Jia Zhangke

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#26 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:09 pm

senseabove wrote:
Tue Jan 29, 2019 5:12 pm
Since this popped up, might as well mention for the West Coasters that Jia will be introducing/Q+Aing a few screenings the weekend of Feb. 8th in the parallel retrospectives at Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and SFMOMA that run for the first three weeks of February:
https://bampfa.org/program/rhythms-life-jia-zhangke
https://www.sfmoma.org/event/series/mod ... a-zhangke/
Whoa... the program for the SFMOMA series lists Janus as the licensor for Xiao Wu, Platform, Unknown Pleasures, and The World. Looks like Still Life has a new U.S. distributor too (Big World Pictures, probably best known for releasing the digital resto of Rebels of the Neon God). Also, Kino Lorber is listed as the source for I Wish I Knew, which has so far gone unreleased in the U.S.

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jguitar
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#27 Post by jguitar » Fri Feb 08, 2019 3:25 pm

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:09 pm
Whoa... the program for the SFMOMA series lists Janus as the licensor for Xiao Wu, Platform, Unknown Pleasures, and The World. Looks like Still Life has a new U.S. distributor too (Big World Pictures, probably best known for releasing the digital resto of Rebels of the Neon God). Also, Kino Lorber is listed as the source for I Wish I Knew, which has so far gone unreleased in the U.S.
Also whoa: Street Angel is screening from a DCP.

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#28 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:59 am

I Wish I Knew seems to be the full uncut version which has never been released on home video. The Hong Kong Blu-ray is shortened by eight minutes to appease the Chinese censors. UCLA Film and Television did a pretty extensive series on Jia Zhangke a few months ago, but it's nice to see a full retrospective like this. Also, if Criterion owns Platform, will they release the alternate cut Metrograph played not too long ago?

JonoQ
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#29 Post by JonoQ » Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:08 pm

I Wish I Knew is also listed as screening from a DCP provided by Kino Lorber. Does that suggest that a US theatrical or home video release might be coming?

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kuzine
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#30 Post by kuzine » Fri Jan 24, 2020 4:28 pm

Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang (Walter Salles) currently streaming for free at Le Cinema Club (for one week)

Stefan Andersson
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#31 Post by Stefan Andersson » Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:36 am

Jia Zhangke on making Xiao Wu; FB post on the occasion of the film´s Berlinale showing:
https://www.facebook.com/BerlinaleForum ... 2227013427

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#32 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:26 am

I’ve seen every Jia film released so far except I Wish I Knew as I’ve been patiently waiting to see the full version. I know that Kino finally has released it on Blu-ray, but can anyone confirm it’s indeed the 119 minute Hong Kong cut? If this is the case, I find it tremendously disappointing that the original Cannes version remains unreleased. What specific political information was cut by the Chinese censors?

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#33 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:50 am

Jia said he recut the film after Cannes to make it flow faster, not on account of censorship. The rumor at the time was that the interview with Han Han had to be cut because of some unrelated remarks he had recently made, but Han Han is still in the short version doing his usual Han Han thing.

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Aunt Peg
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#34 Post by Aunt Peg » Mon Jun 29, 2020 5:38 am

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:
Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:26 am
I’ve seen every Jia film released so far except I Wish I Knew as I’ve been patiently waiting to see the full version. I know that Kino finally has released it on Blu-ray, but can anyone confirm it’s indeed the 119 minute Hong Kong cut? If this is the case, I find it tremendously disappointing that the original Cannes version remains unreleased. What specific political information was cut by the Chinese censors?
Kino Lorber's site states 119 minutes if that helps.

I'm pretty sure I have the Hong Kong Blu Ray so I'll have to fish it out. If not I'll order the Kino Lorber edition.

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Aunt Peg
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#35 Post by Aunt Peg » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:48 am

I 'fished out' my Asian copy of I Wish I Knew and it states a running time of 116 minutes. I think the disc is from HK but it could be from China itself.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#36 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:04 pm

If it's a Blu-ray then it's from the mainland, the HK release was DVD-only. I don't know if it was ever reissued in different packaging, but my copy is in a hardbound book with a flimsy spindle that doesn't keep the disc in place (and also the pages were all stuck together, not that there's anything on them of much interest). Curious if this edition is actually a different cut from whatever Kino put out or if it's down to different logos, rounding, 24fps vs. 25, or some combination of those things.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#37 Post by FrauBlucher » Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:15 pm


cowboydan
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#38 Post by cowboydan » Sat Dec 10, 2022 3:37 pm

Xiao Wu is on the Criterion Channel. It looks HD to me
Perhaps it's the 4k restoration? I can't imagine it looking much better. Does anyone know if it is the restoration or an older transfer?

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Matt
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Jia Zhangke

#39 Post by Matt » Sat Dec 10, 2022 11:54 pm

It’s the restoration as it’s part of the Channel’s The Film Foundation showcase. It’s been up for a while, over a year I think.

cowboydan
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#40 Post by cowboydan » Sun Dec 11, 2022 2:54 pm

Wonderful. I'm excited to finally watch it.

