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There a nice English friendly R3 Korean set with ten of his films:
Boiling Point (1990)
A Scene at the Sea (1991)
Sonatine (1993)
Getting Any (1994)
Kids Return (1996)
Hana-bi (1997)
Kikujiro (1999)
Brother (2000) (parts with Japanese dialog not subtitled!)
Dolls (2002)
Zatoichi (2003)

Image quality is only so-so and the extras are Korean only, but from what I understand, some of the R1 and R2 releases are not so hot either, so it might be a nice set if you can find it for a reasonable price.

The last 3 films exist in superior R2 editions, most notably 'Zatoichi' on blu-ray. You better buy the Second Sight Kitano set for 18£ (which inlcudes the best version of 'Violent Cop' anywhere in the world) and import Hana-bi and Kikujiro.

n/a

Trailer for Kitano's new film Outrage. It's hard to describe from 50 seconds of unintelligible (to me) shouting, but there's something about this trailer that is making me really look forward to the movie.

Guardian article about Kitano's Paris art exhibition:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... -interview" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Camera Obscura wrote:There a nice English friendly R3 Korean set with ten of his films:
Boiling Point (1990)
A Scene at the Sea (1991)
Sonatine (1993)
Getting Any (1994)
Kids Return (1996)
Hana-bi (1997)
Kikujiro (1999)
Brother (2000) (parts with Japanese dialog not subtitled!)
Dolls (2002)
Zatoichi (2003)

Image quality is only so-so and the extras are Korean only, but from what I understand, some of the R1 and R2 releases are not so hot either, so it might be a nice set if you can find it for a reasonable price.

anyone have a link for buying this set or any other (decent) R3 Korean/Japan Sets?

jonah.77 wrote:Is the version of SCENE AT THE SEA on that Second Sight boxed set the same as the more recent stand-alone DVD?

I think so, because this was released after the boxset. Why by one film for 6£ when you can buy the whole set for 17£?

godardslave wrote:

Camera Obscura wrote:There a nice English friendly R3 Korean set with ten of his films:
Boiling Point (1990)
A Scene at the Sea (1991)
Sonatine (1993)
Getting Any (1994)
Kids Return (1996)
Hana-bi (1997)
Kikujiro (1999)
Brother (2000) (parts with Japanese dialog not subtitled!)
Dolls (2002)
Zatoichi (2003)

Image quality is only so-so and the extras are Korean only, but from what I understand, some of the R1 and R2 releases are not so hot either, so it might be a nice set if you can find it for a reasonable price.

anyone have a link for buying this set or any other (decent) R3 Korean/Japan Sets?

I'm terribly sorry. I wasn't aware it was this hard to find right now. Two years ago I bought it for sth like $100 when it was still available on sites like YesAsia, DDDHouse of DVDFromKorea or CDJapan for prices between $90-140, and I gathered they might still have a few copies on offer, but this set seems to have vanished completely. I can't even find it on Ebay.

Specs on YesAsia. I think it's a direct port of the Japanese editions. Image quality is actually a lot better than I remember it. Subtitles were a little dodgy, but well, who needs those for A Scene at the Sea.

Anyone else seen Outrage yet? Kitano's leapt gleefully back into the yakuza genre, and I can't remember a film of his I've had more fun watching, even if it doesn't aspire for the more poetic heights of something like Hana-bi. It's basically the old premise of two rival gangs refusing to let the other one have the last word in an argument, extrapolated out to ridiculousness. It's probably not too much of a spoiler for me to say that a lot of people die in this, often in creative ways.

Also of note: there's a teaser at the end of the film indicating that there will be an Outrage 2 coming in 2011!

swo17 wrote:Anyone else seen Outrage yet? Kitano's leapt gleefully back into the yakuza genre, and I can't remember a film of his I've had more fun watching, even if it doesn't aspire for the more poetic heights of something like Hana-bi. It's basically the old premise of two rival gangs refusing to let the other one have the last word in an argument, extrapolated out to ridiculousness. It's probably not too much of a spoiler for me to say that a lot of people die in this, often in creative ways.

Also of note: there's a teaser at the end of the film indicating that there will be an Outrage 2 coming in 2011!

