BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#26 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:41 am

Yes. There needs to be some sort of miraculous breakthrough on the rights ownership imbroglio. Yez, there was once a UK videotape release of City of Sadness (as I recall, possibly pan and scan-ish -- but not as dreadful as the US Puppetmaster).

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rapta
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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#27 Post by rapta » Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:52 pm

zedz wrote:
Michael Kerpan wrote:Now if only someone could rescue City of Sadness and Puppet Master...
MoC's trailer does cite the former ("from the director of The Assassin and City of Sadness"), and to me it seems really weird to try and sell something on the basis of a film hardly anybody has been able to see. So you can either interpret that as a hint that it might be forthcoming or as traditional MoC perversity ("from the coiners of Carnies' Twilight").
I get the feeling that when they say "from the director of", they then just mention a couple their favourites - or in the case of something like The Assassin, the director's most recent and/or high-profile output.

In the blurb for the listing of this release they also mention Three Times, Flight of the Red Balloon, Millennium Mambo and Goodbye South, Goodbye. However, I reckon if they have any others in the works it'll either be The Boys from Fengkuei (from WCP) or the Coming of Age Trilogy (already on Blu-ray elsewhere, e.g. Japan). I would obviously be delighted if they were to announce any more Hou whatsoever, or even some Yang or Tsai for that matter.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#28 Post by whaleallright » Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:12 pm

My impression is that the trouble with City of Sadness is not as intractable as the trouble with The Puppetmaster. I don't know if it's been subject to a full "restoration," but the Taiwanese cultural office gifted newly-struct prints of the former to a handful of American universities a few years ago, and it's had a sizable number of public screenings since. As has been discussed elsewhere on this forum, there is only one English-subtitled print of The Puppetmaster, and it was struck back in the 1990s. The only way this print could play as part of the touring Hou retro two years ago was if it was advertised as a lecture (with the film essentially an "accompaniment"), and only when organizer Richard Suchenski was present. The original elements for The Puppetmaster are held by Hou's company, but they are not in the best of conditions, and nothing can be done with them—not a restoration, not new prints, not a video release—until rights issues are cleared up.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#29 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:51 pm

At the Harvard Film Archive, City of Sadness could also be shown only as a "lecture" (and for no charge whatsoever) -- not sure that Richard Suchenski had to be there, however.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#30 Post by zedz » Thu Mar 16, 2017 11:20 pm

I don't know exactly how it works, but there's some well-established rights exception regarding filmmakers presenting their own work in the context of a lecture or other presentation. For decades, A Poem Is a Naked Person could only be publicly screened in the presence of Les Blank, and I know there have been screenings of Superstar personally presented by Todd Haynes, even though the film remains as banned as banned can be. I don't know how this relates to screenings of these two films without Hou in attendance, but it sounds to me like it's an application of the same legal loophole.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#31 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:11 am

pre-ordered since they one at amazon.co.uk...

is there some hope of Millenium Mambo and Three Times ? [-o<
I can't believe that (as far as I can tell) these 2 movies are not available on blu-ray... and I've searched every country... and I thought that with The Assassin there was some hope of more Shu Qi :oops: :oops: :oops: with HHH on blu-ray....

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#32 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:53 am

Michael Kerpan wrote:At the Harvard Film Archive, City of Sadness could also be shown only as a "lecture" (and for no charge whatsoever) -- not sure that Richard Suchenski had to be there, however.
The American Cinematheque charged admission, but it was technically for the introduction and book signing with Berenice Reynaud, not for the film itself. Yale and some other venues simply didn't charge at all, nor did UCLA when they screened the film in 2013 (unconnected to the retrospective). And both this film and The Puppetmaster were free when Hou's two theaters in Taipei held their own retrospective of his work in 2015, so it seems whatever issue at work here isn't purely a question of international rights.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#33 Post by yoshimori » Fri Mar 17, 2017 2:24 am

The beautiful Japanese DVD of City of Sadness is apparently still available. Not free, but you don't have to listen to a lecture or buy the Reynaud book to watch it. Adding English subs wasn't too difficult.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#34 Post by Tim » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:44 am

Forgive my ignorance, but is there an easy explanation of how to add English subs that you could offer. I've never attempted it.

