Ikiru ( UK region 2 ) (1 Viewer)

[Sean Campbell]

I just watched the BFI edition of Ikiru, an excellent Kurosawa flick that was long overdue for release. The disc was no great shakes though. There was a lot of dirt and scratches on the print and a high degree of hiss on the soundtrack. The movie should really have been given a complete remaster. Does anyone have the Japanese region 2 ( sans subtitles sadly )? I'd be interested in hearing if that edition uses a remastered print.
I also picked up the BFI edition of Red Beard. No problems with that one - excellent picture and sound quality.

 

[Richard Waller]

Here's what CD Japan says about the 2003 Kurosawa DVD releases: "Under the supervision of the highly acclaimed cinematographer Takao Saito (who worked on many Kurosawa films including Sanjuro, Red Beard, Dodes'ka-den, Kagemusha, Ran, and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams), master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's films have been restored and remastered for the DVD to offer the highest audio and video quality possible today."

It's too bad these weren't released with English subtitles like many other Japanese movies are. I'd buy them all and go broke doing it. :b