The Shohei Imamura Masterpiece Collection

[Drucker]

This release will simply be a repackage of all of the prior Imamura MoC releases in more economical packaging. No booklets will be included in physical form, though pdfs of all of them will be included on a bonus CD. This is a limited edition set and once it's gone, all of these Imamura titles will be OOP from MoC.

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This thread is only for discussion of the release of the 8-film boxset. Please refer to the individual threads for these releases if you wish to make comments about the films themselves:

BD 21 Pigs & Battleships / Stolen Desire

BD 22 The Insect Woman / Nishi-Ginza Station

113 A Man Vanishes

102 / BD 10 Profound Desires of the Gods

17 / BD 11 Vengeance Is Mine

BD 24 The Ballad of Narayama

[andyli]

From Facebook:

Coming soon from Eureka... Eight masterpieces of Japanese cinema from one of the greatest directors to emerge from Japan. Pre-order Now! http://amzn.to/1MOwupZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So am I understanding this correctly? A Man Vanishes will be upgraded to blu-ray and Vengeance Is Mine will use the newest transfer, right?

[Drucker]

Some people have asked but no response yet on Facebook.

Edit: Though at 16 discs, that would be a blu-ray and DVD per film, so presumably!

[swo17]

I'm suspicious of that disc count. A simple repackage of all of the original releases would only come to 11 discs, and the only conceivable (though unlikely) addition to that count would seem to be a Blu-ray for A Man Vanishes.

Also, I wonder if this will come with a big book.

[HJackson]

I sincerely hope A Man Vanishes is put out individually if it is getting upgraded. The Mizoguchi set was good value even for people who had already invested in the two prior releases, but I think this would be an indefensible proposition for those of us who have already purchased everything else on blu-ray.

[domino harvey]

Those double features are all on one disc though, aren't they?

[swo17]

Yes, the 11 original discs come from five dual-format releases (with only one BD and one DVD for each of the two double features) and one DVD-only release.

[Bürgermeister]

I sincerely hope A Man Vanishes is put out individually if it is getting upgraded. The Mizoguchi set was good value even for people who had already invested in the two prior releases, but I think this would be an indefensible proposition for those of us who have already purchased everything else on blu-ray.

I agree, I was hoping for more Inamura films. It's harder to digest to get a box set for only one film new to blu ray.

Those double features are all on one disc though, aren't they?

Yes. Nishi Ginza Station is only about 50mins. Stolen desire is 92min. I don't think those disc have any video extras though?

[rapta]

I sincerely hope A Man Vanishes is put out individually if it is getting upgraded. The Mizoguchi set was good value even for people who had already invested in the two prior releases, but I think this would be an indefensible proposition for those of us who have already purchased everything else on blu-ray.

Exactly my concern, which I voiced many times over at Blu-ray.com when Kevin from Eureka hinted at a probable Imamura set. I really hope they do release A Man Vanishes separately, even as just a limited run, for the benefit of those of us who already own all five previous Dual Format Imamura titles.

I also find the idea of 16 discs strange unless they are licensing/producing some extras for Nishi Ginza Station and Stolen Desire. It makes a whole lot more sense to just reprint the Dual Format releases of The Insect Woman and Pigs & Battleships for the sake of the box set, especially when you consider spine numbers and the size of the actual physical product - I assume each film will be in separate Amaray cases. I also assume the booklets will be compiled together into one big book like the Late Mizoguchi set.

The one thing I'm glad about is that if there is no separate release of A Man Vanishes on Blu-ray and this set is all they're releasing, there likely won't be any more aspects to this set we'll be missing out on if we already own the previous titles. Of course they haven't released any more specifics yet, nor announced a separate release of A Man Vanishes, but I have reservations about releasing something more complete well after the initial release of most of these titles - the Late Mizoguchi set was release 18 months after the initial release of Ugetsu Monogatari and Sansho Dayu, and only had 50% crossover in terms of disc content. This Imamura set will have been 3 years and 8 months since The Insect Woman was initially released (the most recent of the 6 MoC Imamura titles) and sounds likely it will be 87.5% crossover with previously-released content - at this point the 12.5% of new material will just be A Man Vanishes in HD (though they could also be adding extras, essays, or the recent transfer of Vengeance Is Mine).

EDIT: update from Kevin at Eureka himself...full clarification of what this set is!

There is no A MAN VANISHES blu, never will be. The last disc is a cd containing PDFs of all the booklets. This set is everything we've released bundled into a nice succinct set before they are all resigned to the "do not renew rights" pile.

These are limited and individually numbered like the MIZOGUCHI. This is the lance chance these titles will see the light of day from us so if you're missing them, I'd grab them.

[Drucker]

I already own the films of his I'm most interested in, so I'll be skipping the box set. This is a shame though. Does anyone else also get the feeling that this superb label which took so many fantastic risks to get us amazing releases is finally having the financial hit (such risks caused) catch up with them?

[rapta]

If they were particularly struggling with finances I'm pretty sure they wouldn't risk reissuing titles and would concentrate on exciting new single titles that would sell well. As Kevin said, they're getting them out there as one last hurrah before these go firmly OOP - The Ballad of Narayama and The Insect Woman are already deleted, and I'm guessing the others will go soon too (I predict Pigs & Battleships will go next). Much like the Late Mizoguchi set which now fetches silly money, this will be a limited and numbered job, and in a year or two will be similarly rare I'd expect.

Looking forward to Oshima's Cruel Story of Youth arriving in a couple of weeks which will compliment these Imamura titles nicely. Hope we see some more Japanese titles from MoC in the coming months!

[swo17]

Quoting this edit to a post above for anyone that might have initially missed it.

