Yume Pictures

Vinegar Syndrome, Deaf Crocodile, Imprint, Cinema Guild, and more.
Message
Author
Andrian Film Revival
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:07 am
Location: London

#51 Post by Andrian Film Revival » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:54 pm

Has anyone yet seen the Yume Madadayo? I am reluctant to buy it blindly based on the poor quality of the previous dvd editions?

Many thanks!

User avatar
bigP
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:59 am
Location: Reading, UK

#52 Post by bigP » Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:36 pm

Andrian Film Revival wrote:Has anyone yet seen the Yume Madadayo? I am reluctant to buy it blindly based on the poor quality of the previous dvd editions?
I'd avoid Yume's Madadayo like the plague. Based on comparisons made to screenshots of the other edition(s) posted on dvdbeaver, the Yume is marginally stronger in colour, but still remains very flat, very soft, suffers from heavy bouts of combing and ghosting and is clouded by a nasty green haze...oh and it's not in it's (IMDB stated) OAR either. It's a shame that this may be the best version of the film thats so far been put on to dvd (and i've even seen some positive reviews for the DVDs quality which i can't quite fathom...if i remember where, i'll post the reviews), although there is an R4 Madman Films dvd release that may possibly be a forerunner (although, their quality also depends, it would seem, on where they buy their prints for example; Madman's Kiarostami collection provided by MK2 is excellent, whilst their SNC purchased dvd of Pasolini's Medea is atrocious).

Personally, unless the need to see the film outweighs the cost of what will most likely be replaced in a year or two, i'd give this a miss. Hope i was of some help. If I can get my computer-illiterate A into G this weekend, I'll post some screen shots in the appropriate section of the forum.

Andrian Film Revival
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:07 am
Location: London

#53 Post by Andrian Film Revival » Thu Jun 12, 2008 4:29 am

That was pretty much what I was expecting, but thanks! Certainly will not be paying £20 for this!

User avatar
Fan-of-Kurosawa
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:48 am
Location: Athens, Greece

#54 Post by Fan-of-Kurosawa » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:40 am

I haven't seen the Yume disc of Madadayo but I've read at akirakurosawa.info that it has the same Winstar transfer minus the extras (storyboards).

However, I have the Madman R4 version. The transfer is certainly not exceptional (skin colour in particular is not very good. It is too "green-yellow".) but it appears better from the R1. At least this is what I can gather looking at the screenshots from the R1 at dvdbeaver.

Additionally, on the back it says that it is anamorphic but since I don't have a widescreen TV I can not confirm it.
By the way, it has no extras whatsoever. It only includes a trailer reel that shows other Madman releases.

User avatar
StevenJ0001
Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: Los Angeles

#55 Post by StevenJ0001 » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:51 am

I love Madadayo and am still waiting for the Weinstein Co. to produce their edition. I hope it's still coming one day--it was mentioned a long time back as being one of their planned releases.

User avatar
bigP
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:59 am
Location: Reading, UK

#56 Post by bigP » Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:05 pm

Lets hope the Weinstein's have the decency to leave the movie in it's original form. I'm having flashes of the Harvey's name replacing Kurosawa's in the directors seat, and finding the movie is down to 87 minutes with overdubs and a new score by The Edge.

However, saying that, I feel they would have respect enough to release a comparatively decent transfer of such an important film, and that they would be knowledgeable enough to know that they would face an angry mob at the slightest tampering of a Kurosawa masterpiece.

User avatar
StevenJ0001
Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: Los Angeles

#57 Post by StevenJ0001 » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:24 pm

Well, yes, I'm still smarting over various Weinstein movie-mutilations.

The Dragon Dynasty label seems to be treating its films the right way (just judging by the reviews I've read of Come Drink With Me.)

User avatar
jbeall
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
Location: Atlanta-ish

#58 Post by jbeall » Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:19 am

StevenJ0001 wrote:The Dragon Dynasty label seems to be treating its films the right way (just judging by the reviews I've read of Come Drink With Me.)
In terms of images and extras, certainly. In terms of subtitles, there are still issues. Three of the titles I own have noticeable typos in the subs, and Come Drink with Me has some awkward translations.