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ryannichols7
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#41 Post by ryannichols7 » Sun Dec 11, 2022 10:45 pm

last...October I think it was, they had all of Jia's fiction films up to Mountains May Depart on there in a series called China Lost and Found: The Films of Jia Zhangke (which would be an amazing boxset title..). Xiao Wu, Platform, Unknown Pleasures, and The World are all controlled by Janus now, with everything else following controlled by various parties, with various disc releases. Xiao Wu's restoration looks fantastic but I have good faith Criterion's aim was to release a boxset of the Janus titles. the issue is that it was reported by a few Chinese cinephiles (who follow Jia on Weibo) that he was working with Criterion on a new restoration of Platform, which was aimed to be shown in China before being released elsewhere. you can obviously imagine the hurdles that has caused...

The World is my favorite Jia and it definitely needs a restoration too, the OOP MOC disc definitely shows its age now. I don't think much can be done with Unknown Pleasures unfortunately, as lovely of a film as I think it is. who knows when we'll get to see any of this - I think Criterion aimed to make their mainland Chinese splash with Jia, who is a pretty obvious entry point, but obviously the last few years has made that a challenge. luckily they've kept the Hong Kong films coming (and Flowers of Shanghai as Taiwan's one recent representative) but there's so much to explore with the Fifth and Sixth generation directors, not to mention something like Spring in a Small Town which got plenty of Sight and Sound attention. but I'm getting way off topic - I really hope Jia is able to get his work restored and released in the west.

cowboydan
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#42 Post by cowboydan » Mon Dec 12, 2022 6:52 am

I have been hoping for a boxset. I've been holding out on watching Platform because I'd like to watch the restoration for my first viewing.

If I'm not mistaken, both Unknown Pleasures and The World were both shot on video / HDCAM, so there wouldn't be much that could be done as far as a restoration.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#43 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Dec 12, 2022 3:25 pm

Unknown Pleasures was shot mostly on a Sony PD150 (the same camera used for Inland Empire), The World on the CineAlta F900 (Russian Ark, Dogville, Star Wars Episode II, et al.). Unknown Pleasures could surely look better if it were remastered from the DVCAM source instead of the 35mm film-out used for the existing video transfers. If I'm not mistaken MOC's The World was already sourced from a digital HD master, so I don't think there's much to be done there. The Xiao Wu restoration is leagues above what's been available before, which was clearly an analog tape master, but I wish the color signature weren't so obviously Ritrovata's.

Jia has incidentally been keeping himself busy lately by hosting talk shows: one (Do Not Answer) a collaboration with Liu Cixin with Jia in a (frankly miscast) role as the director of a "Future Research Institute" the other a more conventional chat show with Jia interviewing cultural figures from outside the film world. He constantly wears sunglasses in both, not as some kind of WKW shtick but on account of a recent eye operation. He also worked with Wei Shujun on a recent Louis Vuitton menswear show, because why not.

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swo17
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#44 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 12, 2022 3:37 pm

MoC's The World could technically be improved upon by presenting it at 25 fps

cowboydan
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#45 Post by cowboydan » Mon Dec 12, 2022 6:42 pm

Thanks for the insights. I love how members here never fail to impress me with in-depth knowledge. Fanciful Norwegian, do you know that info from interviews, books, or a certain database? I don't see these movies listed on ShotOnWhat

Also, it just occurred to me that the version of Unknown Pleasures that is currently available to watch is an SD transfer, so of course is can be improved upon. I just forgot.

A new release of The World is of course welcome since the MOC release is OOP. I bought a copy on Ebay back in 2019 and it wasn't cheap. So hopefully whoever releases it can present it at 25 fps. Fingers crossed, because Still Life was released by a small distributor and was presented at 29.97 fps when it was shot at a lower frame rate, likely 24 or 25 fps. Distributors, please do this man's films justice!

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Jia Zhangke

#46 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Dec 19, 2022 1:45 pm

cowboydan wrote:
Mon Dec 12, 2022 6:42 pm
Thanks for the insights. I love how members here never fail to impress me with in-depth knowledge. Fanciful Norwegian, do you know that info from interviews, books, or a certain database? I don't see these movies listed on ShotOnWhat
Jia wrote about his experience with the PD150 on Unknown Pleasures in the companion book that was published in China. The relevant section is here (in Chinese), in which he discusses the camera's limitations (poor color, especially in bright light; low depth of field; strong susceptibility to moiré artifacts). Jia has claimed elsewhere that Yu Lik-wai rejected the camera out of hand, so Jia told him they were shooting footage for rehearsals and location scouting, and by the time Yu caught on they were too deep into the film. As for The World I'm mostly going by memory from the film's original release, when the CineAlta was the hot thing going, but here's a recent source referring to it.
Fingers crossed, because Still Life was released by a small distributor and was presented at 29.97 fps when it was shot at a lower frame rate, likely 24 or 25 fps. Distributors, please do this man's films justice!
Still Life was shot at 50i/25fps (the camera used to make it had no 24p mode). You can't release a American Blu-ray at 50i/25fps—most BD players and HDTVs sold in the U.S. don't support it. The only way to preserve the 25fps playback speed is to convert to 29.97fps by blending or duplicating frames.

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