Page 10 of 19
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 3:29 am
by Adam X
Ironically, Curzon received a BAFTA last year for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.
It seems more likely a case of one hand not talking to the other, though it’d be dismaying either way.
Terracotta Distribution are mentioned in the facebook post, but I agree it’d be interesting to know who else has been affected by this. Despite the number of labels in the UK, things do seem rather incestuous on the distribution end - which is inevitable I suppose, given the shrinking audience for such things. If CAV, for example, went under, a number of US labels’d be left hanging.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:05 pm
by Adam X
I remember wondering if
Arrow might be a possible lifeboat... Great news! There would've been a small but noticeable hole left by their absence.
Third Window Films wrote:THIRD WINDOW ARE BACK IN BUSINESS!
After all the troubles we found ourselves put into during 2017, we thought we have turned a corner in 2018, though as soon as we started to pick ourselves up came the very bad news that Fusion Media Sales, the sales agent which handled us as well as many other great indie distributors, were closed down by their parent company. This totally screwed us as well as many other labels like ours who are not big enough to negotiate directly with Amazon, HMV, SONY, etc and therefore need to rely on a third-party agent like Fusion who can handle such deals. Though in the case of a company like that being closed it leaves us with no control over our stock or sales, and in a terrible state of limbo.
Though no more! Thanks to the great ARROW FILMS!
Both Third Window and our longtime partners Terracotta Distribution have been rescued by Arrow Films, and we cannot think of a better company to partner with! Arrow Films and Arrow Video have been one of the last few saviors in keeping physical media and indie film distribution alive, as we have been trying to do with Asian cinema, so it's really the perfect match and a wonderful new family to be a part of!
We will soon have all our stock available through their website and other outlets, but this merger has allowed us to keep our upcoming schedule in tact...
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:18 pm
by Ribs
Huh - wonder, if these are being added to the Arrow store, that means the Second Run titles which are in a similar situation might come back too?
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:24 am
by Adam X
I wouldn’t be surprised to see titles from both labels turn up on Arrow’s site at the same time. Quite likely, they’re still working on the back end in order to suit all concerned.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:25 pm
by agnamaracs
Announcement and question:
Third Window is releasing 1001 Nights and Cleopatra, the first two films in the Animerama trilogy (which concluded with the now-famous
Belladonna of Sadness).
Now, the question: Region B or region-free? Third Window seems to deal in both.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:20 pm
by swo17
Arrow is having a sale on Third Window and Terracotta titles
For example, all of TW's Takeshi Kitano releases are £7.50.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 4:48 pm
by dda1996a
Seeing the sale on Arrow's site, are there any recommendations for any of the film's? I've seen one Sono which I didn't like but found at least interesting, and no Takeshi. Are they worth buying or just watching once?
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:03 pm
by swo17
I'd recommend Kitano's Hana-bi and Scene at the Sea at least
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:30 pm
by Michael Kerpan
Scene at the Sea (my favorite along with Sonatine), Kikujiro, Hana-bi, Kids Return, Dolls -- all are worthwhile (Dolls is the darkest of these, Kikujiro the lightest).
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:32 pm
by swo17
It would have taken you less time to say "all of them except
Getting Any?"
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:59 pm
by The Elegant Dandy Fop
Hell no! Getting Any? is wonderfully stream of conscious and bonkers. It's captures the "Beat" Kitano that's more famous in Japan rather than the auteur Takeshi Kitano. It only could've only come from the creator of the masochistic game show, Takeshi's Castle and not from the director of A Scene by the Sea. It really does explore Kitano's duality that's often ignored by western cinephiles.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:52 pm
by colinr0380
All of Shinya Tsukamoto's films are worthwhile but my absolute favourite is the underrated Bullet Ballet. Its relatively less extreme than his other films and arguably more grounded in its action, but I think its his very best and very thematically linked to the more celebrated works.
I wrote about it a bit here.
It also features an amazingly edited weaponary fetishism-in-media montage (the story involves a man after his girlfriend's gun-based suicide trying to make or purchase a gun of his own either to figure out her motivations or follow her example, and this leads him off into the criminal underworld and lots of other adventures) to a poundingly abrasive score that I sometimes wonder had any influence on
Leftfield's 6/8 War track from an album that came out a year later. Probably not, but they work well together!
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:02 pm
by yoshimori
> Getting Any? is wonderfully stream of conscious and bonkers.
Agreed! Though I'd add it actually looks pretty well-controlled à la Kitano compared to that TV work. And the new blu-ray shows it in its best light.
