Hidden
| Karas: The Prophecy | Tsukamoto's
Haze | Viridiana | Crumb
Special Edition | Harlan County
USA | Tickets
Hidden
[Caché] in May [20 March 2006]
I
still vividly remember the state of shock the audience
was in at a key point in Michael Haneke's brilliant
Funny Games, with an entire cinema
stunned into complete silence - even the fidgety
media students shut up and stared at the screen,
their jaws dropped. It happened again a couple of
weeks ago. the film? Hidden [Caché].
The director? You've guessed it, Michael Haneke.
If you haven't managed to catch it at the cinema,
and it's worth doing so for that collective gasp
of shock, then fear not, as Artificial Eye are soon
to release the film on region 2 DVD to freak you
out in the comfort of your living room. The anamorphic
widescreen transfer and 5.1 sound are to be joined
by the following extra features:
- 'Making
of' documentary;
- Interview
with director Michael Haneke;
- Theatrical
trailer;
- Filmographies.
Release
date is set for 22 may 2006 at the retail price
of £19.99.
Karas:
The Prophecy in April [13 March 2006]
I'm
always intrigued by a title that I cannot find out
much about, and Karas: The Prophecy
certainly fits that particular profile. Described
by its creators as "Batman with a samurai sword"
and "a cyberpunk version of The Crow,"
Karas combines 2D and 3D CGI animation
(already used to impressive effect in Ghost
in the Shell 2: Innocence), has a full
orchestral score performed by the Prague Philharmonic
Orchestra and apparently has artwork
to die for. As for the plot, well I'll let the publicity
people handle that:
|
The
setting is modern day Tokyo, where humans,
spirits, ghostly apparitions and demons
- both seen and unseen - co-exist in two
overlapping dimensions. For time immemorial
the balance and order between the two dimensions
has been maintained by a guardian known
as the Karas, a raven-like creature, and
its masters. But now that balance is under
threat from a former Karas named Eko. Disgusted
by human arrogance, Eko has turned his back
on the ancient laws he helped uphold for
so long and is determined to seize power
and bring order to the city's streets through
force by leading a group of mechanized demons
in an attack against the humans. Standing
against Eko is Yurine, a spiritual entity
who represents the will of the people, accompanied
by a newly risen Karas of her own.
Meanwhile,
a detective named Kure, who works at the
police division in charge of demon-related
incidents, opens a case involving a series
of bizarre murders that appear to be the
work of a water demon. It is the first evidence
of events that will eventually lead to an
ageless battle, one that will stretch across
both dimensions, killing humans and spirits
alike. It will prove to be a conflict in
which humanity's only hope will lie with
the Karas. |
The
film is set for a 2-disc special edition release
from Manga on 24 April 2006, though this does appear
to be typical of Manga's recent releases in that
the second disc contains not extra features, but
the main feature with a DTS soundtrack. There are
some features on disc 1, namely Japanese voice actor
interviews, sound effects featurette, behind the
scenes montage, concept animation comparison, original
Japanese trailers and TV spots. Retail price is
set at £19.99.
Follow
the links below to check out short clips from the
show - this will be updated with new clips weekly:
Tsukamoto's
Haze in April [11 March 2006]
 |
With
our review of Shinya Tsukamoto's Vital
a tad delayed (we will get to it in the next few
days, honest!), the news that his next film, Haze,
is set for a 24 April release on region 2 should
be the kick up the backside we need, and provide
something for us to get excited about all over again.
After the restraint of Vital, this
sounds like Tsukamoto in full experimental mode,
the tale of a man who wakes up in a tiny concrete,
maze-like room with no memory of how he got there
and no way to escape. On top of that he has a stomach
injury that means he is slowly bleeding to death,
but as he holds on to memories from his past and
begins exploring his prison, he makes some startling
discoveries. Oh baby... As so often with Tsukamoto,
it is not only written and directed by him, but
he also edits, photographs, art directs and stars
in it. Of note here is that this is not strictly
a feature length film, running only 49 minutes,
having been expanded from a 25 minute festival short.
The
second release from new label Terra, whose aim is
to release "World Cinema with attitude."
whatever that means, they certainly have some interesting
and primarily Japanese titles lined up, with Yûchi
Onuma's The Suicide Manual: Intermediate
Level (Jisatsu Manyuara 2: Chuukyuu-hen)
for 20 March, Hiroki Yamaguchi's Hellavator
(Gusha no Bindume) for 22 May,
Takashi Komatsu's Persona (Kamen
Gakuen) for 19 June, Katsuya Matsumura's
much discussed Kirei - The Terror of Beauty
for 24 July and Yukihiko Tsutsumi's Keizoku:
Unsolved Case for 21 August.
