the Third Window Pink film sets). So he isn’t a brand new name to either market. And A.K.A. I’ve noticed has trended quite a lot recently on Letterboxd, so while a risky title it will certainly sell some copies, and the lurid title will surely help too!

Go on Fran!

A Radical Japan: Landscape Theory box set would certainly live up to the series' name

Next teaser: a melodramatic masterpiece

Hard to think of a Hollywood film that Radiance would be into. Does MGM have Stella Dallas in the UK? Letter From an Unknown Woman? Dare we even dream of worldwide premiere of Une vie in time for their Histoire(s) du cinema release? Or even… Mizoguchi?

I wonder if this refers to whichever Almodovar they're going to be releasing

I have no idea why any UK boutique label with a Paramount deal has skipped Letter from an Unknown Woman up until now, so that's a definite shout. 4K restoration is strong and could even be bumped to UHD (did get a French UHD a few years ago). Ophuls is hugely underrepresented as it is, so giving one of his best works a 4K release wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

Yes. It's long overdue. Thought Eureka was onto it since the Johnny Guitar release but well... a Radiance is all the more welcome.

there were minor murmurs that Criterion have Letter From an Unknown Woman stateside. at this point I don't care either way - it's a masterpiece film deserving of a royal treatment 4K to finally make sure it's in the conversations it deserves to be in (probably top 10 of the 40s for me, maybe even top 5?)

but this is such a broad hint really, any number of interesting possibilities. could easily be Almodovar but also Buñuel's Susana probably qualifies - I know we've brought that one up for Radiance before

and what I'd give for Fassbinder's Martha

Melodrama makes me think of Sirk (who's been covered by MoC in the past but Imitation of Life notably wasn't and it's melodrama in capital letters; don't know if Universal recently restored it) and Almodovar whose early films they did tease. Ophuls fits the melodrama description less than those two, for me anyway, but Letter is a great film and would be a wonderful choice for a Radiance 4K. Still think it's High Heels (would like to see Live Flesh too). Edit: scratch that, can't be High Heels, there's several 1980s films ahead of it.

If it's a silent, it could be a Borzage like Seventh Heaven and Street Angel, neither of which has had a UK release. Can't have been that many like me who imported the English friendly French BDs.

If it's South Korean, maybe 1960s The Housemaid.