Kurosawa's Ikiru from Criterion in 2003 (1 Viewer)

[oscar_merkx]

great news indeed
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/dvd-...002/10_16.html
from the same pages as the X-Men 1.5 dvd announcement page
Home Vision Entertainment, one of the leading distributors of foreign and classic films on DVD, announced at the 38th Chicago International Film Festival Critic's Choice on October 10th that they will be releasing Akira Kurosawa's classic Ikiru in 2003. Roger Ebert hosted a screening of the acclaimed drama at the festival, and remarked "I first saw Ikiru in 1960 or 1961... Over the years I have seen Ikiru every five years or so, and each time it has moved me, and made me think."
Criterion has not yet announced any definitive specs or a street date for the release, but based on their past Kurosawa DVD releases, this should be another winner. Watch this space in the coming weeks for more...

 

[Rich Malloy]

YES!!!

 

[SteveGon]

Oscar, ya beat me to it!
Can't wait for this one. Let's hope they get around to several other Kurosawa must-haves: Throne of Blood and Stray Dog.

 

[Lew Crippen]

 

[Mike Broadman]

I am so impressed with Criterion doing all these Kurusawa titles. I got my "Samurai gift set" in the mail and do plan on getting Rashomon and High & Low (I think that's all of them, right?)

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Super! And I second the motion to get Throne of Blood on Criterions to-do list.

Bruce

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

This is my favorite Kurosawa film and probably one of my five favorite films period. This is great news.

Regards,

 

[Jean-Michel]

Sigh. What the hell happened to Dodes'ka-den? They'd better be doing a fully restored special edition for as long as it's been delayed already.

 

[KevA]

To Mike: Please don't leave out Kurosawa's brilliant 1965 film Red Beard (my personal favorite), which was put out by Criterion a few months ago.

Kevin A.

 

[MikeM]

AWESOME!
This is my favorite Kurosawa film as well...can't wait!

 

[Mike Broadman]

KevA, thanks for the notice.

Sadly, I've only seen two of Kurusawa's films so far, Rashomon and Seven Samurai, but I enjoyed them so much that I am eager to own all of them. I only watched Seven Samurai because people make such a big deal about and didn't expect to like it that much. Rashomon was such a hugely different film yet equally enjoyable.

Didn't Kurusawa also do a samurai movie based on Macbeth? Is that on Criterion? That movie just has to be good: Kurusawa + Shakespeare.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Didn't Kurusawa also do a samurai movie based on Macbeth? Is that on Criterion?

That's Throne of Blood.
There are decent transfers of a few of Kurosawa's films from the British Film Insitute on R2. However, for the biggest selection of Kurosawa movies, you have to go to Japan/Hong Kong. If anyone is anxious to watch more of Kurosawa at a cheap price and isn't bothered about the last word in film quality (or in some cases subtitling excellence), then try this link. There are *lots* of titles, including a lot of his early and late stuff for which as far as I'm aware there are no release plans in R 1 or 2.

 

[KevA]

Mike:


Throne of Blood (Kurosawa's take on Macbeth) is expected to appear as a Criterion DVD at some point.

Please note that "Red Beard" is not a samurai film; rather it is an examination of quietly heroic humanitarianism in the face of great poverty and suffering.

Kevin A.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Didn't Kurusawa also do a samurai movie based on Macbeth? Is that on Criterion? That movie just has to be good: Kurusawa + Shakespeare.

Mike, I presume that you have seen Ran. If not, do so. It’s King Lear, with sons substituted for daughters.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Excellent! Considering my current Kurosawa "craze" it will be difficult to wait for this one!

 

[Nathan V]

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. My favorite Kurosawa film. I cannot wait. (In this case, that's not a figure of speech!)

Nathan

 

[Seth Paxton]

Good. I have Ikuru and Throne of Blood on R0 import based off a series of Japanese releases of almost all his work. Unfortunately the translations were done very cheap and are extremely difficult to follow at times.
Ikuru is one of his top 5 films easily. I'd put it in with Rashomon, 7 Sam, Yojimbo, and High and Low.
But before anyone talks about the mediocre (by Kurosawa standards) Throne of Blood, I think Dreams would be a more important release from Criterion.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

Welcome news, indeed. I recently purchased the R0 HK version of Ikiru, but I just might hold off for the Criterion release.

I had such a time with the R0 Rashomon that I should have waited 3 years for the Criterion disc to come out. Alas, patience is hardly a virtue.

I would also like to see some of Kurosawa's earliest works to come out, especially Stray Dogs and The Bad Sleep Well.

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

But before anyone talks about the mediocre (by Kurosawa standards) Throne of Blood, I think Dreams would be a more important release from Criterion

Throne of Blood -- mediocre?!?!?!?!?!!
Go to your room. NOW!!

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Great, now if I can watch it I can actually put the film on my docket of things to buy.