User avatar
StevenJ0001
Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: Los Angeles

#59 Post by StevenJ0001 » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:09 am

Oh good point, I did hear about the subtitle problems.

railroaded
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:40 am

#60 Post by railroaded » Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:06 am

The Oshima Collection announced:

User avatar
Don Lope de Aguirre
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:39 pm
Location: London

#61 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Tue Jun 17, 2008 5:46 pm

As well as this and this.

Judging by their previous Oshima releases it is best not to expect too much image wise. Night & Fog is all ready availabe from Raro of course...

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

#62 Post by Perkins Cobb » Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:50 pm

Sure would be nice if Yume got one right for a change. Pleasures of the Flesh is an incredibly rare movie; even if Criterion does do some Oshima soon, this seems a much less likely candidate than the first three features or Violence at Noon.

User avatar
Don Lope de Aguirre
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:39 pm
Location: London

#64 Post by Don Lope de Aguirre » Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:26 pm

Just got the Night and Fog in Japan in mail. And this is just another botched job from Yume. Its not even anamorphic. Letterboxed 2.35:1 badly converted ntsc to pal transfer with all its ugliness.
Welcome to the forum! There is an invaluable post from shirobamba on this very topic here.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#66 Post by MichaelB » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:48 pm

mistix wrote:Just got the Night and Fog in Japan in mail. And this is just another botched job from Yume. Its not even anamorphic. Letterboxed 2.35:1 badly converted ntsc to pal transfer with all its ugliness.
In this case the ugliness manifests itself as frame judder every second or so - bad enough in most circumstances, but an absolute disaster with a film whose mise en scène revolves around slow panning and tracking shots.

I found it borderline unwatchable, to be brutally honest.

User avatar
shirobamba
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:23 pm
Location: Germany

#67 Post by shirobamba » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:48 am

All of Yume's Oshima releases seem to be direct ports from RARO's "sub-optimal" releases. Screengrab comparisons in
this thread

User avatar
Fan-of-Kurosawa
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:48 am
Location: Athens, Greece

#68 Post by Fan-of-Kurosawa » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:22 pm

I just noticed on Amazon.co.uk that in October Yume is going to release a film called Fencing Master. On the cover it has Kurosawa's name. Obviously it is not a film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It must be a film written by Kurosawa.

So I searched the imdb and I found two films, one by Masahiro Makino from 1950 and another by Harumi Mizuho from 1962 with Raizo Ichikawa.

I wonder which one is Yume releasing. Or maybe it is something else completely.

User avatar
The Fanciful Norwegian
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
Location: Teegeeack

#69 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Sep 05, 2008 11:01 pm

The 1950 version was written by Kurosawa; it was remade in 1962, but Kurosawa had no direct involvement in that. Madman recently gave the remake an R4 release, so that's probably what Yume will put out as well. Not sure why they didn't put out the original, which Kurosawa actually wrote -- the two versions are owned by different studios, so rights considerations were likely involved.

bergelson
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 5:48 pm

#70 Post by bergelson » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:13 pm

Hi,

Has anyone seen Oshima's Pleasures of the Flesh? Is it poor (quality wise of course) as the other Yume's releases?

Thanks.

User avatar
shirobamba
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:23 pm
Location: Germany

#71 Post by shirobamba » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:55 pm

bergelson wrote:Has anyone seen Oshima's Pleasures of the Flesh? Is it poor (quality wise of course) as the other Yume's releases?
According to Sidehacker in the Oshima thread: yes!
As expected, Yume's release of Pleasures of the Flesh is rather awful. A level above a VHS, but that's it. The French DVD is much, much better.

User avatar
J Wilson
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:26 am
Contact:

#72 Post by J Wilson » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:00 am

For those interested in the handful of Yume releases that are decent, Amazon UK has most of Yume's catalog at 70% off right now.

railroaded
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:40 am

Re: Yume Pictures

#73 Post by railroaded » Sun Nov 16, 2008 2:58 am

Any idea where the Yume website went?

User avatar
John Edmond
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:35 pm

Re: Yume Pictures

#74 Post by John Edmond » Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:00 pm

Anybody feel like commenting on the quality of Yume's release of Nugroho's Opera Jawa? I've only come across reviews of the First Run's Release of Opera Jawa - reviews which are pretty damning. As a result I'm leaning towards Yume by default.

Post Reply