BFI: 32 Ozu Films

[perkizitore]

Amazon sent me an e-mail saying the blu-rays have been pushed back to May 4, but on their actual pages the date is 26th Of April!

[ellipsis7]

Amazon emailed me to say they are pushed back to April 26th - we'll know the definite date soon when MichaelB posts the specs...

[MichaelB]

A couple of updates:

1. As has already been confirmed, these will not be Blu-ray only releases. All 32 films will be made available on DVD.

2. This won't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Japanese region-coding policies, but I can now confirm for definite that these will be Region B on Blu-ray and Region 2 on DVD, and have updated the region list accordingly.

I'm afraid I can't post full specs just yet, as a few details have yet to be locked down.

[perkizitore]

Michael, can you at least tell us if the April releases will contain material that Criterion hasn't released?

[MichaelB]

Aside from 1080p versions of Tokyo Story, Late Spring and Early Summer, you mean?

No idea, I'm afraid - I've now told you literally everything I know.

[ellipsis7]

Specs up @ play.com...

Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature
Transferred from best available film elements to High Definition
Also contains full length Ozu feature, Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (DVD only)
Original Theatrical Trailer
Extensive illustrated booklet featuring essays and film notes

Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature
Transferred from best available film elements to High Definition
Contains full length feature What Did the Lady Forget?, Ozu's comic pre-war classic, as an extra (DVD only)
Original Theatrical Trailer
Extensive illustrated booklet featuring essays and film notes

Dual Format Edition: includes both Blu-ray and the DVD versions of the main feature
Transferred from best available film elements to High Definition
Contains full length feature The Only Son, Ozu's first sound film, as an extra (DVD only)
Original Theatrical Trailer
Extensive illustrated booklet featuring essays and film notes

Release date for all 3 is 26th April...

The 3 'extra' films only exist heretofore with English subs in substandard Panorama Hong Kong editions, so these are very fine packages indeed!

[Tommaso]

Fabulous. I'd better sell my Crits of "Tokyo Story" and "Early Summer" in time.... The extra films are such major additions that the BFI versions clearly must be first choice.

[Peacock]

Very happy about the extra films like Tommaso, liked it a lot when MoC did it with the Mizoguchis .... have to admit I don't like these covers; but it's what inside that counts!

[Finch]

The early Ozu films as an extra have sold me on the BFI's new discs. Like Tomasso, I'm gonna have to sell my Crit DVDs as well and then at least buy Early Summer on Blu for a second time when Criterion release it eventually (actually, I might just have to hold on to Early Summer and wouldn't mind owning three copies of it as it is my all-time number 1 favourite film anyway). Looking forward to April.

[closelyobserved]

I agree with Peacock about the covers. They look like something dashed off in Photoshop in two minutes. It's
the one element that I dislike about BFI titles at the moment. They don't seem to be able to do a good cover. I
find the Flipside covers very tacky as well. Yes, it is the film that counts but I get pleasure out of a good design.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Bit of disappointment with the artwork too but nonetheless have gone into the Amazon basket already. I know this is a bit of a non-post but I wanted to rack up 4 back to back Edinburgh postings

[Tommaso]

You guys should meet and watch these films together as a sort of private Ozu celebration, then.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

We prefer to pass like ships in the night amidst the nocturnal murk of the Edinburgh Filmhouse.

[manicsounds]

Too bad the other 3 films will be on DVD only... but hey, pretty nice.

[MichaelB]

Too bad the other 3 films will be on DVD only... but hey, pretty nice.

The films will be on Blu-ray when the materials are in good enough shape to justify it, DVD when they aren't. There's no point in going to the considerable extra expense of doing a new HD transfer if all you end up doing is magnifying the flaws.

Especially not when you consider that the Ozu project is itself fairly expensive... and the three 1930s films are effectively being given away as extras.

[Tommaso]

So, if I understand everything correctly, there will be one blu and one dvd in each set, with the dvd containing the main feature and the second film on one disc? Just asking because if the main feature is a long film, like "Tokyo" Story", the dvd will be pretty cramped, and I wonder whether this will not result in a weaker image than necessary due to low bitrate.

[manicsounds]

Wouldn't it be better to squeeze the 1080p main feature plus a standard definition version of the other film onto one Bluray disc? I agree, 2 Ozu films on 1 DVD will decrease the image quality a lot.

[Jonathan S]

(actually, I might just have to hold on to Early Summer and wouldn't mind owning three copies of it as it is my all-time number 1 favourite film anyway)

What is it you particularly like about that film? As it grabs me less than most Ozus, I'm genuinely interested and not trying to be contentious . I've always had the more obvious preference for Tokyo Story which in my case may be partly because it was the first Japanese film I ever saw, back in the autumn of 1974 when BBC2 ran a long world cinema season called Milestones of Film. I can still remember many of the titles: Le Million, Earth, Battleship Potemkin, La Kermesse Heroique, Shoeshine, Fanfan la Tulipe (some derision at the time for including that), The Blue Angel, among others. How I managed to appreciate them with a Friday 9pm start after a hard week at school I can't imagine, but it was my first and only chance to see them, so needs must. It took me decades to see some of these films again, though fortunately Tokyo Story was repeated several times in the 1980s and 90s.

