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As the format continues to gain traction, here’s our regularly-updated list of upcoming 4K Ultra HD disc releases in the UK.

Sitting alongside our list of upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases (that you can find here), we’re also keeping a calendar for those who support the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format. As we learn of new UK releases, we’ll add them to this list.

We have started adding shopping links too. We’d be obliged if you clicked on them, as it really helps us in our quest to make the Film Stories project of magazines, website and podcast profitable. We’re a 100% independent publisher, and we quite like drinking coffee. It’d be lovely to afford some more.

Without further ado, here are the titles we know about…

Out now

24th February: Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 3 (Steelbook)

24th February: Crossing Delancey (Criterion)

24th February:...

The story around Isaiah Saxon’s feature debut, “The Legend of Ochi,” took a drastic turn, as so many Hollywood stories did, with this month’s Los Angeles fires. Saxon lost his home in the blaze, and the film’s theatrical release was pushed back. However, having spent years developing and working on the fantasy feature, Saxon is standing steadfastly behind his film and will be present for its Sundance world premiere.

“The Legend of Ochi” is a throwback. Its aesthetics, fantasy elements and a blend of practical and digital effects will be instantly endearing to audiences of a certain age but are modern enough and so well executed as to attract younger audiences weaned on the vfx-heavy fare of more recent decades.

The film tells the story of Yuri, a shy farm in a remote village on the island of Carpathia. Born as the only child to a father who yearned for a son,...

Criterion’s starting 2025 with 4K on the mind: today brings news that April will bring Sean Baker’s Anora and a Blu-ray of Prince of Broadway alongside 4K releases for Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat (both the theatrical edition and black-and-white director’s cut), Some Like It Hot, and two films by Claude Berri, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring. Of those last two the former is, of course, among the most iconic films ever made, non-pareil from comedies of its era; the latter two are far less-known, and even among American Francophiles is Berri hardly mentioned. In their distinct ways does either mark an essential release.

For major catalog titles, Ugetsu, about as notable a Japanese film as any from its era, is upgraded to 4K alongside Chungking Express, albeit (as with In the Mood for Love) likely the 2020 restoration about which, we’ve all discovered, your mileage will surely vary.

Prime Video is gearing up for Prime Day with some exciting deals, and you don’t have to wait until the big day to score major discounts. Starting October 7, Prime members can save up to 50% on a selection of movies and TV shows, making it a perfect opportunity to build up your digital media library without breaking the bank. Whether you’re looking to buy or rent, there are plenty of options to explore, and the savings are significant. The best part? You don’t have to keep checking for price drops yourself. If a movie you’re eyeing is still too expensive, services like CheapCharts make it easy to track prices. Just add your desired titles to their wishlist, and they’ll notify you when the price goes down. Among the discounted titles are Harold and the Purple Crayon for just $8.99 and the original Joker movie at $6.99. There are other options like Fall Guy,...

Roxy Cinema

Our 35mm presentation of Bertrand Bonello’s House of Tolerance screens on Saturday and Sunday; Jessica Hausner’s Hotel plays on Friday, as does a Frank Tashlin / Jerry Lewis double-bill of Hollywood or Bust and The Geisha Boy; The Bridges of Madison County and Lenny Cooke play on Saturday, while One Hand Don’t Clap shows Sunday; Red Rock West plays Saturday and Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

Films by Jean-Luc Godard and more play in Afterimage.

Museum of Modern Art

The essential work of Ernie Gehr plays in a new retrospective.

Film Forum

The Japanese horror series continues with Ugetsu, Throne of Blood, Audition, Godzilla, and more; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang plays on 35mm this Sunday.

IFC Center

The End of Evangelion plays this Sunday; The Big Lebowski, Fight Club, Under the Silver Lake, and The Shining play late.

The post NYC Weekend Watch: House of Tolerance on 35mm...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of snubbed performances brings the Wharton double-bill The Age of Innocence and Terence Davies’ criminally underseen The House of Mirth; World on a Wire and Thx 1138 screen on Saturday; the Stop Making Sense restoration plays throughout this weekend.

Film Forum

A retrospective of Japanese horror begins with Onibaba, Audition, Ugetsu and more; the Marx Brothers’ Horse Feathers plays this Sunday.

Bam

Films by John Carpenter, Brian De Palma, Oliver Stone, Tony Scott and more play this weekend in “The Paranoid Style.”

Roxy Cinema

The Girlfriend Experience and Cape Fear play on 35mm this weekend.

Anthology Film Archives

The General plays on Saturday.