It has lots of kinda-pre-cursors (Morita's first film, Something Like ... comes to mind) and somewhat-progeny (Matsumoto Hitoshi's stuff, etc). I laughed out loud several times when I re-watched it a few months ago.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:08 pm
by Jean-Luc Garbo
Hana-bi is excellent. I watched it for the first this month actually and its blend of blood and pathos was quite adept. Kitano anchors the film obviously but the rest of the cast and the overall tone was very impressive to me. I still haven't seen Fires on the Plain but I'm told it's very good indeed. And early Shinya Tsukamoto is a must-see so I second that rec!
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 12:05 am
by Michael Kerpan
swo17 wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:32 pm
It would have taken you less time to say "all of them except
Getting Any?"
I re-bought
Getting Any, upgrading to the 3rd Window Blu-Ray -- and enjoy it. Just wouldn't recommend it as an initial blind-buy purchase.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:39 am
by colinr0380
It is amazing and very amusing to me that Getting Any? went from one of Kitano's more obscure films to one of his best available! It has left me hoping that one day Third Window might get around to releasing the other meta-"Beat" Takeshi works - Takeshis' (though that is currently on DVD from Artificial Eye in the UK) and Glory To The Filmmaker! (which does not appear to have had any UK release as yet). Not to mention Achilles and the Tortoise!
Jean-Luc Garbo wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 9:08 pmAnd early Shinya Tsukamoto is a must-see so I second that rec!
Scorsese also glowingly mentions Tsukamoto's A Snake of June and Tetsuo: The Iron Man in interviews around the casting of Tsukamoto in a role in Silence. Plus of course the lead of A Snake of June, Asuka Kurosawa, turns up in the final scene of Silence!
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:51 pm
by The Elegant Dandy Fop
colinr0380 wrote: Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:39 am
It has left me hoping that one day Third Window might get around to releasing the other meta-"Beat" Takeshi works - Takeshis' (though that is currently on DVD from Artificial Eye in the UK) and Glory To The Filmmaker! (which does not appear to have had any UK release as yet). Not to mention Achilles and the Tortoise!
I've been slowly getting the Japanese Kitano Blu-rays that Third Window probably won't put out like
Sonatine and
Takeshis'. The Bandai Visual transfers aren't perfect, but they're a million times better than any previous DVD. I actually think the releases are from the same masters Third Window has been using, but Third Window to my eyes has better encoding. They are all subtitled in English (except the special features) and are absolutely worth ordering.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:13 pm
by rapta
According to Third Window, titles like Boiling Point, Violent Cop and Sonatine have been picked up by another UK label who offered a much higher price (most likely Arrow).
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:57 pm
by Grand Wazoo
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 6:18 pm
by colinr0380
Great news, as that was the title that was omitted from the early years boxset a couple of years back.
I also note that in the next month Third Window are releasing, not a Japanese film but an Australian 'mockumentary',
Top Knot Detective. The Forgotten Silver of early 90s Japanese TV?
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:11 am
by Adam X
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 3:08 am
by Michael Kerpan
Ueda's One Cut of the Dead was a big hit with all members of our household. Frankly I don't want to say much about the film beyond: "Just see it!" Almost impossible to decide what's a spoiler. It's about making a zombie movie. There, I've exhausted what I can say about the plot. It really is a lot of fun. The Third Window Blu-Ray release devotes one disc to the film and another to copious extras (not yet watched). Amazing that this appears unlikely to get a US release. But then neither did the slightly older, also-excellent Japanese zombie film I Am a Hero. American marketing (or non-marketing) of Japanese cinema makes no sense to me.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:06 am
by kuzine
I caught One Cut of the Dead in one of our local arthouse cinemas (where it screened once every week for a month earlier this year) and was especially glad I saw it with a very receptive audience. Biggest amount of fun I've had in a theatre in a long time. I knew nothing going in beyond the bit MK states and that's indeed all you need to know. Will look out for the Third Window blu...
Third Window Films
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:17 am
by MichaelB
I saw it in Tokyo a few weeks ago with my son, purely on the grounds that it was the only domestic film showing there with English subtitles (aside from Shoplifters, which we’d seen already), so we had the huge advantage of going into it with no advance knowledge at all. And Michael’s right: the less you know going in, the better.
Re: Third Window Films
Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2019 2:00 pm
by Michael Kerpan
This, along with Naruse's Morning's Tree-Lined Streets, is one of the few movies that I feel obliged aesthetically not to "spoil" (for other films, it is mostly a matter of politeness).