Takashi Ishii thread (A Night in Nude: Salvation etc.)

[logboy]

this is the 3 disc blu-ray set i am thinking of >

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flower-And-Sn ... 5d4418085e

can also see it listing on this japanese site >

http://joshinweb.jp/dp/4988101154227.html

think product code is BSTD 02249, sometimes with a dash between letters and numbers, instead of space.

[HungFist]

this is the 3 disc blu-ray set i am thinking of >

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Flower-And-Sn ... 5d4418085e

Something fishy here. The product code refers to the Japanese Toei BD of part 1 (Toei never released a triple pack, nor did any of their releases have subs). The ebay page shows a triple pack, but on the front cover it says Toei Video, and in the back cover again there is the Toei catalogue number of part 1 stand alone release. I think it's a mainland bootleg with all three films and photoshopped cover based on the Toei BD for part 1.

Edit: the seller has also been selling other bootlegs, such as this

can also see it listing on this japanese site >

http://joshinweb.jp/dp/4988101154227.html

That is the Toei BD. Not a triple pack.

[logboy]

well spotted.

in a way, a relief. still, i'd like to see what ishii did with the series. and i wish i'd picked up 'brutal hopelessness of love'.

[HungFist]

Now that Dolly Girlfriend is out on R2J, can anyone confirm if its still censored? The cinema version was full of fogging?

(yes, I know, I should just walk to the rental store and see for myself, but I don't feel like spending 200 yen on the information...)

[kemushi]

Now that Dolly Girlfriend is out on R2J, can anyone confirm if its still censored? The cinema version was full of fogging?

The DVD release is still full of fogging. I don't quite understand when and why they apply it. There are quite a few shots in which pubic hair is visible and is left unfogged in addition to all those scenes with fogging.

[HungFist]

Now that Dolly Girlfriend is out on R2J, can anyone confirm if its still censored? The cinema version was full of fogging?

The DVD release is still full of fogging. I don't quite understand when and why they apply it. There are quite a few shots in which pubic hair is visible and is left unfogged in addition to all those scenes with fogging.

Thanks. My understanding is that pubic hair is fine these days, but organs are not. She had trimmed too much to pass uncensored

Well, that's what I think at least. I might be wrong. It is confusing, though. In Shame I could swear Michael Fassbender passed the censorship in the opening scenes, but later he got fogged. The scene might have been dark enough to pass the censorhip, though. Hangover II supposedly has a dick in the closing credits, and it also passed uncensored in theaters, but it was actually reported to the police.

And then there's Yubari Fantastic Film Festival which either gets special treatment for being a film fest, or just doesn't give a fuck about the laws and screens The ABC's of Death uncensored

Also good to keep in mind that average Japanese movie viewer thinks fogging is a normal and natural as a falling head in a samurai movie. Filmmakers can opt to fog simply because the actor/actress didn't want to reveal too much although they wanted to give the "illusion" that the character is naked. For me it's absurd, but most Japanese people I've talked with see nothing strage about it

[kemushi]

I've watched the whole film now and I think the way it works is that pubic hair is fine if it is only shown as "nudity", by which I mean that there is no sexual activity. It seemed to me that if the girl walks around or dances or sits you get to see her pubic hair but as soon as there's some fingering or fucking the fogging comes in. I don't really mind fogging so long as it's as subtle as in DOLLY. There are certainly some films by Hisayasu Sato from the 80ies and 90ies where sometimes the entire screen consists of giant pixels slamming into each other.

[HungFist]

Hmmm... let me make sure we have seen the same version? There was no fogging during action scenes? I remember clearly that in the theatrical version there was plenty of fogging during action bits. For example when she jumps down the stairs outside the building...

[kemushi]

I remember clearly that in the theatrical version there was plenty of fogging during action bits. For example when she jumps down the stairs outside the building...

I checked that scene again and while I don't think there is fogging they seem to have added a bright light effect. You can still see the pubic hair but below it looks like a flashlight is shining out of her nether regions.

It kind of reminds me of those KEKKOU KAMEN movies. I assume you are right and that in those scenes you would have seen more than just pubic hair if they had not applied some "censorship". The same goes for those scenes where she is karate-kicking the yakuza.

