EUREKA! Masters of Cinema Collection

[mixed]

This company is brilliant! They started sometime last year and release high quality discs for the UK market. Rather like a UK version of Criterion. Check out what they've released so far.

www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/index.htm

They are evn releasing the full 183 minute version of Kwaidan when the Criterion version is only 161 minutes long!

[blackandwhite]

I own Naked Island and Face of Another. They are a top notch company, and i like their packedging more than Criterion's.

[mixed]

Their packaging is perfect and they pack their disks with extras. Their are many i want from herebut mostly Humanity and paper Balloons, twenty four eyes and the recently released Kwaidan.

[criterionmaster]

Keaton in October

Naruse in November

F For Fake in December

[criterionmaster]

[mixed]

Its a really exciting label. I want to get the spec ed of faust. Their covers are very cool and sometimes better than criterions. They are also releasing some films more obscure than what criterion are offering, obscure within my knowledge that is.

[criterionmaster]

I want to check out that Naruse and Punishment Park I am going to blind buy passed on cover alone.

[mixed]

So you're up for buying multi region disks now?!
Blind buying is good! I particularly want twenty four eyes which beat seven samurai out of Kinema Junpos best film award in 1954.

[PTAhole]

I'm grabbing a region free player soon, so I will probably pick some of these up.

[criterionmaster]

Naruse: Three Films By Mikio Naruse Box Set (Masters Of Cinema)


Special Features

• Audio commentary on Sound Of The Mountain by Kent Jones and Phillip Lopate with audio discussions on Repast and Flowing
• 72-page book containing essays, Mikio Naruse biography and detailed discussion of each film

Review

Presented here in a lavish box set, along with an accompanying book, the Masters Of Cinema series presents three of Mikio Naruse's finest films

Repast (1951) depicts the lives of common people, in this instance to capture the pungent atmosphere of fading love. Set shortly after World War II, and concerning a struggling marriage between salaryman Hatsunosuke (Ken Uehara) and his wife Michiyo (Setsuko Hara), it focuses on the emotional crisis of the bored housewife. The repetitive tedium of her domestic life is brought into focus by a visit from Hatsunosuke's niece, Satoko (Yukiko Shimazaki ) on whom Hatsunosuke lavishes much attention.

Adapted from a novel by Kawabata Yasunari, the first Japanese author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Sound Of The Mountain (1954) is one of Naruse's best-known and most respected films, typifying his preferred genre of shomin-geki (films about the daily lives of ordinary people). Set in the ancient seaside town of Kamakura, Kawabata's home, the film depicts the increasingly close relationship between a childless young woman, Kikuko (Setsuko Hara), and her father-in-law, Shingo (So Yamamura), to whom she turns as her own marriage, to the neglectful and philandering Shuichi (Ken Uehara), disintegrates. The more Shuichi destroys his marriage, the closer Shingo and Kikuko become.

The third film, Flowing, directed in 1956 (the year that prostitution was outlawed in Japan), explores the inner workings of a changing world, as traditional geishas faced the impending decline of their hidden way of life and the looming spectre of prostitution. It depicts the story of a widow, Rika (Kinuyo Tanaka), who is forced to work for a living and becomes a maid in a struggling Tokyo geisha house, where Tsutayakko (Isuzu Yamada ), its proud mistress, tries to save the house from becoming either a restaurant or a brothel. It is through Rika, a surrogate for the viewer, that we are introduced to the various geishas, who drink and fight, worry over the lack of clients, and attempt to stave off imminent extinction.

Availability: Due for release on 20/11/2006

[criterionmaster]

check this out, it's amazing news!

www.mastersofcinema.org/misc/MoC_CAT2.pdf

[criterionmaster]

Mizoguchi titles - next year from Masters of Cinema
Oyu-sama (Miss Oyu, 1951)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
Gion bayashi (Gion Festival Music, 1953)
Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff, 1954)
Uwasa no onna (The Woman of Rumour, 1954)
Chikamatsu mongatari (1954)
Yohiki (The Empress Yang Kwei Fei, 1955)
Akasen chitai (Street of Shame, 1956)

[criterionmaster]

Just wanted to post some awesome pictures to the new Fantastic Planet disc:





















Clip from the film

[nonfiction]

They should release Shinji Aoyama's Eureka. Seems appropriate. =p

[ie]

How were you able to watch it? Eureka looks really good, but... it's not released in the United States.


edit: Hopefully that's an appropriate question to ask...

edit: Never mind. Got my question answered... elsewhere. ;D

[mixed]

They dont need to be released in the US as the company is basically the UK criterion equivelant.