[Jonathan S]

Wouldn't it be better to squeeze the 1080p main feature plus a standard definition version of the other film onto one Bluray disc?

But that would make it impossible for people who don't own a Blu-ray player to see the other film. With these releases, the BFI are obviously trying to satisfy both camps and (even though I do own a BR player) I appreciate the gentler approach. I can even see it leading to love affairs between hardened BD and DVD supporters.... "Please may I have that BD/DVD you don't want?" (assuming not everyone wants the second film).

[MichaelB]

With these releases, the BFI are obviously trying to satisfy both camps and (even though I do own a BR player) I appreciate the gentler approach.

Yes, absolutely. The point of doing it like this is to create economies of scale (bearing in mind that this is a commercially risky project) while at the same time allowing both Blu-ray adopters and people who are still restricted to DVD to benefit. And if it encourages people to think about getting a Blu-ray player, so much the better - and when they do, they won't have to pay any extra for a disc upgrade.

Personally, it suits me down to the ground too, as my Blu-ray viewing time is hugely restricted at home at present because neither my kids nor my wife appreciate my taste in films (my Blu-ray kevyip is gargantuan) - so having a backup DVD is a real godsend.

[MichaelB]

So, if I understand everything correctly, there will be one blu and one dvd in each set, with the dvd containing the main feature and the second film on one disc? Just asking because if the main feature is a long film, like "Tokyo" Story", the dvd will be pretty cramped, and I wonder whether this will not result in a weaker image than necessary due to low bitrate.

Probably not, once you consider that Ozu's films are the polar opposite of the kind of rapidly-cut, fast-moving titles that are a challenge to encode, and on top of that they only have mono soundtracks and a single subtitle file of negligible size. So you can actually cram a lot more Ozu into the same space than you could cram, say, a Michael Bay film, as ludicrous and insulting as that sounds.

Just to be clear, it's not yet absolutely set in stone that there'll only be one DVD - if there are clearly visible transfer problems as a by-product, there may well be a rethink. But you have to appreciate that once the decision was made to release a very significant number of these films on Blu-ray (much more, I imagine, than anyone here was expecting), economies had to be found elsewhere - especially given the present abysmal state of the DVD market. The most obvious alternative to this, of course, would have been to reduce the number of films being released, if not scrap the supporting features altogether.

Like all niche-market distributors, Masters of Cinema have been wrestling with exactly the same conundra, and their solution was to go Blu-ray only for some titles, at least in part because of the cost of manufacturing and releasing separate packages. You've already made it clear that you wouldn't have favoured that option, so this is an alternative proposal - and hopefully one that makes the most sense both commercially and aesthetically.

[Tommaso]

Thanks Michael, I was really only curious, and I understand the commercial problems that seem to spread everywhere in the media industry. And your point about the slowness of Ozu films and thus lesser encoding problems is very convincing. Let me state again that I'm extremely happy about the BFI releasing this series and the fact that all films will be available on SD, too. While at the moment I have to regard the Blu as some freebie that I don't have use for, this of course will change in the future (I won't stay bluless for the rest of my life), and then I certainly will be happy to have some blus on the shelf already via these dual format editions.

So, perhaps I should simply have said that I'd love to see both films on the dvd getting the same treatment as far as bitrate and encoding quality is concerned. It would be sad if "Toda Family" lost out in this department just because "Tokyo Story" is the better known film (and a very long one) and the producers consider it - rightly perhaps - the one that people will be buying this set for. But after all, if the SD encode of "Tokyo Story" should not be totally satisfying for whatever reasons, people always have the blu as an alternative, but they don't have it with the other film. But the BFI never let us down in the last few years, anyway, so I'm sure this will all be solved in a perfect manner.

[perkizitore]

Amazing news, this discs have terrific value! It seems that BFI likes Disney's approach to blu-ray, but isn't it unfair that some people get a film in 1080p awesomeness and others get two films 'crammed' in one DVD? The previous approach is preferable, but may not be wise cost-worthy for this project. Also, i hope that the covers are not finalised yet...

[Awesome Welles]

I am really pleased with what the BFI have planned, it's perfect for any consumer as far as I am concerned. I find it hard to believe that everyone who is HD ready has a blu-ray player and HD TV in every room therefore the back up DVD of the main feature is a real bonus. For those who aren't HD ready yet that blu-ray can just sit there waiting (we'll all go blu eventually!) meaning no money lost down the line. All this for only £13.99 each is a real bargain - measure that against the latest MoC or Criterion Blu and that's pretty damn fantastic value. With regards quality of the accompanying SD DVDs I have very faith in the BFI to deliver a quality product as they always do, why things should suddenly change I don't know.

[perkizitore]

The low price is what justifies this decision in my mind. If they include Tokyo-Ga as an extra in the Tokyo Story set, this will be the bargain of the year!