Released in August is the long awaited Blu-ray edition of Ikiru (1952). This marks the first time Akira Kurosawa’s intensely lyrical and moving masterpiece has been available on Blu-ray in the UK. Centred on an incredible central performance from Takashi Shimura as a civil service bureaucrat who reappraises his life after a cancer diagnosis
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Throughout the 1930s, director Michael Powell honed his craft on a succession of modestly budgeted feature films produced under the UK’s screen ‘quota’ system. Many of these titles remain lost, but those which survive reveal a burgeoning talent. Our new 2-disc collection released in September, Michael Powell: Early Works, brings together five of those early films directed by Powell, newly remastered by the BFI National Archive, including murder mysteries, sensational thrillers and a comedy caper.
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Also released in September is the 49th release in our Flipside collection, The Outcasts, a previously unavailable Irish folk horror written and directed by the writer of The Blood on Satan’s Claw. Robert Wynne-Simmons’ film is set in an isolated rural community in pre-famine Ireland when poverty and magic were rife. Once billed as the first Irish feature film in 50 years, but hardly seen in the last 40 years, this new 2K restoration by the Irish Film Institute marks the first time The Outcasts has been available on Blu-ray.
Ikiru is in 4k.
Ikiru is such a beautiful and powerful film, I wrote a short review of it in college for a film class where I called it Kurosawa’s finest film although not as influential as some of his samurai films. I think I’d stand by that assertion even if it’s been a long time since i revisited it, it’s so human
Ikiru:
Restored in 4K and presented in High Definition
Blu-ray, not 4K UHD.
I was excited until I realized it was regular ol’ Blu-ray.
Well bugger. Cancelling that pre-order.