IFC Center

A Brian Yuzna retrospective is underway; Starship Troopers and The Shining play late.

The post NYC Weekend Watch: Edith Wharton, Japanese Horror, Paranoid Cinema & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

Based on Ueda Akinari's tales “The House in the Thicket” and “The Lust of the White Serpent”, “Ugetsu” is set in Japan's civil war torn Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600) and is probably Kenji Mizoguchi's most celebrated work, and a definitive part of the Golden Age of Japanese films. The movie was restored in 2016 by The Film Foundation and Kadokawa Corporation, in the version we watched in Thessaloniki.

“Ugetsu Monogatari“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival

On the shores of Lake Biwa in the Omi Province, Genjuro, husband of Miyagi and father of an infant son, has his first break with selling his pottery in Nagahama, making a small fortune in the process. His brother-in-law, Tobei, is eager to become a samurai, and during the same trip is utterly disgraced, eventually agreeing to help Genjuro with his pottery instead of chasing his crazy dreams. Right before the next batch is made,...

A lot of articles exist on the internet listing the movies Martin Scorsese considers to be the best films of all time, but he’s not actually in favor of such rankings. Speaking to Time magazine for a video interview (see below), the “Taxi Driver” and “The Departed” icon said he is generally against top 10 best lists.

“I’ve tried to make lists over the years of films I personally feel are my favorites, whatever that means,” Scorsese said. “And then you find out that the word ‘favorite’ has different levels: Films that have impressed you the most, as opposed to films you just like to keep watching, as opposed to those you keep watching and learning from, or experiencing anew. So, they’re varied. And I’m always sort of against ’10 best’ lists.”

Scorsese gathered his favorite films into a list as recently as last December, when he participated...

The 80th annual Venice Film Festival launches on the Lido on August 30. This edition features a slew of Oscar hopefuls including Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Yorgas Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” and Michael Mann’s “Ferrari.” They’re all vying for the top prize, the Golden Lion.

Seventy years ago, there were four now-classics in competition: William Wyler’s “Roman Holiday,” for which Audrey Hepburn would win Oscar, John Huston’s “Moulin Rouge,” Samuel Fuller’s “Pickup on South Street” and Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful,” which had recently picked up five Oscars. But the Golden Lion didn’t roar at the 14th edition of the international film festival.

The jury headed by future Nobel Prize laureate in literature Eugenio Montale just couldn’t decide on the best of the fest because according to the New York Times “the quality...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.REMEMBRANCERyuichi Sakamoto: Coda.Ryuichi Sakamoto died last week at the age of 71. He was the keyboardist for Yellow Magic Orchestra, who revolutionized techno in the early ’80s, and later became a pioneering composer for film—notably Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which he stars. It is impossible to sum up his impact in a bullet point, but we offer up a few finds: below, a clip from the 1985 film Tokyo Melody, in which Sakamoto shows us how to compose on the then-state-of-the-art Fairlight Cmi. Here, a 2018 New York Times piece about his quest to create the ideal background playlist for a beloved restaurant. “If I was an architect, I would be a bad one,...

While we’ve known the results of Jeanne Dielman Tops Sight and Sound‘s 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time List”>Sight & Sound’s once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll for a few months now, the recent release of the individual ballots has given data-crunching cinephiles a new opportunity to dive deeper. We have Letterboxd lists detailing all 4,400+ films that received at least one vote and another expanding the directors poll, spreadsheets calculating every entry, and now a list ranking how many votes individual directors received for their films.

Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.

Check out the list below,...

Legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa is best known for his epic historical pieces like "Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon," but the most fun he ever had on a film set wasn't even his own. Before he became a globally acclaimed director, Kurosawa worked as an assistant director on Japanese productions like the 1941 film "Horse." Thanks to director Kajirō Yamamoto's hands-off approach, the film has quite a bit of Kurosawa's influence.

Despite being credited as an assistant director, Kurosawa would often be put in charge of entire scenes on the set of "Uma," translated as "Horse" or "Horses." It might sound a little bit exploitative, but the young filmmaker saw Yamamoto's trust as an honor, an opportunity for him to learn.

"In order to give us experience with directing actors, Yama-san often had assistant directors take charge of second-unit shooting," he recalled in his memoir Something Like An Autobiography. "Sometimes he...

