FilmFanSea

So many great international releases this year. Of the ones I've seen, here are my favorites:

The Apu Trilogy (S. Ray/Artificial Eye/UK/R2 PAL)
Un Chant d'amour (Genet/bfi/UK/R2 PAL)
The Chaplin Collection: Complete Box Set (Warner/mk2/UK/R2 PAL)
Dogville SE (von Trier/Nordisk/Denmark/R2 PAL)
Hou Hsiao-Hsien Classics: 1983-1986 (Hou/Sino Movie/Taiwan/R0 NTSC)
Kaurismäki Box Set (Sandrew Metronome/Sweden/R2 PAL)
Partie de campagne/A Day in the Country (Renoir/bfi/UK/R2 PAL)
Riget I & II/The Kingdom I & II (von Trier/Zentropa/Nordisk/Denmark/R2 PAL)
Roman Polanski Collection (Anchor Bay/UK/R2 PAL)
Trainspotting: Definitive Edition (Boyle/Universal/UK/R2 PAL)

And there are a lot more on my Wish List:

M: SE (Lang/Eureka/UK/R0 PAL)
The Son/Le Fils (Dardenne/Artificial Eye/UK/R2 PAL)
La Dolce vita (Fellini/Medusa/Italy/R2 PAL)
Happy Together (Wong/Artificial Eye/UK/R2 PAL)
Journey to Italy/Viaggio in Italia (Rossellini/bfi/UKR2 PAL)
Several of the Kieslowski releases from Artificial Eye (UK/R2 PAL): Blind Chance; A Short Film About Killing; A Short Film About Love.
Distance (Kore-eda/Panorama/Hong Kong/R3 NTSC)

cinelion

I've really enjoyed some Korean releases of some good and great films:

Memories Of Murder CE (winner of best film and Director in Korea)
A Tale Of Two Sisters
Oasis
Hana-bi ( Fireworks, available in a mediocre r1 relesase)
Unagi (R3 release of the EEL, also available in a mediocre r1 release)

mdm67

it's hard to count - and to buy - them all.
Some of them like the Chaplin collection were in the air, so I would focus on some surprises I got.

- Lang's M (R2/UK)
- Corneau's Stupeur et Temblements (R2/FR)
- Almodovar's Atame! (R2/ES)
- Yimou's Hero (R3/China)
- Erice's El espěritu de la colmena (R2/ES&UK)

but maybe the DVD release who really made me happy this year was Polanski's Repulsion (R2/UK)

My Collection

BabyBuddha

Does "Stupeur et Temblements" have English subtitles? I read the book and am dying to see the film. Thanks.

Oh, my favorite non-R1 releases that I got this year were:
Von Trier's "Dogville" (overall best DVD of the year, any region)
Hong's "Turning Gate"
Kitano's "Dolls"
The Office (Season 2)
Iwai's "All About Lily Chou Chou"
Bergman's "Scenes From a Marriage"
Hou's "Millenium Mambo"
Serge Gainsbourg a Gainsbarre (2 DVD with about 6 hours of classic Serge -- a beautiful package)

My wish for 2004:
PLEASE, somebody, anybody, release the complete works of John Cassavettes with new, cleaned-up prints. (Including the long version of "Killing of a Chinese Bookie".)

Joe Molotov

Two of my favorites as far as movie and the quality of the overall package goes are:

Save the Green Planet (Korea, R3)
Way of the Dragon: Special Edition (UK, R2)

And I don't know if this really counts or not, but...

Futurama Seasons 3 & 4 (UK, R2)

pro-bassoonist

FilmFanSea.......agree 100% with your picks- ALL great films.

I would add:

Ricordati Di Me (#1 on my list this year)
Peau D'ange
La Belle Noiseuse
And Now Ladies and Gentleman (which will be out in R1 in January)

mdm67

BabyBuddha:

no eng subs.
Furthermore it wouldn't be easy to subtitle a film like this one when the spoken language is Japanese while the narrator voice speaks French. I haven't read the book, but the film is really good, good, good!!

My Collection

BabyBuddha

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize it was spoken in Japanese -- at least I can understand that part of the film. I'll just have to struggle through the narration.

I highly recommend the book. (Fear and Trembling, Amelie Nothomb)

Smiley

I enjoyed the German 2 disc special edition of Vincenzo "Cube" Natali's excellent Cypher. Ali G in Da USAiii (UK R2) 2 disc set (6 excellent episodes and a nice set of extras on the second disc) was for me the funniest DVD of the year.