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Floating Weeds



Towards the end of his career, Japanese master Yasujirô Ozu returned to a story he had made some 25 years earlier as a silent, Ukigusa monogatari [A Tale of Floating Weeds, aka A Story of Floating Weeds], for a magnificent colour reworking, photographed by legendary cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashômon, Ugetsu monogatari).

When a travelling kabuki troupe brings their show to a seaside port, Komajurô (Ganjirô Nakamura), an ageing actor, is reunited with his former lover, sake bar owner Oyoshi (Haruki Sugimura), and his illegitimate son Kiyoshi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi), to the distress of his current mistress Sumiko (Machiko Kyô).

From this simple scenario, Ozu builds, one exquisite image at a time, a saga of profound humanity and rich understanding. Encompassing a novelistic range of emotions and tones with the utmost delicacy, Floating Weeds stands tall even amidst a body of work as extraordinary as Ozu's. Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Floating Weeds in a beautiful new high-definition restoration.

DUAL FORMAT RELEASE INCLUDING BLU-RAY AND DVD VERSIONS OF THE FILM

• Exclusively restored high-definition master presented in the film's original aspect ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray
• Newly translated optional English subtitles
• Original Japanese theatrical trailer
• Illustrated booklet featuring the words of Ozu, rare archival imagery, and more
• Further details to be announced nearer the release date!

I wonder if the Roger Ebert Criterion commentary would make it over. Although the commentary had some errors with film release years, (and obviously Ebert can't re-record those parts now) I remember it being a good listen.

I'd like the docos from CC's Tokyo story added as I don't think these are going to find their way onto a BFI release. I can then ditch the house-brick edition of Tokyo.

manicsounds wrote:I wonder if the Roger Ebert Criterion commentary would make it over. Although the commentary had some errors with film release years, (and obviously Ebert can't re-record those parts now) I remember it being a good listen.

Indeed. A really entertaining commentary. That dvd boxset is one of my most-prized Criterion releases , and it disappoints me that they didn't continue with the themed double releases. Adding to this, the forthcoming Eureka Ozu cover pales in comparison to the Criterion release. Bland as bland can be.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping MOC will get the color balancing right. If they do, this will offer ample reason for upgrading.

Michael Kerpan wrote:I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping MOC will get the color balancing right. If they do, this will offer ample reason for upgrading.

There's a distinct possibility that the man who supervised this transfer and the man who finally got Good Morning right are one and the same - James White used to work for the BFI, and now freelances extensively for MoC.

But I don't know if he worked on this specific title.

UPDATE: He did indeed work on Floating Weeds, and gave the film a full re-grade as well as a general clean-up. In other words, the same treatment that he gave the colour Ozu titles that the BFI put out.

So if you're happy with those, the chances are you'll be happy with this - but I haven't seen it myself yet.

MichaelB -- you are increasing my level of hopefulness. Hopefully Mr. White understands that darker-complexioned male characters should not look like they have sunburn. ;~}

Eureka have just published a trailer.

(I asked them if it featured footage from the new transfer, and it doesn't - it's an original theatrical trailer, not a brand new one created specifically for this release.)

Michael Kerpan wrote:I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping MOC will get the color balancing right. If they do, this will offer ample reason for upgrading.

I now have a checkdisc, but I can't do framegrabs and I suspect photos via an iPhone wouldn't help!

But when compared with the grabs shown here, it's much closer to the Artificial Eye than the Criterion. Perhaps a tad darker than the AE disc, but the colour balance is definitely similar - and skintones do indeed look pretty natural.

Beaver.

Obvious from the comparison that the Criterion has considerable contrast-boosting to get its sharp edges, but...is the MOC disc really that soft? Or has it been Beaverized?

Wow, the colors on the Criterion DVD look really unnatural. I'm guessing the MoC is probably more accurate - it certainly looks like most color films from that era, at least the ones I've seen projected from archival 35mm prints.

Framing is a bit different as well.
The Criterion is framed to the left, while the MoC is framed to the right. Negligible.

Yes, unlike Portrait of a Lady, in this case it is negligible. The feel/sense you get from each frame doesn't feel altered at all.

I'm aware that the MoC BluRay will be a massive improvement on the Artificial Eye DVD but does anyone know how the MoC DVD compares to the AE DVD?

AidanKing wrote:I'm aware that the MoC BluRay will be a massive improvement on the Artificial Eye DVD but does anyone know how the MoC DVD compares to the AE DVD?

Search DVD Beaver -- it has screen shots of the AE DVD. My recollection (confirmed by the screen shots on DVD Beaver) is that the image was crushed a bit.

Thank you, Michael.

I seem to remember the image looking a bit peculiar when I watched it, but I couldn't work out what the problem was.

AE's Floating Weeds had decent color, but a goofed up image -- while its End of Summer had disastrous colors, but a correct image. It was VERY disappointing.

Thanks again, Michael: I didn't realise AE's End of Summer was messed up too.

AidanKing wrote:Thanks again, Michael: I didn't realise AE's End of Summer was messed up too.

As I recall, it had a very icy-blue tone.

It did; and still, I'm annoyed with myself for flogging it, as it seems to be the one that got away in the batch of Ozu upgrades to blu.

The Eclipse version of End of Summer is okay (though not as close to perfect as the Late Autumn in the same set, it is far better than the unsatisfactory Equinox Flower).

I was so displeased with the AE End of Summer I reverted to watching the aged HK VCD (only Chinese subs) instead (until the Eclipse version showed up).

Still the best version in terms of image quality: http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%B0%8F%E6%97 ... pd_sim_d_4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No English subs, of course.

Watched the DVD version of this MoC release last night. Overall, I am happy with it. Here's how it compares to the un-subbed Japanese release: overall it looks colder then the Japanese release; image is sharper and sound is better (louder).

I was going to watch a little just to do the comparison but ended up watching the whole movie. Still enjoy it very much. What a great movie. Funny and touching, too. There is one scene in particular which is extremely funny. One of the actors in the troupe had selected a woman for another actor. The funny scene involves the actor's reaction when the woman shows up.

Have not watched the Blu-ray version yet.