After her first two features as a director, “Love Letter” and “The Moon Has Risen”, actress Kinuyo Tanaka, best known for her roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” and “Life of Oharu”, would continue her exploration of femininity, especially within focus of the Japanese society and tje traditional concepts of sexuality and marriage. Based on the life and works of Japanese poetess Fumiko Nakajo, “The Forever Woman” or “The Eternal Breasts”, which it was also called, would cement her status as someone with talents before and behind the camera. While Tanaka is mostly known for being an actress, current retrospectives focusing on her directing career shed some light onto this aspect of her life, showing a person well aware of the contradictions within the traditions of her home country, while also following paths which might constitute some kind of escape from these ideas.

“Forever a Woman” is screening at the...

Martin Scorsese’s nonprofit The Film Foundation is officially launching a free virtual screening room to showcase film restorations. The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room, which will showcase both foundation restorations as well as those from partners, will launch on Monday, May 9, with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1945 romantic comedy “I Know Where I’m Going!” starring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey. The restoration was overseen by The Film Foundation and BFI National Archive, in association with ITV and Park Circus.

The film and subsequent titles will be available for a 24-hour window and will feature introductions and conversations with filmmakers and archivists, providing an inside look at the restoration process. The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room will offer “appointment viewing,” with screenings starting at a set time and available for a limited period, which is unlike other classic streaming options.

The restoration of “I Know Where I’m Going,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

IFC Center

A Gaspar Noé retrospective is underway; the new restorations of Inland Empire and Mississippi Masala continue; Eraserhead, The Crow, Re-Animator, and Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane have late-night showings.

Roxy Cinema

Ugetsu and Altered States screen on 35mm this weekend.

Film Forum

A new Nights of Cabiria restoration has started, while the Sidney Poitier retrospective includes films by Ford, Kubrick, and Hitchcock.

Metrograph

A retrospective of nonfiction filmmaker Lionel Rogosin is underway, while novelist Gary Indiana has a selection running down.

Anthology Film Archives

Almost never screened, the films of Friedl Kubelka vom Gröller are given a series, while Laurel & Hardy plays alongside Sunrise in Essential Cinema.

The post NYC Weekend Watch: Gaspar Noé, Ugetsu, Sergeant Rutledge & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

Kinuyo Tanaka on the set of The Moon Has Risen (1955) Directed between 1953 and 1962, six newly restored features by Kinuyo Tanaka are the subject of a historic retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Tanaka was already a preeminent actress of international renown when she turned to directing, a decision that made her Japan’s second female filmmaker and the only woman making pictures during the nation’s postwar era. Tanaka’s relationship with major studios ensured that her directorial works would be mainstream productions with high-profile talent and skilled crews. As Irene González-López and Michael Smith state in Tanaka Kinuyo: Nation, Stardom and Female Subjectivity, the first English-language book on Tanaka: “Only a few others, including the actress Ida Lupino (1918–95) in America and Jacqueline Audry (1908–77) in France, worked in commercial cinema.” The retrospective, however, calls for a reappraisal of her filmmaking career as much more than the sum of these important but gendered accomplishments,...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

30 Years of The Film Foundation

Equally impressive as his towering career is Martin Scorsese’s dedication to restoring previously lost classics and championing underseen gems with The Film Foundation. Now celebrating 30 years, they’ve been given the spotlight on The Criterion Channel, featuring a wealth of highlights as well as a conversation between Scorsese and Ari Aster. The lineup of essentials includes The Broken Butterfly (1919), Trouble in Paradise (1932), It Happened One Night (1934), L’Atalante (1934), The Long Voyage Home (1940) The Chase (1946), The Red Shoes (1948), The River (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Bigamist (1953), Ugetsu (1953), Senso (1954), The Big Country (1958), Shadows (1959), The Cloud-Capped Star (1960), Primary (1960), The Connection (1961), Salvatore Giuliano (1962), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Once Upon a Time in the West...

by Cláudio Alves

Last time we talked about Japanese cinema, we were looking at the history of the Best Costume Design Oscar. Among the five pictures from Japan nominated for that awards, we find Ugetsu, the only Kenji Mizoguchi film to ever receive any sort of recognition by the Academy. Considering some of the director's best films are currently available online thanks to platforms like the Criterion Channel, Kanopy, and HBO Max, it seems like a good time to highlight more of his cinematic mastery. After all, there's much greatness in Mizoguchi's exquisite cinema beyond the sartorial splendor of Ugetsu…...

When director Guillermo Del Toro asks for quarantine entertainment recommendations, his famous friends sure don’t disappoint.

Del Toro took to Twitter Monday for help in passing the time during the pandemic. “What are you reading, what are you watching, what are you listening to, and how many days have you been indoors?,” Del Toro posted Monday morning.

