Korean Films on DVD and Blu-ray

[zedz]

Two new interesting releases:
The March of Fools (1975)
and The Housemaid (1960), which hopefully will include English subtitles on the extras since:

This edition includes Kim Ki Young's 1955 film The Box of Death, his 1954 short film I Am a Truck, an introduction by Martin Scorsese, commentary by Park Chan Wook and critic Lee Dong Jin, and the "Directors on Kim Ki Young" featurette.

As far as I know, all the Korean Film Archive releases to date have had English subs on everything (even commentaries). The quality of the translations on some of their earlier discs was sometimes dodgy, but they're pretty good now.

[L.A.]

According to a post at the Blu-ray.com Forum, the reason why The Box of Death on the upcoming The Housemaid Blu-ray is not subtitled is because the audio track is lost.

[Raymond Marble]

For those of you who are more tuned in to international releases than me, if you spot an edition of A Girl at My Door released, preferably on blu-ray, could you post that here?

To answer my own question, if anyone's interested, a Korean DVD of this is due out on 12/24. Sadly, it's Region 3 (and at the moment, I see no other release options; not even a blu-ray), and my import DVD player has been on the fritz for quite some time. So, I guess I'll keep waiting...

[feihong]

It looks like a few pictures from the South Korean renaissance of the late 90s are cropping up on blu ray in Germany. FSK has released Joint Security Area and The Isle, as part of what looks like the Criterion of "Asia Extreme" style series. The series also includes Japanese films Audition, Branded to Kill, Love Exposure and what somehow looks to be the whole Lone Wolf & Cub movie cycle. (It looks like Germany has the Dead or Alive trilogy on blu ray as well, and some other Asian titles, like Raise the Red Lantern).

Neither film offers English subtitles. I can't see anything much in regards to film quality in the comments.

[Caligula]

Failan has recently been issued on Blu in South Korea, albeit with the same crappy English subs as the DVD-release. JSA (Joint Security Area) is coming out in South Korea on Blu with English subs as a Nova Media exclusive end of September

[blueyes]

Because I wanted to ask a question in this thread, I have read through the pages and would like to say I really appreciated the discussion(s). As a result, I am ordering Milestone's Why has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East, a film I had never heard about.

Turns out that part of my question has been asked above, but never got an answer: can anyone speak about the quality of the South Korean blus of Lee Chang-Dong's Oasis and Peppermint Candy? And maybe confirm that they are English friendly?

I would also appreciate help with another question: being in Europe, if I want to order those editions, should I use Kimchi, or YesAsia? Are they safe and reliable?

Thanks in advance!

[yoshimori]

I have both the Korean Oasis and the Korean PC blus. Both have English subtitles. I've never had any trouble with YesAsia in over ten years of pretty much bi-monthly orders. I rarely use KimchiDVD, but when I have, again, no problems.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The only Korean Blu-rays of a Korean film I've ever heard of lacking English subs for the main feature are The Yellow Sea and The Moon Is the Sun's Dream. Subtitles on special features are nonexistent except (I think) on Korean Film Archive releases, which provide English subs for at least some extras (unfortunately they no longer provide them across the board as they once did).

[blueyes]

Great, thanks for the help!

[Tim]

I’m trying to track down copies of two classic films released by the Korean Film Archive, Obaltan/Aimless Bullet/Stray Bullet and the first version of The Housemaid. I know I should have been more alert when they came out, but I wasn’t. Does anybody here know of a source? Is there possibly somebody who would be ready to part with their copy, because they were moving beyond physical media perhaps? It’s a long shot, I realize, but I’ve come up blank otherwise. Not quite blank, but I’m not counting the wildly extortionate offer on E-Bay.

[Boosmahn]

I checked the usual places and found nothing. You might have some luck posting a thread on the limited edition trading forum on blu-ray.com.

[hearthesilence]

For those who want to see Lee Chang-dong's Peppermint Candy, you can stream it for FREE beginning Friday at noon EST as part of Film at Lincoln Center's "New Directors/New Films at 50: A Retrospective."