Akira Kurosawa 4k Restorations

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

From August Ragone's Facebook page:

"TOHO RELEASES 4K RESTORATIONS OF AKIRA KUROSAWA FILMS ON 4K UHD & BLU-RAY Recently, Toho Video announced separate 4K UHD and Blu-ray disc releases of their 4K restorations of their Kurosawa catalog. First up were STRAY DOG (1949) and IKIRU (1952), which were released this month and promptly sold out at Amazon Japan. April will see the release of YOJIMBO (1961) and SANJURO (1962), while dropping in May are HIGH & LOW (1963) and KAGEMUSHA (1980). Can't wait for SEVEN SAMURAI, THRONE OF BLOOD, and THE HIDDEN FORTRESS! Let's hope that Toho Video issues some of their Honda-Tsuburaya 4K restorations before the year is out, too.

(Note: The Blu-ray editions of these 4K restorations feature different package art.)"

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

I've been patiently waiting for years for the BFI to upgrade some of the crime films and other non-samurai titles to blu-ray.... maybe they've been patiently waiting in turn for these new restorations? Here's hoping.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Trailer and poster for the restored Seven Samurai.

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

Since these 4K restorations are finally escaping Japan, I hope the Mouse House (and Toho) let Criterion release Kagemusha on UHD.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Coming 10/21/24 from BFI.

Newly restored by Toho in 4K, the BFI is delighted to release this all-time classic on UHD for the first time. Available as a limited edition 2-disc set with a book, a set of four postcards and a double-sided poster.

Extras:

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Newly recorded audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Seven Samurai (2002, 50 mins)
The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013, 49 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns discusses Kurosawa’s career and influence
Original trailer
BFI rerelease trailer
Double-sided poster featuring artwork by Matt Needle and the BFI’s poster designed for the film’s rerelease
A set of four postcards featuring iconic scenes from the film
Perfect-bound book featuring new and archival writing on the film
Updated and improved English subtitles
Other extras TBC

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

Nice though I'm sure this is, I do wish the BFI could prioritise upgrading some of the other Kurosawa titles they hold the rights to - 'Stray Dog', 'High & Low', 'Red Beard' etc have still not progressed beyond DVD in the UK.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

Nice though I'm sure this is, I do wish the BFI could prioritise upgrading some of the other Kurosawa titles they hold the rights to - 'Stray Dog', 'High & Low', 'Red Beard' etc have still not progressed beyond DVD in the UK.

You do the big titles first to make the money to pay for the ones that won't sell as many copies. Business 101.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Full press release for the BFI UHD.

Released on Limited Edition UHD and Blu-ray on 18 November 2024 (2-disc sets) (previously listed as 21 October)

Their village raided every year by vicious bandits, a group of peasants hire seven masterless samurai to protect them. Initially met with suspicion, the warriors resolve to gain the trust of the villagers and prepare them to face their enemy. Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of the greatest films of all time, and has influenced the work of directors from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg while spawning remakes such as John Sturges’ acclaimed The Magnificent Seven. Endlessly copied but never surpassed, Seven Samurai is a truly timeless classic.

Released by the BFI on 18 November in Limited Edition UHD and Blu-ray presentations, each release contains identical special features including an audio commentary by Adrian Martin, Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Seven Samurai – from the Toho Masterworks series, My Life in Cinema (1993), a set of four postcards, an 80-page book and more.

The special features in the UHD set are presented on a Blu-ray disc. The Blu-ray discs are region B.

Special features:

UHD: Restored 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Blu-ray: Restored in 4K and presented in High Definition
Audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Seven Samurai (2002, 49 mins): part of the Toho Masterworks series featuring interviews with Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, writer Shinobu Hashimoto, actors Seiji Miyaguchi and Yoshio Tsuchiya, and others
Philip Kemp’s selected scenes commentary (1999, 20 mins): the film critic and writer analyses key scenes, recorded for the BFI’s 1999 DVD release
The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013, 49 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns on Kurosawa’s career and influence
My Life in Cinema (1993, 116 mins): Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima discuss Kurosawa’s life, career and legacy, filmed for the Directors Guild of Japan
Original theatrical trailer
Restoration trailer (2024)
Image gallery
Set of four postcards depicting iconic images from the film
80-page book with new essays by Tony Rayns, Cristina Álvarez López, Charlie Brigden and James-Masaki Ryan, plus writing by Philip Kemp and Jasper Sharp, and contemporary reviews by Gavin Lambert and director Tony Richardson

Product details – UHD

RRP: £34.99 / Cat. no. BFIB00010 / PG

Japan / 1954 / black and white / 207 mins / Japanese language with English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 // Disc 1: UHD100: 2160p, 23.98fps, DTS-HD MA 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) // Disc 2: BD50: 1080i, 29.97fps, LPCM 2.0 stereo audio (48kHz/16-bit)

[Alison Jane Girl Boss Jane Find all posts View Profile Close Alison Jane]

Coming 10/21/24 from BFI.

Newly restored by Toho in 4K, the BFI is delighted to release this all-time classic on UHD for the first time. Available as a limited edition 2-disc set with a book, a set of four postcards and a double-sided poster.

Extras:

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Newly recorded audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Seven Samurai (2002, 50 mins)
The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013, 49 mins): Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns discusses Kurosawa’s career and influence
Original trailer
BFI rerelease trailer
Double-sided poster featuring artwork by Matt Needle and the BFI’s poster designed for the film’s rerelease
A set of four postcards featuring iconic scenes from the film
Perfect-bound book featuring new and archival writing on the film
Updated and improved English subtitles
Other extras TBC

Happy to watch a second time!