Haze
is out on 24 April at the retail price of £15.99.
No news on any extras, picture or sound as yet.
Viridiana
in May [5 March 2006]
We
love Luis Buñuel here, and thankfully so
do the fine people at Criterion, and their next
Buñuel release is one of the director's finest,
the 1961, Palm D'Or winning Viridiana,
a wonderfully anti-clerical free-for-all that banned
in Spain and denounced by the Vatican. Well I didn't
already love the film, that alone would have me
first in the queue to see it. Criterion have worked
their usual magic on the film, producing a new high
definition, cleaned-up 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer
and Dolby mono soundtrack, plus the following extras:
- New
video interview with lead actress Silvia Pinal;
- New
video interview with Cineaste editor and author
Richard Porton;
- A
new essay by author and film historian Michael
Wood;
- Original
U.S. release trailer;
And,
we are assured, more. Anyway, the release date is
set for, well, some time in May, exact date yet
to be confirmed, and the retail price is $29.95.
Crumb
Special Edition on region 1 in April [4
March 2006]
Let's
not faff around - Terry Zwigoff's Crumb
is one of the great documentaries of the modern
age. A portrait of notorious comic book artist Robert
Crumb, a huge talent who nonetheless continues to
court controversy through work that has been attack
for being racist and misogynistic. Part of the brilliance
of Zwyhoff's film as that he never shies away from
this, and yet connects us completely to the man
and gets us sloser than perhaps we'd prefer to his
sadly dysfunctional immediate family. As the main
thrust of this site is to promote this very sort
of film to an audience who may never have caught
it we had planned a review of the region 2 release
some time ago, but the picture quality is so shocking
that we'd be pushing the film but then advising
you not to buy it.
Well
hopefully all that will be sorted with the upcoming
region 1 Special Edition from Sony, which features
a hopefully new 1.33:1 transfer, a stero soundtrack,
a commentary by Zwigoff and critic Robger Ebert,
and what the press release is calling a 'sneak peek'
(what is sneaky about it?) at Zwigoff's new film,
Art School Confidential, which
has already clocked up a few negative reviews. Anyway,
the disk is set for a 25 April release at the peculiar
but rather cheap retail price of $19.94.
Harlan
County USA in May [27 February 2006]
One
of the finest latter day Cinéma Vérité
works, Barbara Kopple's 1976 documentary Harlan
County USA followed a thirteen month Kentucky
miners' strike as the miners battle with strikebreakers
and the local police, as well as the mining company's
hired thugs. It's a compelling, heartbreaking and
occasionally frightening work (the night-time sequence
in which Kopple herself has a gun pointed at her
will stay with you long after the film is over)
that is long overdue for a decent DVD release, and
so the news that that it is to be released by none
other than Criterion is damned good news. A new,
restored high definition 1.78:1 transfer, supervised
by Kopple herself, is supported by the following
features:
- Audio
commentary by Kopple and editor Nancy Baker;
- The
Making of “Harlan County, USA,” a
new documentary featuring interviews with Kopple,
crew members and strike participants featured
in the film;
- New
video interview with legendary bluegrass singer-songwriter
Hazel Dickens;
- Never-before-seen
outtakes from the film;
- New
video interview with director John Sayles;
- A
panel discussion from 2005 Sundance featuring
Kopple and Roger Ebert;
- New
essays by film scholar Paul Arthur and music journalist
Jon Weisberger;
- Original
theatrical trailer.
Release
date is set for 23 May at the retail price of $39.95.
Tickets
in April [23 February 2006]
Three
stories based around a single train journey from
Austria to Rome are at the centre of Tickets,
a fascinating meeting of three fine European directors.
Italian director Ermanno Olmi has an ageing biochemist
daydreaming about a beautiful woman who has helped
him, Iranian maestro Abbas Kiarostami introduces
us to an overbearing middle-aged woman who treats
everyone she encounters with disrespect, while our
own Ken Loach follows three young Celtic fans on
their way to a Champions League match. Despite the
competion, it's Loach that steals the show, with
the utterly engaging final story.
Artificial
Eye are to release the film on region 2 DVD with
a widescreen transfer (aspect ratio and anamorphic
status to be confirmed) and a 5.1 soundtrack, and
the following special features:
- Theatrical
trailer;
- Behind
the scenes footage;
- Director
and cast interviews;
- Production
notes;
- Filmographies.
Release
date is set for 24 April 2006 at the retail price
of £19.99.
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