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andyli
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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#35 Post by andyli » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:51 am

I believe you have to use a DVD drive and a software like VLC to play the disc. Then load an external .srt subtitle file into VLC via its menu.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#36 Post by TMDaines » Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:16 pm

Yes, but VLC has never been particularly good at it. MPC with XySubFilter is best for watching actual discs with fan subs.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#37 Post by jsteffe » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:52 pm

yoshimori wrote:The beautiful Japanese DVD of City of Sadness is apparently still available. Not free, but you don't have to listen to a lecture or buy the Reynaud book to watch it. Adding English subs wasn't too difficult.
Is this a new transfer compared to the older Japanese DVD? I'm curious because I have the older Japanese DVD which is very good, but arguably could be improved upon today.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#38 Post by yoshimori » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:03 am

The cover is different, but I believe it's the same transfer.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#39 Post by lzx » Sat May 27, 2017 10:41 pm


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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#40 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Sun May 28, 2017 1:09 am

captures at DVDbeaver look gorgeous (I've already seen the trailer and restoration trailer)
do you think they also have the rights for Millenium Mambo (to release it on blu-ray) ??? :oops: [-o<

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#41 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sun May 28, 2017 1:06 pm

The long-ago French DVD of Millennium Mambo looked (to me) pretty gorgeous -- not sure if other releases were as good as this or not... (the only really great looking release of a Hou film at the point it first came out).

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#42 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Sun May 28, 2017 10:46 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:The long-ago French DVD of Millennium Mambo looked (to me) pretty gorgeous -- not sure if other releases were as good as this or not... (the only really great looking release of a Hou film at the point it first came out).
still looks great (the Ocean/TF1 French DVD (which I had bought - and stil have of course) on a full HD Sony Bravia - not too many artefacts when upscaled like it can happen with other DVDs) - apparently this was considered as the best transfer (the DVD) because while looking desperately for an HDTV transfer of Millenium Mambo (who knows?) each time I saw a rip or DVD repacked, 'they' used the French DVD as a source...

That said, I really like Shu Qi/HHH on blu-ray (ok, we have Assassin), but Millenium Mambo and Three Times... :oops:

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#43 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:55 pm

Now that Daughter of the Nile is finally available on home video, perhaps this hitherto largely overlooked HHH film will begin to get its due. It prefigures the later Millennium Mambo with its central focus on a young female character and its urban setting. The film looks great on Blu-Ray on our TV, but not nearly so nice on DVD on my computer (it often looks almost like a different transfer). I always liked DotN, and I like it even more now that it looks so good. HHH's keen color sensibility really comes across (on BD at least). It is interesting seeing Jack Kao in his first movie role -- and always a treat to see "the puppeteer" playing a grandfather in a HHH film. Tony Rayns interview is rambling, but covers useful information. Only other extra is the original trailer (which looks more like I saw in the past).

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#44 Post by whaleallright » Sun Jul 16, 2017 2:34 pm

This might be the most beautiful-looking Blu-Ray I've ever seen. The exterior shots of nighttime Taipei are especially stunning. Obviously most of that is due to Hou and his cinematographer, but the transfer/encode is certainly due praise.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#45 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sun Jul 16, 2017 2:38 pm

Yes, I was shocked at just how good this looked (though I would note the French Millennium Mambo DVD looked pretty spectacular when it came out -- but I haven't compared it to the look of this new release). ;-)

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#46 Post by M Sanderson » Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:40 pm

whaleallright wrote:This might be the most beautiful-looking Blu-Ray I've ever seen. The exterior shots of nighttime Taipei are especially stunning. Obviously most of that is due to Hou and his cinematographer, but the transfer/encode is certainly due praise.
yes, a case of great cinematography and great Blu ray

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#47 Post by Drucker » Sat Oct 28, 2017 9:28 pm

Anyone else notice the distorted audio throughout the film? Blu-ray.com briefly mentions it, but it's very noticeable. If it's natural distortion that's baked into the materials, I understand, but just trying to make sure. The second scene at KFC, in particular, is very distorted with a weird echo when the whole group of people is laughing.

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#48 Post by jdj » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:36 am

I just watched this and thought it was excellent. It was my first Hou Hsiao-hsien, and almost on-par with the Yang I've seen. I was surprised, however, that in both of the writings in the booklet, Hou is intensely critical of it, almost to the point that he seems flat out embarrassed that he made it. Is this level of self-criticism common from him, or does he just have a special hatred for this film specifically?

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#49 Post by dda1996a » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:47 am

I can't really say much as I've only seen The Assassin, but this film like his early films was produced by a music record company and the lead actress was one of their singers, it is set in present times and isn't political like the surrounding films he made at the time is I believe the reasons for his despondency

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Re: BD 165 Daughter of the Nile

#50 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:46 am

I get a sense that HHH IS pretty self-critical overall, but don't know any details as to his self-criticism towards Daughter of the Nile.

FWIW DotN's closest analog in later HHH's later work is Millennium Mambo (my sentimental favorite).

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