By the way, I rather liked this film. It's profoundly silly but I appreciated that. Ishii is usually so deadly serious and gloomy and here, even amindst scenes of rape and necrophilia, his storytelling seemed playful and almost like he was... having fun? No idea how it will hold up on repeat viewings but the mere fact that I am considering repeat viewings already puts it above any of his last fours films.

[HungFist]

Thanks. It might have been the bright light that was used indeed - my memory good but short - but censorship anyway. So I suppose it's the same version as in cinemas then.

[HungFist]

Amai Muchi DVD and BD 2014/02/28





There' so many editions coming that I can't be bothered to figure out what is what... Standard DVD Theatrical Cut, 2 Disc DVD Box Set Long Version, Standard BD Theatrical Cut, 3 Disc Amazon Exclusise BD Box Set Long Version... maybe something more too. I suppose there should be a 2 Disc BD Long Version but I can't find it so far... maybe just not listed yet.

The theatrical cut is listed at 118 min, while the Long Version is stated to be 143 min...

Also listed for the same day is A Night in Nude new BD and DVD releases, as well as box sets in both formats with the sequel, Salvation. Amazon is listing a running time of 156 min, but this is almost certainly a mistake or includes extras.



Then one moth later, 2014/03/28, there's gonna be Black Angel BD and DVD box sets with the two films. Unfortunately no single releases listed. While I think the first film is pretty average, the second is one of the Ishii's best films and one of the best crime films of the late 90's in general.



The new artworks are nowhere near as good as the original dvd-releases...

[HungFist]

Amai muchi Amazon exclusive BD has pretty nice artwork

[kemushi]

The new artworks are nowhere near as good as the original dvd-releases...

If this flyer (which came with my copy of the "director's long version" of SWEET WHIP) is to be trusted, the ugly keepcases at least come housed in a pretty cardboard box with Takashi Ishii artwork.

[HungFist]

Oh, that's pretty nice.

How was Sweet Whip?

[HungFist]

Takashi Ishii directing new "Gonin" sequel
- http://eigapedia.com/blog/takashi-ishii ... nin-sequel

"Filming of "Gonin Saga" began in Yokohama on June 1 and will wrap by the end of the month. The film is being jointly distributed by Kadokawa and Pony Canyon and will be released nation-wide in Japan sometime in 2015."

Haven't been so impressed with Ishii lately, but this at least sounds more interesting than another SM movie.

[Guro Taku]

How was Sweet Whip?

Hard to watch, to be honest. I've gotten weary of seeing people suffer on screen, especially when it's sexual violence. I still enjoy gore and over-the-top stuff but torture of any kind does not entertain me.

As for the extended scenes in the "director's long version", they are completely and utterly useless! Just extended masturbation fodder that messes with the film's pacing. Theatrical cut is definitely the way to go here.

(PS: I had to create a new account as I have tried unsuccessfully to log back into my old one (kemushi) for a few months now.)

Takashi Ishii directing new "Gonin" sequel
- http://eigapedia.com/blog/takashi-ishii ... nin-sequel

"Filming of "Gonin Saga" began in Yokohama on June 1 and will wrap by the end of the month. The film is being jointly distributed by Kadokawa and Pony Canyon and will be released nation-wide in Japan sometime in 2015."

Haven't been so impressed with Ishii lately, but this at least sounds more interesting than another SM movie.

I agree with you there. I rather doubt he can match GONIN or GONIN 2 but we'll see. The last time he made a late sequel to one of his classics (A NIGHT IN NUDE: SALVATION) he didn't even come close to matching the original. At this rate I'm curious if we'll soon see production start on BLACK ANGEL Vol. 3 or even an ANGEL GUTS reboot?

[HungFist]

Gonin Saga teaser:
https://youtu.be/-VqB8CwQaxQ

Opens in September

[Guro Taku]

Over at twitch they have some info regarding the plot of the film and it's also mentioned that (unlike GONIN 2) GONIN SAGA functions as a direct sequel to GONIN.

Reportedly written as a direct sequel to Gonin, the upcoming gangster epic focuses on Hisamatsu Yuto (played by talented young actor Higashide Masahiro), a son of one of the thugs killed in the first film, and his quest for revenge against the Gosei-kai, a fictional yakuza syndicate. The film was scripted by Ishii himself and also stars Kiritani Kenta, Tsuchiya Anna, Ando Masanobu, Nezu Jinpachi, Emote Tasuku and Takenaka Naoto.