Kitano said he made this movie thinking about the death scenes first, "How can I kill off this actor in a great way?", and then wrote a script around that. Something huh?

I found Outrage to violent for me to enjoy it. I am getting old I guess. Never had a problem with the violence in any of his previous films.

I saw Outrage last August, and I really liked it. It's not one of his strongest though, and he himself has said he'd give it "60%" from 100%.

BUT, I saw Takeshis' last night, and it' a masterpiece!! I can't stress how good it is. I guess it's important to know Kitano's work and biography to understand the film fully, but still the so-so reception baffles me.

nolanoe -- totally agree on Takeshis' -- and likewise baffled by its ho-hum reception.

I suspect the ho-hum reaction is a combination of audience bewilderment and the fact that Kitano deliberately confounds audience enjoyment (or, more accurately, sets up conventionally entertaining scenes and then refuses a proper pay off). While it's not my favourite Kitano film (that's either Hana-Bi or Kikujiro), it is probably his best movie.

My favorites are still the oldies -- Sonatine and Scene at the Sea -- not that I don't like most of the later ones. But I really really need to revist Takeshis'.

I had seen all his previous movies, but I Takeshis still made no sense to me. I didn't really care for Getting Any either, so maybe this is the problem. I find his other movies quite funny, but the "comedies" are too much...for me.

Camera Obscura wrote:

godardslave wrote:

Camera Obscura wrote:There a nice English friendly R3 Korean set with ten of his films:
Boiling Point (1990)
A Scene at the Sea (1991)
Sonatine (1993)
Getting Any (1994)
Kids Return (1996)
Hana-bi (1997)
Kikujiro (1999)
Brother (2000) (parts with Japanese dialog not subtitled!)
Dolls (2002)
Zatoichi (2003)

Image quality is only so-so and the extras are Korean only, but from what I understand, some of the R1 and R2 releases are not so hot either, so it might be a nice set if you can find it for a reasonable price.

anyone have a link for buying this set or any other (decent) R3 Korean/Japan Sets?

I'm terribly sorry. I wasn't aware it was this hard to find right now. Two years ago I bought it for sth like $100 when it was still available on sites like YesAsia, DDDHouse of DVDFromKorea or CDJapan for prices between $90-140, and I gathered they might still have a few copies on offer, but this set seems to have vanished completely. I can't even find it on Ebay.

Specs on YesAsia. I think it's a direct port of the Japanese editions. Image quality is actually a lot better than I remember it. Subtitles were a little dodgy, but well, who needs those for A Scene at the Sea.

This is only about a year and a half late , but you could try Han Books. They're often the the seller of last resort for a lot of Korean DVDs (and it was showing as available as of about 10 minutes ago).

Also, Japan gets the first film on Blu-ray, and will include the making of, which hasn't been seen since the Laserdisc release.

Fuck yeah!! This is my favourite Kitano, favourite school-buddy film, favourite Hisaishi soundtrack, one of my favourite 90's films, and very near the top of my Blu-upgrade wishlist \:D/ Kinda skeptical about that sequel though...

I'm trying to make my way through the article posted earlier, but Kids Return: Reunion is directed by the assistant director of the original, Hiroshi Shimizu, right?

And that Blu-Ray makes me very, very happy, but I'm not holding my breath for English subtitles. *sigh*

Bandai lists English subs for the BD on their website:

スペック:カラー／確130分／(本編108分＋特典22分)／リニアPCM(ドルビーサラウンド・一部ステレオ)／AVC／BD50G／16:9<1080p High Definition>・一部4:3<1080i High Definition>／英語字幕付(ON・OFF可能)

Wouldn't count on any for the making-of though.

Yes, the sequel is directed by Hiroshi Shimizu (no, not the one you're thinking), he was an assistant director to many of Kitano's films. Although the movie is coming 17 years after the original, the story takes place 10 years later, and different actors are involved.

Less enthusiastic now that I know Kitano himself won't be calling the shots. Wasn't the first one semi-autobiographical?

This contemporary Hiroshi Shimizu is a very good director. His Ikinai was close to excellent. in fact/