EDIT: update from Kevin at Eureka himself...full clarification of what this set is!

There is no A MAN VANISHES blu, never will be. The last disc is a cd containing PDFs of all the booklets. This set is everything we've released bundled into a nice succinct set before they are all resigned to the "do not renew rights" pile.

These are limited and individually numbered like the MIZOGUCHI. This is the lance chance these titles will see the light of day from us so if you're missing them, I'd grab them.

[domino harvey]

Wish I'd known Insect Woman was OOP, I just sold my Criterion and was planning to upgrade it-- jeez, it was like ten pounds two weeks ago

[rapta]

Wish I'd known Insect Woman was OOP, I just sold my Criterion and was planning to upgrade it-- jeez, it was like ten pounds two weeks ago

I only noticed the other day as I've started checking every week or two to see if things have been deleted...still roughly £15 from some sellers on eBay, or you could look at getting this Imamura set instead? After all it will definitely look good on the shelf (and works out at under £8 a title), and will be a future collectable.

By the way, if people are a little disappointed that this is just a reissue Kevin also just mentioned that there will be two brand new box sets as part of MoC coming out later this year/early next year! Can't wait to find out what those are...

[domino harvey]

I guess I might pick it up, but am I reading this right and none of the original booklet content will be included with the set except via PDF?

[Drucker]

Okay I just picked up Profound Desires of the Gods and A Man Vanishes from the store while they are still available. Can get Vengence from Criterion, and not particularly interested in Ballad of Narayama. I promised myself I'd cut back, but if they are going OOP....

[domino harvey]

If anyone who owns MoC's Insect Woman Dual Format release is upgrading to this set and wants to sell their copy at a non scalper price, please PM me. I already have MoC's Profound Desires and Pigs and Battleships and the Icarus A Man Vanishes, so I just don't think this box is worth it for me to get the one remaining title I want

EDIT: One of our local knights has helped me out with my request

[tomN245]

I have all the separate releases, but I'll still buy the box-set.

Its a shame Imamura will be leaving the collection. the films are all flawless in my opinion. Profound Desires (with the Late Mizoguchi set) started my interest in the collection. Oh well

[Grisbi]

Disappointing that the booklets will only be available in PDF but other than that I will chime in as a region-freer who just got into Imamura heavily in only the last year and has yet to pick up any of these discs and say that I am very grateful for this release....

...but will this not be available for pre-order directly from the MoC site at some point? Would prefer to give my money directly to them if I have the option.

[HJackson]

Yes it is a great shame that these are going OOP, although I'm sure they would only discontinue them out of absolute financial necessity. I'll always associate Imamura with the collection very strongly for quite the opposite reason, actually. Profound Desires of the Gods was a total blind buy on my part so, unlike Murnau or Lang or Pasolini, my acquaintance with his films is entirely down to my trust in the label.

Weird to think that in a few months the only Imamura available in the UK will be that abortion of a disc Artificial Eye put out for The Eel. I assume this also puts the kibosh on MoC ever putting out Intentions of Murder or The Pornographers.

[rapta]

Yes it is a great shame that these are going OOP, although I'm sure they would only discontinue them out of absolute financial necessity. I'll always associate Imamura with the collection very strongly for quite the opposite reason, actually. Profound Desires of the Gods was a total blind buy on my part so, unlike Murnau or Lang or Pasolini, my acquaintance with his films is entirely down to my trust in the label.

Weird to think that in a few months the only Imamura available in the UK will be that abortion of a disc Artificial Eye put out for The Eel. I assume this also puts the kibosh on MoC ever putting out Intentions of Murder or The Pornographers.

One of my early MoC titles was Profound Desires of the Gods as well. The first Imamura title I got anyway!

I was hoping for Eureka to release Intentions of Murder or The Pornographers as part of MoC one day, as both seem to be Nikkatsu titles and at least three of the Imamura titles Eureka released were from that studio (I can't check A Man Vanishes as I don't own it)...but of course it depends on licenses, rights, materials and financial risk assessment whether they will release them or not. Same goes for Endless Desire and My Second Brother, which are also with Nikkatsu, and could even be released as double-bills with those two I mentioned above - in a similar strategy to their release of Pigs & Battleships/Stolen Desire or The Insect Woman/Nishi-Ginza Station.

Perhaps if this box set sells well they'll be a bit more optimistic about releasing one or two more Imamura titles in the future?

[DrunkenFatherFigure]

Can anybody speak to the quality of Nishi-Ginza Station and Stolen Desire? I've got the Criterion set, plus the non-overlapping MoC Imamuras, so the only thing I'm missing out on (aside from Pigs and Insect Woman on blu) is those two early films. Does anybody think it would be worth getting the set or tracking down the individual releases just for those two films?

[rapta]

Can anybody speak to the quality of Nishi-Ginza Station and Stolen Desire? I've got the Criterion set, plus the non-overlapping MoC Imamuras, so the only thing I'm missing out on (aside from Pigs and Insect Woman on blu) is those two early films. Does anybody think it would be worth getting the set or tracking down the individual releases just for those two films?

Since The Insect Woman/Nishi-Ginza Station is now OOP, unless you can get it for a good price (£15 or under) I'd recommend getting this set. It'll contain all the MoC Imamura discs to date - the last chance to get them all before they all go OOP - maybe without the physical booklets but still the booklets in digital form (PDF). And house in an expectedly lovely hard outer box, and numbered...and possibly limited to as few as 1000 copies (they haven't fully decided how many yet, this was the estimate).

[Drucker]

This may sound crazy but I enjoyed Stolen Desire more than Pigs and Battleships. An absolutely wonderful film.

[swo17]

And I remember Nishi-Ginza Station being a whole lot of fun.