Yasujiro Ozu

[FrauBlucher]

Unless it's a bluray only box which I know would upset many. But wouldn't that be better than no box?

[denti alligator]

It's hard to say. I guess they could include UHD discs for the films restored in 4k.

[Lowry_Sam]

If all the color films get 4k restos, maybe those can be released as a smaller box first, then another mid career box when those 4ks are done & an early box (blu-ray or mixed) where UHD won't pay off as much.

[andyli]

The color films never received 4k restorations. They're merely 4k scans, which render a color box of UHD highly unlikely.

[Peacock]

I’ve never understood why people think an Ozu box is coming. And I say that as someone who considers the man amongst my “Top Three Favourite Filmmakers”…

Just because they own the rights doesn’t make it an easy sell or a cheap thing to pull off properly. Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Wes Anderson and Kubrick (who I agree with others is almost certainly coming) have much more widespread name recognition and appreciation among more casual movie collectors.

Even here many of us have said our first couple of Ozu films underwhelmed until we got into his rhythm… I doubt the film bros are calling for a massive Ozu set.

Prove me wrong Criterion.

Anyway, do those Japanese Blu-rays have English subs?

Why hasn’t BFI put out Tokyo Twilight in HD yet? That Melodramas set needs an upgrade.

And End of Summer… are we waiting on a restoration? Does AE still hold the rights in the UK? It’ll be a shame to have to get this in an Blu-Ray Eclipse set when most of us own the other titles on Blu.

[andyli]

Only the Shochiku releases carry English subs.

The End of Summer has a 4K restoration and a release from Carlotta.

[Lowry_Sam]

The color films never received 4k restorations. They're merely 4k scans, which render a color box of UHD highly unlikely.

I assumed because the effort that TCM made for Ozu in color for this year's festival that there had been a restoration project behind it.

Just because they own the rights doesn’t make it an easy sell or a cheap thing to pull off properly.

I think it would do at least as well as the Varda set, certainly better than the Olympics or CC40 sets. Because of the type of director that Ozu is,if someone is interested in one, most likely they are interested in seeing most/all of the rest of his catalog.

[andyli]

I assumed because the effort that TCM made for Ozu in color for this year's festival that there had been a restoration project behind it.

There has been a concerted effort in restoring Ozu films across multiple studios. It's just for some reason Shochiku chose to downscale their restoration of these 4K scans to 2k. Ironically their B/W Ozu are all 4K restoration through and through. On the other hand, as far as I can tell Floating Weeds and The End of Summer are restored in 4K because they're from Kadokawa and Toho, respectively.

[FrauBlucher]

I also think that Turner Classic Movies dedicating every Tuesday night this month to Ozu is significant. And they had a hand in the doc of Ozu as well, which creates a kind of interest in him that may be a hint of what’s coming.

And of course I could be overreaching

[Michael Kerpan]

Now if only we could have a Naruse month....

[beamish14]

Now if only we could have a Naruse month....

I’ve been religiously attending the massive Naruse retrospective that is currently in Los Angeles. It started two months ago and is continuing into early August. So many great films with no HD releases, and his later color works are especially neglected

[Michael Kerpan]

How many are they showing? We had 46 here -- and I made it to 42 (or so) of them.

As many as there were, there were still some treasures that didn't make it.

[yoloswegmaster]

You guys are lucky. Only 19 of his films made it to Toronto and I was only able to make it to 5. It could have been 6 but I was sadly prevented from doing that by a flat tire while driving on the highway to go watch Two in the Shadow.

[beamish14]

How many are they showing? We had 46 here -- and I made it to 42 (or so) of them.

As many as there were, there were still some treasures that didn't make it.

“Only” 28 announced thus far, but we did get live accompaniment with two silent features and Wife! Be Like a Rose in nitrate

[Michael Kerpan]

Wow -- I wonder where they got that Wife! Be Like a Rose nitrate print?

[senseabove]

That print is presumably from the Eastman House, the one they screened at last year’s Nitrate Picture Show, from its original US run.

[Michael Kerpan]

Eastman House was a pretty interesting place to visit -- but this makes it even more interesting...

[Lowry_Sam]

But what are your chances of getting to see an Ozu (or other Japanese director) if you go? If you were guaranteed one, I would have no hesitation to go, but knowing my luck if I went I'd get all commonly available crowd pleasers.

Does Eastman lend out its nitrate prints? The print I saw of A Page Of Madness @ PFA came from Eastman (but don't recall what kind), but I would be surprised if they actually risk lending out nitrate to others.

[beamish14]

But what are your chances of getting to see an Ozu (or other Japanese director) if you go? If you were guaranteed one, I would have no hesitation to go, but knowing my luck if I went I'd get all commonly available crowd pleasers.

Does Eastman lend out its nitrate prints? The print I saw of A Page Of Madness @ PFA came from Eastman (but don't recall what kind), but I would be surprised if they actually risk lending out nitrate to others.

Eastman has Daryl Zanuck’s nitrate prints. Rebecca, Gone to Earth, and Black Narcissus (the best looking print I have seen in my entire life) all screened at the American Cinematheque

[senseabove]

They have the programs up from past years so you can get an idea of what they show. No, you're not guaranteed anything, but I've never been disappointed. In four years, I've seen Sirk, Ophuls (thrice), Dreyer, Hitchcock, Lubitsch, Pabst, Powell & Pressburger, Lang (twice), Naruse (twice), Wyler, Minnelli... and those are just the Capital A Auteurs that I like.

Japanese nitrate is hard to come by, from what they've said, but they also know Japanese film is popular, and so have had one Japanese film three of the four years I've been, with the two Naruse and a very good movie called Homecoming by a director who seems virtually unknown in the west, Hideo Oba.

And yeah, as beamish says, there are a lending archive, and will lend nitrate to venues that are equipped to show it. I think it's safe to presume that's where most all of the LA Nitrate Festival screenings have been sourced from (mostly because they're all or nearly all things that have previously played at NPS festivals, which is the impetus for them to evaluate prints and repair them to a projectable state).

[FlickeringWindow]

I think an Ozu box is extremely likely for a few reasons. Two of the three Eclipse sets are now OOP, as well as The Only Son/There Was a Father double feature. No new Ozu in the collection since 2019 with The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, last upgrade was Floating Weeds x2 in 2024, and the only single DVD without an upgrade is Early Summer. Looking over his filmography on Criterion Channel, I don't see why they couldn't do something like a 24-disc $300-350 MSRP box along the lines of Bergman or Varda.

[andyli]

The main down side with a gigantic box set like Bergman or Varda is that it will inevitably miss some yet-to-come restorations. In Ozu's case, The Only Son, Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family, and some early silents are still waiting for their modern restoration. And Shochiku could also opt to re-do the color films in 4K in the future.

[Lowry_Sam]

Exactly, and the bigger the box, the more likely people will be pissed off to replace things for upgrades. Fellini & Bergman were probably too early, but beginning with Pasolini, the grumbling begins.

[Michael Kerpan]

a director who seems virtually unknown in the west, Hideo Oba.

I've only seen 2 of his films -- both only without subs. One was the amazing Woman of the Typhoon District, which featured Setsuko Hara channeling Rita Hayworth, playing (in essence) a pirate queen. The other was The Bells of Nagasaki, about Takashi Nagai, a (Roman Catholic) Japanese doctor who cared for atom bomb victims in the immediate aftermath of the bombing (before any other help arrived). I found both of these interesting -- and would gladly have watched more of his movies had I been able to find them.