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Two more coming from the BFI...

Coming 1/20/25.

HIGH AND LOW

Based on an Ed McBain novel, High and Low is a gripping police thriller starring Toshiro Mifune.

Wealthy industrialist Kingo Gondo (Mifune) faces an agonising choice when a ruthless kidnapper, aiming to snatch his young son, takes the chauffeur’s boy by mistake – but still demands the ransom, leaving Gondo facing ruin if he pays up.

An anatomy of the inequalities in modern Japanese society, High and Low is a complex film noir, where the intense police hunt for the kidnapper is accompanied by penetrating insight into the kidnapper’s state of mind. Kurosawa’s virtuoso direction provides no easy answers, and in short, the police and the criminal as equally brutal, but nonetheless human.

EXTRAS:

Presented in High Definition
Newly recorded audio commentary by Japanese film expert Jasper Sharp
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – High and Low (2002, 38 mins): the director discusses how High and Low came to exist, and how specific sequences were filmed. Also features interviews with actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa, Takeshi Kato, and Tatsuya Mihashi, as well as cameraman Takao Saito and Masaharu Ueda and script supervisor Teruyo Nogami
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with new essay on the film by Alex Barrett, archive essay by Philip Kemp and an original review from Monthly Film Bulletin

SKU 5035673015278
Catalogue Number BFIB1527
Product contents 1 disc
Year 1963
Director Akira Kurosawa
Format Blu-Ray
Publisher(s) BFI
Countries Japan
Colour Black & White
Subtitles English
Language(s) Japanese
Running time 149 mins
Blu-ray region B
Certificate 12
BFICID_ID 150053140



STRAY DOG

A masterful mix of film noir and police thriller set on the sweltering mean streets of occupied Tokyo.

When rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune) has his pistol stolen from his pocket while on a bus, his frantic attempts to track down the thief lead him to an illegal weapons market in the Tokyo underworld. But the gun has already passed from the pickpocket to a young gangster, and Murakami’s gun is identified as the weapon in the shooting of a woman. Murakami, overwhelmed with remorse, turns for help to his older and more experienced senior, Sato (a superb performance by Takashi Shimura). The race is on to find the shooter before he can strike again…

EXTRAS:

Presented in High Definition
Newly recorded interview with Japanese film expert Jasper Sharp
Newly recorded audio commentary by Kenta McGrath
Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – Stray Dog (2002, 32 mins)
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw, archive essay by Philip Kemp and original review

SKU 5035673015285
Catalogue Number BFIB1528
Product contents 1 disc
Year 1949
Director Akira Kurosawa
Format Blu-Ray
Publisher(s) BFI
Countries Japan
Colour Black & White
Subtitles English
Language(s) Japanese
Running time 122 mins
Blu-ray region B
Certificate PG
BFICID_ID 150035503

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Coming 3/17/25.

Yojimbo:

Like Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo was Akira Kurosawa’s tribute to the widescreen action Westerns of John Ford and was itself remade as a Western by Sergio Leone as A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Played by the great Toshiro Mifune, the film’s enigmatic samurai is a scruffy and itinerant warrior who wanders into a strange town and right into the middle of a war between two clans. Showing his skills with the sword within minutes of his arrival, he soon has the town’s rival factions competing for his services.

Kurosawa’s genius for storytelling combines with thrilling swordplay, a healthy dose of black humour, a soundtrack every bit as atmospheric and amusing as Ennio Morricone’s, and a towering performance from Mifune, to make Yojimbo an irresistible widescreen action adventure.

Sanjuro

In response to the huge critical and commercial success of Yojimbo, Kurosawa and Mifune re-teamed a year later to make Sanjuro, a hilarious comedy of manners altogether more light-hearted than its predecessor. The story has Sanjuro (Mifune) running lazy rings around nine naïve and clean-cut samurai and two genteel ladies, whilst also cleaning up a spot of corruption in local government.

Whilst Kurosawa plays most of it for laughs, expertly parodying the conventions of Japanese period action films, he stages a startling switch of mood with an intense finale which may well be the briefest, and most breathtaking duel in all cinema.

Limited edition 2-disc set, 2 x 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-rays presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Newly recorded interview with Jasper Sharp (2024)
Audio commentary on Yojimbo by film critic Philip Kemp
Introduction to Sanjuro by filmmaker Alex Cox (2003, 5 mins)
Interview with filmmaker Alex Cox (2003, 9 mins)
Original trailers for both films
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring new and archival essays on both films, original reviews and full film credits
Other extras TBC

SKU 5035673000113
Catalogue Number BFIU0011
Product contents 2 discs
Year 1961, 1962
Director Akira Kurosawa
Format 4K Ultra HD
Publisher(s) BFI
Countries Japan
Colour Black & White
Subtitles English
Language(s) Japanese
Running time 209 mins total
Blu-ray region B
Certificate 12
BFICID_ID 50057064 150045001

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

As per my earlier posts in this thread, very happy to finally see 'High and Low' and 'Stray Dog' arriving in HD, with some nice new extras too - will be a pleasure to pick these up at some point.

Meanwhile, I'll leave someone else to gripe about how they've not gone direct to UHD with them; the blus will do me just fine for the present.