Del Toro added that he has “been indoors for over a month… self-imposed. I have gone out only for primary needs: food, supplies, etc., and I have been mostly rewatching and re-reading.”

Among the content Del Toro said he was revisiting were several films by director Mitchell Leisen, including “Death Takes a Holiday” and “Easy Living.” For literature, Del Toro said he’s re-reading “The Devils of Loudon,” a thriller by dystopian author Aldous Huxley, calling it “incredibly pertinent to what we are going through and how autonomy can be destroyed in times of crisis.

Already the sixth entry in the series in three years (and the first of four in 1964), one would wonder if “Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold” would have anything new to offer to the series but right from the credits at the very start, director Kazuo Ikehara has a resounding “hell yes, it does” for you!

On his way back from paying his respects at the grave of a man he regrets killing in a fight from a previous chapter, Zatoichi meets the villagers of the deceased’s village Itakura who are in the midst of a celebration. They are rejoicing the fact that after a long period of hardships, they have finally been able to gather the one thousand ryo to pay their taxes to the local magistrate. However, on the way to the magistrate, the entourage with the chest containing the tax money is pounced upon by three samurais,...

Kelly Reichardt’s signature minimalism permeates “First Cow,” a good-natured friendship tale — enmeshed with a subtle critique of capitalism — set in the mid-19th-century Oregon Territory. Based on Jonathan Raymond’s novel “The Half-Life,” the adaptation follows John Magaro’s recluse chef Cookie and Orion Lee’s immigrant runaway King Lu, two dreamers who launch a mischievously lucrative business, frying up biscuits made with milk stolen from the region’s first cow, owned by a wealthy Englishman.

Reichardt entrusted prior collaborators Dp Christopher Blauvelt and costume designer April Napier, to help deliver the film’s look. They drew inspiration from Reichardt’s references, such as “Ugetsu,” Kenji Mizoguchi’s mystery-drama about wartime profiteers, and “The Apu Trilogy,” Satyajit Ray’s coming-of-age classics.

The film shot in cold and wet terrain, but Blauvelt was well-equipped for the elements, having shot Reichardt’s other Pacific Northwest-based pictures, “Certain Women,” “Night Moves” and “Meek’s Cutoff.

With early films like Ugetsu and Kwaidan, the state of modern Japanese horror was foreshadowed decades ago. By that, horror in Japan was set out to scare through tales that revere the past. This is why so many of the genre's films have to do with ghosts and folklore.

Related: The 10 Best Asian Horror Movies

Culturally speaking, what scares the average Japanese person might not be the same thing that frightens a Western viewer. Regardless, fear is universal. And through the lens of Japanese culture, we can better understand what unnerves its citizens. Taking all this information into account, there are Japanese horror movies that will leave everyone terrified.

Updated on August 10th, 2020: The scariest in J-horror cannot be limited to only ten movies, though, so an additional five have been added to this creepy collection of terror tales from Japan.

With early films like Ugetsu and Kwaidan, the state of modern Japanese horror was foreshadowed decades ago. By that, horror in Japan was set out to scare through tales that revere the past. This is why so many of the genre's films have to do with ghosts and folklore.

Related: The 10 Best Asian Horror Movies

Culturally speaking, what scares the average Japanese person might not be the same thing that frightens a Western viewer. Regardless, fear is universal. And through the lens of Japanese culture, we can better understand what unnerves its citizens. Taking all this information into account, here are ten Japanese horror movies that will terrify you.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe late Machiko Kyo in Cannes, c. 1960.Machiko Kyo, the star of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu, and Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, has passed away at the age of 95. Recommended VIEWINGThe 2nd trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which expands further upon the film's storytelling ambitions, comic tone, and inspired casting. Janus Films has released the trailer for its new restoration of Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston's seminal 1990 documentary on New York City drag ball culture. Ahead of its June 21 release, the final trailer for Toy Story 4 promises road trip adventures and, as per usual, some existential mayhem regarding what it means to be a child's toy. Exclusive clips by way of Cannes, each depicting intimate encounters. Abel Ferrara's Tommaso follows an...

“The golden age of Japanese cinema would not have been the same without visionary cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa, as the Criterion Channel’s now-streaming retrospective attests. Miyagawa, who over the course of his fifty-year career shot more than 130 films, brought his painterly eye to many of his country’s halcyon works of the 1950s, helping filmmakers such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, and Kon Ichikawa express their respective sensibilities on-screen.