[ie]

Actually, yes, they should release their products in the US.

It may be no problem for you, but it probably costs a small amount to ship it from over there to over here. Add to that the already expensive price, having to deal with Euros, and things of that order, and it would be just a lot easier for me to go down to a good local movie store and pick up a Masters of Cinema / Eureka release.

And you know how important it is that something is easy to buy. Easy, man, easy.

[criterionmaster]

I rarely EVER run across a region 2 disc in the US, and when I do it is always at a used shop. And in fact now that I think about it the only one I think I have come across was a barebones Eraserhead region 2 used at CD Warehouse for $9.99. But I agree with ie, there should be a company set up in the states where it is their job to get the DVD's here, and they can ship them out. So then they could be sold on Amazon and what not. It's not like they have to change the region or anything, just make it easier for film fans to obtain these great films.

[criterionmaster]

I must see this movie! I need to buy this DVD.

www.eurekavideo.co.uk/moc/catalogue/shoah/

[criterionmaster]

Keaton set - new release date

The release date of our first box set The Complete Buster Keaton Short Films 1917-1923 has been put back a few weeks to November 20, 2006. This four-disc set with 180-page book is our biggest project yet and our desire to get it just right necessitates this short delay. The Mikio NARUSE box set will be released the following week on November 27, 2006.

In August, we released Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) and René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973). September 25th saw the release of Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine (1946) with some wonderful extra features including a full-length commentary by De Sica scholar Bert Cardullo and new interviews with the child stars of the film.

On November 27 we release the Mikio Naruse box set containing Repast [Meshi] (1951), Sound of the Mountain [Yama no oto] (1954), and Flowing [Nagareru] (1956) which will also contain an exclusive 180-page book. Please check back here for more information on forthcoming releases very soon.

[criterionmaster]

www.myspace.com/mastersofcinema

[ie]

Now all the hipsters who say things like "God has a John complex" can be friends with the Masters of Cinema.

Truly, truly, a great day on the Interweb.

[mixed]

Great company though, to many disks though, not enough moolah

[criterionmaster]

Look at these Naruse covers(!):

[criterionmaster]

From DVDBEAVER.COM:

I've been reminded that our current contest was not mentioned in the last newsletter and some may wish to partake to win "Mikio Naruse - Volume 1" (over $70 value!). DVD of the Year balloting is being tallied and results will be posted as soon as possible.

CONTEST: Verbalize (in 40 words or less) your sincere appreciation of Setsuko Hara as one of Japan's most beloved screen personalities during her 30-year film career. We would like to publish the winning paragraph here and first place will receive a brand new sealed copy of "Mikio Naruse - Volume 1" (over $70 value!) courtesy of DVDBeaver. One entry per person sent HERE. Deadline - Midnight EST, Tuesday December 28th, 2006. Happy Holidays!

[criterionmaster]

'We hope to return to Naruse soon for our NARUSE: VOLUME 2 box set towards the end of 2007.'

SOURCE: www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews27/mikio_naruse_three_films.htm

[nonfiction]

EVERYONE WATCH THIS:

[criterionmaster]

I have been dying to see that film for years, I am glad you loved it so much, makes me want it even more. I will try and make it one of the first MoC releases I buy, which will be soon hopefully. I just recently got a region-free player finally!

[criterionmaster]

Yo, have these been posted on any site yet? I just found them on MoC site.

[Nomansvally]

criterionmaster said:

Yo, have these been posted on any site yet? I just found them on MoC site.

WOW! EXCELLENT!

I'M GONNA BUY THEM BOTH!