The first 30-second teaser (...) includes scenes from the original picture and offers a glimpse of the cast. Featured caption reads as "19 years after Gonin a new legend begins."

Read more: http://twitchfilm.com/2015/04/check-out ... z3XeyNvzZ0

Also worth noting is that GONIN SAGA has been rated PG12:



For what it's worth, GONIN and GONIN 2 were both rated R15.

[HungFist]

I'm also a bit worried about the rating, though it's worth keeping in mind that pg-12 allows quite a bit of violence. Last year The Equalizer was pg-12 and that's not exactly a kids film (the UK version was cut in several places to avoid 18 rating). Classics likewise often get pg-12 these days... The Godfather: Part 2, Silence of the Lambs, Dirty Harry... all recently downgraded to pg-12. But I think it's safe to say there won't be any of that sex sleaze this time.

[Guro Taku]

19 years after Gonin a new legend begins.

I don't get this. According to JMDB and every other source I checked, the original GONIN was released on September 23rd 1995, meaning the September debut of GONIN SAGA will be exactly 20 years later. Do they mean 19 years after GONIN 2, which came out in June 1996?

But I think it's safe to say there won't be any of that sex sleaze this time.

Which is a bummer because the scene in the original GONIN in which Takeshi Kitano pretty much out of nowhere decides to fuck his assassin sidekick in the ass is what sold me on Japanese cinema.

[Guro Taku]

To the surprise of exactly nobody, GONIN and GONIN 2 are getting Blu-ray releases this September to coincide with the release of GONIN SAGA in theaters:

http://movie-news.jp/gonin-saga/2015/05/bluray.html

[HungFist]

Gonin Saga trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRA7063hGAc

This doesn't look too bad. Pretty juicy bloodshed for pg-12, too.

[HungFist]

So, I saw Gonin Saga yesterday.

Let's put it this way. You know you're in trouble when the first 20 minutes of your movie consists predominantly of flashbacks to the original movie, flashbacks to what happened between the original and new movie, and even a flashback to a scene you saw at the beginning of the new movie.

And even then, you'll still struggle to understand the movie. I remember Third Window Film's Adam Torel described the storyline as "incomprehensible" and even the official Vancouver Int. Film Fest catalogue entry notes "you may not follow the plot’s twists and turns".

Worse yet, the cast consists mostly of pretty boys whose beard probably hasn't started to grow yet and look about as convincing with a gun as a fashion model (but of course, some of them are!).

Then, something unexpected happens. We're halfway into the film and a dynamic robbery scene finally comes. They get the money, but assassins are sent after them. All of a sudden the film starts to work. The lack of charisma doesn't matter anymore because now it's desperate fight for survival. We also get real actors like Shun Sugata and Naota Takenaka whom we can believe are dangerous.

The film finally concludes with the most violent and best made gunplay scene in Japanese cinema since Battle Royale. No CGI, no fucking toy guns, no lame ass posing, just ultraviolent butchery, especially after one guy finds himself an Uzi.

So, yeah, I'm really torn with this film. The first 70 minutes sucks, the next 50 works, and the final 10 kicks ass.

As for the Japanese pg-12 rating, yeah, no sex and no nudity. But for violence, expect a 16 or 18 rating in most foreign countries, R in USA of course.

[Guro Taku]

Blu-ray and DVD releases of GONIN SAGA will become available in Japan on March 25th. The BD box set will be pretty massive, with 2 Blu-rays, 1 DVD and 1 CD.



The first BD will contain the by now expected "director's long version" of the film, the second BD will have the theatrical cut and interestingly enough it'll be this version that gets an audio commentary track! The DVD will contain the making of and assorted other extras and the CD will be the soundtrack.

It'll be expensive of course and I'm all sorts of bummed that it didn't get a Takashi Ishii drawn cover artwork like SWEET WHIP last year. The 5 minutes in Photoshop cover pictured above doesn't exactly inspire me to spend $100.

[HungFist]

Hah, and I though one movie ticket was too much to spend on Gonin Saga.

I guess with the mainstream appeal it's better to use some generic crap than a beautiful Ishii drawing.