One of Miyagawa’s biggest fans—John Bailey, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and an acclaimed cinematographer in his own right—pays tribute to the astonishing range and adaptability of his talent. Here, Bailey compares the “revolutionary” photography of Kurosawa’s kinetic, high-contrast Rashomon with Miyagawa’s more muted and dreamlike approach to Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu, nodding finally to some of the Ichikawa films that took the cinematographer into more expressionist and technologically sophisticated territory.

Machiko Kyo, an actress who starred in some of the most internationally acclaimed Japanese films of the postwar era, died in Tokyo on Sunday at age 95, her former studio Toho announced Tuesday. The cause of death was heart failure.

Born in Osaka in 1924 as Motoko Yano, she joined the Osaka Shochiku Girls Opera in 1936 and, using the stage name Machiko Kyo, the Daiei studio in 1949. Though viewed by studio boss Masaichi Nagata as a Japanese answer to the voluptuous Hollywood sirens of the era, she first came to attention of the world as the sexually assaulted wife of a murdered samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). The winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, the film brought not only Kyo and Kurosawa but also Japanese cinema to the attention of the West.

Kyo followed up with starring roles in Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell...

Stars: Masayuki Mori, Eitaro Ozawa, Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Machiko Kyō | Written by Matsutarō Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda | Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi was one part of the Holy Trinity of directors – alongside Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu – spearheading the Golden Age of Japanese cinema in the 1950s. Released in 1953, Ugetsu is based on the book by Ueda Akinari, written in the 18th century (one of two known works by the author). Mizoguchi states upfront that he’s “refreshing the fantasies” of Akinari, which is a nice way of putting it.

The story opens in the village of Nakanogō in Omi Province, sometime in the 16th century. Genjūrō (Masayuki Mori) and Tōbei (Eitaro Ozawa) are best pals. Genjūrō is a potter; Tōbei is a clutz who dreams of being a samurai. One day the village is attacked by soldiers. Genjūrō and Tōbei flee with their wives, Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka) and...

A Story From Chikamatsu is one of Japanese master Kenji Mizoguchi's more well-known films, along with Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff, and The Life of Oharu. This 1954 film also goes by The Crucified Lovers here in North America, which refers to an early scene in the film, in which adulterers are tied up on horses and paraded through town in shame on the way to their execution. Yes, they are crucified. Seems a little extreme of a punishment for the crime, but this is ancient Japan and there was a strict code of ethics to uphold, no matter how dubiously one could twist the "facts" or the "law." That means that certain citizens were either above the law or a lot higher up on the ladder when...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

BAMcinématek is hosting a 10-film series exploring Japanese art and folklore post World War II called Ghosts and Monsters: Postwar Japanese Horror starting this Friday, October 26th through November 1st. Also in today's Highlights: Dermot Mulroney joins the cast of Trick and an interview with Ted Welch and Chris Blake from All Light Will End.

Ghosts and Monsters: Postwar Japanese Horror Screening Details: "From Friday, October 26 through Thursday, November 1, BAMcinématek presents Ghosts and Monsters: Postwar Japanese Horror, a series of 10 films showcasing two strands of Japanese horror films that developed after World War II: kaiju monster movies and beautifully stylized ghost stories from Japanese folklore.

The series includes three classic kaiju films by director Ishirô Honda, beginning with the granddaddy of all nuclear warfare anxiety films, the original Godzilla (1954—Oct 26). The kaiju creature features continue with Mothra (1961—Oct 27), a psychedelic tale of a gigantic prehistoric and long dormant moth larvae...

A few months ago, the Crypt of Curiosities briefly touched on a subgenre of Japanese cinema called Kaidan. For the unaware, modern Kaidan are ghost stories, usually set in the Edo period and drawing on classic mythology and folklore. It was a very popular genre for ’50s and ’60s Japanese cinema to draw on, with standouts like Ugetsu (1953), Black Cat Mansion (1958), and Kwaidan (1964) helping define the movement as one of the great types of J-Horror. But when it comes to the ultimate in Kaidan, one director’s body of work stands out among the rest: the Kaidan of Kaneto Shindo.

Kaneto Shindo was a legend. Over the course of the hundred years he was with us, he worked as a screenwriter on everything from war films to disaster movies to Zatoichi entries, and served as the director for avant-garde classics like The Naked Island (1960). His filmography spans all sorts of genres and movements,...

It’s a given that their Main Slate — the fresh, the recently buzzed-about, the mysterious, the anticipated — will be the New York Film Festival’s primary point of attraction for both media coverage and ticket sales. But while a rather fine lineup is, to these eyes, deserving of such treatment, the festival’s latest Revivals section — i.e. “important works from renowned filmmakers that have been digitally remastered, restored, and preserved with the assistance of generous partners,” per their press release — is in a whole other class, one titanic name after another granted a representation that these particular works have so long lacked.

The list speaks for itself, even (or especially) if you’re more likely to recognize a director than title. Included therein are films by Andrei Tarkovsky (The Sacrifice), Hou Hsiao-hsien (Daughter of the Nile, a personal favorite), Pedro Costa (Casa de Lava; trailer here), Jean-Luc Godard (the rarely seen,...

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This August will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Tuesday, August 1

Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train

Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.

Ugetsu

Blu-ray

Criterion

1953 / B&W / 1:33 / Street Date June 6, 2017

Starring: Mitsuko Mito, Masayuki Mori, Kikue Mouri, Sakae Ozawa, Kinuyo Tanaka

Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa

Film Editor: Mitsuzô Miyata

Written by Matsutarô Kawaguchi, Yoshikata Yoda

Produced by Masaichi Nagata

Music: Fumio Hayasaka, Tamekichi Mochizuki, Ichirô Saitô

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

In 1941 Orson Welles was busy giving the film industry a hot foot with Citizen Kane, a bullet-train of a movie whose rhythms sprang from the ever accelerating hustle and bustle of contemporary American life. That same year one of Japan’s greatest filmmakers, Kenji Mizoguchi, was taking his sweet time with a four hour samurai epic set 240 years in the past, The 47 Ronin.

The story of a band of loyal soldiers seeking revenge on a corrupt landowner, The 47 Ronin plays out in a precisely measured, ceremonial style, its 241 minutes leading up to the moment when the fierce band of brothers...

Anytime I watch Mizoguchi’s work…really any of it, but especially from this later period of his career – which includes The Crucified Lovers, Sansho the Bailiff, The Life of Oharu, and The Woman in the Rumor – I really am put face to face with how relatively little we gladly settle for in much of the rest of cinema. It’s not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with all those other movies. Many of them I value a good deal more than I do Mizoguchi. But in Mizoguchi, as one often does in Bergman, you’re granted a rare combination of imagination, audacity, and mastery that few films even attempt and very, very, very few manage to pull off. You can too often pick apart some tonal shift, some acting choice, some extraneous scene or shot or just something that doesn’t fit. In Mizoguchi’s best work, everything fits.

A cornerstone of Japanese cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1953 masterpiece Ugetsu at last receives an updated transfer from the Criterion collection.

Continue reading...

Above: Unused poster design for The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, S. Korea, 2017); designer: Empire Design.It’s been a while since I did one of these round-ups of the most popular posts on Movie Poster of the Day—since the beginning of the year, in fact—but in that time one poster has been liked and reblogged more than 2,800 times, making it the second most popular design I’ve ever posted on the blog. The comp design for Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, which I featured as part of my interview with Empire Design’s John Calvert back in March, is a deserving fan favorite: an exquisite and beautifully realized concept that was shelved only in favor of something even more perfect.The rest of the Top 20 features the usual eclectic mix of old and new (there are six posters for new films in the list, and two new designs for...

Summer 2017 is shaping up to be quite the exciting season for The Criterion Collection. In May, the library will welcome cult favorite “Ghost World” and recent Palme d’or winner “Dheepan,” while June finds Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu,” Hitchcock’s silent classic “The Lodger” and Sam Peckinpah’s controversial “Straw Dogs” joining the club. Criterion has now added its July 2017 additions to their summer slate, and they include movies from auteurs like Tarkovsky, Rossellini and Bresson. Below is the complete list of July additions, with descriptions provided by Criterion.

Read More: The Criterion Collection Announces June Titles: ‘The Marseille Trilogy, ‘They Live by Night,’ ‘The Lodger’ and More

“Stalker” (1979) – Available July 18

Andrei Tarkovsky’s final Soviet feature is a metaphysical journey through an enigmatic postapocalyptic landscape, and a rarefied cinematic experience like no other. A hired guide—the Stalker—leads a writer and a scientist into the heart of the Zone,...

Marcel Pagnols’ Marseille Trilogy, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog” and Nicholas Ray’s “They Live by Night” are among the new titles joining the Criterion Collection this June. In addition, Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” and Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” are being upgraded in new Blu-ray editions. More information below.

Read More: The Criterion Collection Announces May Titles: ‘Ghost World,’ ‘Dheepan,’ ‘Jeanne Dielman’ and More

“Ugetsu”

“Having refined his craft in the silent era, Kenji Mizoguchi was an elder statesman of Japanese cinema-fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other younger directors-by the time he made ‘Ugetsu.’ And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and...

It’s mid-month, which means it is time for the next line-up for The Criterion Collection. Arriving in June is Sam Pekcinpah‘s controversial Dustin Hoffman-led thriller Straw Dogs, Alfred Hitchcock‘s early silent film The Lodger (which also includes his film from the same year of 1927, Downhill), and perhaps the most substantial release of the month, Marcel Pagnol’s The Marseille Trilogy, featuring Marius, Fanny, and César.

Also in the line-up is is Nicholas Ray‘s directorial debut, the 1948 drama They Live by Night, as well as a Blu-ray upgrade of Kenji Mizoguchi‘s landmark classic Ugetsu, which recently enjoyed a 4K theatrical restoration. Check out all the details on the releases below by clicking the box art.

Above: German re-release poster for Ugetsu (Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan, 1953); designed by Hans Hillmann.Universally regarded as one of the most beautiful films ever made, Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu, a.k.a. Ugetsu Monogatari a.k.a. Tales of the Pale and Mysterious Moon after the Rain, is being re-released in a 4K restoration at New York’s Film Forum starting today. An unquestionable masterpiece, Ugetsu might yet be in need of a boost in reputation. In 1962, nine years after its release, it was voted the 4th greatest film ever made in the decennial Sight & Sound poll. By 1972 it had slipped to number 10 and ten years later it was out of the top 10 altogether. In 2002 (the next poll I can find records for) it was at number 34 and in the most recent poll in 2012—despite a gorgeous Criterion DVD box set release in the interim—it had fallen to number 50. For...

While “La La Land” remains the obvious favorite in the cinematography race — thanks to Linus Sandgren’s sumptuous imagery — there are four other great movies in contention (“Arrival,” “Lion,” “Moonlight,” and “Silence”). So it’s entirely possible that one of the Best-Picture Oscar contenders (“Arrival,” “Lion,” or “Moonlight”) could pull off an upset.

Read More: How ‘La La Land’ Cinematographer Linus Sandgren Taught His Cameras to Dance

We’ll get a better gauge for how this plays out at the Asc Awards on Saturday. In the last 20 years, the Asc winner has earned the Oscar 11 times — and this year the same five are in contention for the fifth time in the last three decades.

“La La Land”

If Damien Chazelle’s rapturous love letter to the Hollywood musical is primed for Best Picture glory, then logic dictates that Sandgren’s acclaimed work should be honored as well. New to the musical,...

Street of Shame is a beautiful drama film that follows the daily lives of five prostitutes situated in Yoshiwara, Tokyo’s red light district, during the mid-1950s. The American occupation has ended and the majority of the Japanese population is still struggling to get by after the destructive Second World War that ended over a decade ago. For the sex-workers times have become extra challenging as the Diet is considering to ban prostitution, which would mean losing their income. But for some it would also mean a way out of the life they are stuck in.

Street of Shame is the last film of legendary Japanese filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi, director of timeless classics like Ugetsu (1953) and The Life of Oharu (1952). He died a few months after the film was released, leaving his audience with a strong motion picture as a closure to a prolific career. The film was a...

Nature played a major role in “Silence,” the movie about the crisis of faith stemming from the persecution of Christians in 17th century Japan, from director Martin Scorsese.

He and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto shot on 35mm film (except for more complicated night scenes) and used the unpredictable weather to their advantage.

““We both agreed immediately that ‘Silence’ needed to be on film [shot in Taiwan with the Arricam Lt] and, from my perspective, it’s because of color depth,” Prieto told IndieWire. “And this is a movie that’s very much about nature and these priests in Japan surrounded by the foliage. And a big part of the movie is how that sounds, how that feels, the presence or absence of God in this natural environment.”

Also, because so much of “Silence” is about hiding, there were many discussions about incorporating the theme into the overall aesthetic, which alternates between warm and harsh.

“A lot of the hiding was nighttime,...

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor is joined by Scott Nye to discuss Eclipse Series 13: Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women.

About the films:

Over the course of a three-decade, more than eighty film career, master cineaste Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff) would return again and again to one abiding theme: the plight of women in Japanese society. In these four lacerating works of social consciousness—two prewar (Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion), two postwar (Women of the Night, Street of Shame)—Mizoguchi introduces an array of compelling female protagonists, crushed or resilient, who are forced by their conditions and culture into compromising positions. With Mizoguchi’s visual daring and eloquence, these films are as...

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David is joined by Scott Nye to discuss Eclipse Series 13: Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women. (Trevor was unable to join in this discussion, but will be back for Part 2 of this series.)

About the films:

Over the course of a three-decade, more than eighty film career, master cineaste Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff) would return again and again to one abiding theme: the plight of women in Japanese society. In these four lacerating works of social consciousness—two prewar (Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion), two postwar (Women of the Night, Street of Shame)—Mizoguchi introduces an array of compelling female protagonists, crushed or resilient, who are forced by their conditions and culture into compromising positions.

By Daniel Walber.

What makes a film theatrical? It’s a word that gets bandied about a lot. Often it just means that the script is like that of a play, with a limited number of locations and lots of dialogue. Or it can be used to describe a style of acting, playing to the rafters rather than the more intimate audience of the camera lens. Rarely, however, do we use the word “theatrical” to describe elements of direction, cinematography and editing.

Yet this underserved implication of the term is the key to understanding The Story of The Last Chrysanthemum, an early triumph of iconic Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi that has just been released by the Criterion Collection. This epic family drama was a proving ground of sorts for the filmmaker’s signature use of long takes, which would elevate such later masterpieces as Ugetsu and The Life of Oharu.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the lineup for the Revivals section, taking place during the 54th New York Film Festival (Nyff). The Revivals section showcases masterpieces from renowned filmmakers whose diverse and eclectic works have been digitally remastered, restored, and preserved with the assistance of generous partners.

Read More: Ava DuVernay’s Netflix Documentary ‘The 13th’ Will Open 54th New York Film Festival

Some of the films in the lineup include plenty of Nyff debuts returning once again: Gillo Pontecorvo’s “The Battle of Algiers,” which was the the Nyff Opening Night selection in 1967, Robert Bresson’s “L’argent,” and Barbara Kopple’s “Harlan County USA.” Also included are a program of Jacques Rivette’s early short films, Edward Yang’s second feature “Taipei Story,” Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu,” and Marlon Brando’s solo directorial effort “One-Eyed Jacks.”

The Nyff previously announced three of the films screening...

As much as we’re excited for the already enticing line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival, their Revivals slate is always a place where one can discover a number of classics or revisit favorite films. This year is no different as they have newly restored films from Robert Bresson, Edward Yang, Jacques Rivette, Marlon Brando, Kenji Mizoguchi, and more. Check out the line-up below and return for our coverage this fall. If you don’t live in New York City, there’s a good chance a number of these restorations will travel in the coming months (or year) as well as get the home video treatment.

L’argent

Directed by Robert Bresson

1983, France, 83m

Robert Bresson’s final film, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s story The Forged Coupon, is simultaneously bleak and luminous, and sharp enough to cut diamonds. The story of a counterfeit bill’s passage from hand...

The Asian Cinema 100 list was released last year at the Biff (Busan International Film Festival), which marked its 20th anniversary with a poll of prominent Asian filmmakers and international critics of Asian film, who were all asked for their top ten of all time.

Japan accounted for 26 films on the list, followed by Iran (19) and Korea (15).

The oldest film chosen was Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But (1932), ranked 48th of all time. And the top animated film to make the cut was Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2001), joint 18th.

The top 5 Japanese films are listed below in rank order.

1. Tokyo Story (1953), #1

Routinely hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Tokyo Story is Yasujiro Ozu‘s restrained masterpiece of an ordinary family life, chronicling human behavior in ordinary situations.

It opens with the putt-putt sound of a boat and the wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys of...

Section to include world premiere of Bertrand Tavernier doc; a cinema masterclass with William Friedkin and a tribute to documentary giants Raymond Depardon and Frederick Wiseman.

Bertrand Tavernier’s documentary about French cinema Voyage à Travers le Cinéma Français will receive a world premiere at the Cannes Classic section of the Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22).

The revered French filmmaker has described his latest work as an expression of “gratitude to all the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians that have appeared suddenly in my life.”

Voyage à Travers le Cinéma Français is a Little Bear-Gaumont-Pathé co-production and was made in participation with Canal+, Cine+ and the Sacem, with the support of Région Ile-de-France and Cnc. Gaumont will handle international sales and Pathé have distribution in France. The film will be released in theaters in October 2016.

As in previous years, Cannes Classic will also feature nine documentaries about cinema and restored prints of 20 international classics including rare gems...