TheDoug

Okay, we all know that the barebone's Region 1 edition of Park Chan-wook's THIRST gets released on November 17, 2009 here in the states. (It's unusual that the Region 1 gets out before a Region3 but since Universal financed it, I guess they get first digs). My question is this, will there be a simultaneous Region 3 edition put out by CJ entertainment?

I know that at the Pusan International Film Festival they just showed a 10 minute extended version. YesAsia.com hasn't shown any region 3 copies yet. HKflik.com just advertises the Region 1. http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/200...on-for-thirst/

logboy

there's no sign of when the korean disc will be released. i'd guess it's around the same time as america, but a simultaneous release would probably be announced as such, and that's unheard of, even if the films been financed with american money. the only thing to be wary of is the longer cut of the film, which i suspect is likely to be at least included with the korean edition - i don't even know what the cut is for the american release... because, well, the films making it to cinemas in the UK, so i'll see it without having to buy the DVD, in it's slightly shorter form.

Solid Snake

What'd they cut out for you UK kids?

logboy

the same as with everyone else : nothing.

it's just that there's a directors cut of the film, which may only show in korea, and may only appear on their DVD of the film.

Solid Snake

So what does this DC have? OR not have?

logboy

an extra 15 minutes.

Solid Snake

I've never seen the film so please roll w/ me if you will, does that make the film better? Also...I'll wait for this to come on Blu.

logboy

i've not seen it either, yet. does it make it better?... that's impossible to answer.

Solid Snake

I was just asking to anyone in general. Not you directly.

TheDoug

There are rumors out there that the extended version of THIRST (HK edition) will get released sometime in mid-December!!!! Yes! Hopefully, I'll be able to use my $5 YesAsia coupon to apply to this dvd purchase.

OldBoy

if this is true and find a link, please post it. i would be very interested and was wondering if a better version would be out there soon. thanks in advance.

Sessa17

It's my favorite film of the year so far, but I will be waiting for an eventual Blu-release as well. Barebones DVD? Yeah, no thanks.

TheDoug

Within the context of this forum, their Asian reviewer X mentions in the comments section below his review of Thirst a December Korean release, but no specific date: http://twitchfilm.net/reviews/2009/1...ews-thirst.php

slop101

Yeah, fantastic movie all the way, but god, what a shitty fucking dvd. As if being barebones wasn't bad enough, they even managed to fuck up the subtitles - no, they're not incorrect (they probably didn't want to repeat what happened in the subtitle debacle for Let the Right One In), but not only do the subs ride high in the image (the movie being 2:35, they're practically in the center of the screen, but due to the edge-enhancement on the transfer, and since the subs are forced and actually part of the video transfer, there's super blurry halos all around the subtitles. They're so bad that they're actually annoying to read and can hurt your eyes - I got a headache after 10 minutes.

After seeing how they fucked up something as simple as distribution and a DVD release, you can see how Park is absolutely right for not wanting to involve American studios in the actual production of his films.

Rypro 525

damn^ I'll prob go for the korean version when that is released. I was wondering too, knowing that there are a few lines in english, are those lines subtitled as well? When i saw it in theaters, they were subtitled probably because the accents were thick and the english was kind of hard to understand.

TheDoug

slop101 was correct in all his comments with regard to how Universal/Focus Features handled this film. I'm glad I just rented this film from Netflix (this feature film never made it to Western Masschusetts) so as to view the film finally. Loved the story and some of the dark humor but those damned burned-in subtitles!!!! And yes Rypro525 they retained subtitling even the English dialogue.
I can't wait to invest in the Region 3 edition when it comes out in December.
(This burning in subtitles is a new trend, I watched SIN NOMBRE recently on dvd and they too were formatted this way and way too small too read)

Subgeniusguy

I'm holding out for BD as well. I only want to buy this once.

Rypro 525

thanks. I'll prob rent it from blockbuster (3.99 rentals). i too can't wait for the mainland korean release

asianxcore

Thanks for the heads up Slop101!

I'll probably hold out for the UK BD that was announced recently.

Rypro 525

I am watching it now
i don't think the subs are too bad or too high in the image. actually my bad, i skipped to chapter 17, and white on white is blends in sometimes. And damn the transfer is very soft at times, and the night time scene's don't look too good either.

slop101

FWIW, I was watching it upconverted to 1080p on a 50" plasma, which will accentuate flaws such as halos around the subtitles. And yeah, it's a pretty soft transfer, but it was pretty damn soft in the theater too - almost out of focus, I recall.

tylergfoster

Was there something noticeably wrong with the distribution? It seemed to me to have the same kind of theatrical release as Oldboy.

Rypro 525

it seemed soft in theaters too, but not this soft (during some of the flying scenes, you could almost see where they cgi'ed out the wires), its not quite as obvious on the dvd version.
Its more like Universal could have done much more to better promote the film then they did (uh the big ass vampire craze), sure some might be turned off by the subs, but if they ran ads on say spike tv or more guy friendly programing, and rolled it out on 1000 screens, they could have prob made the money back that they invested.

slop101

Oldboy never had a US distribution deal with any major studio - whatever theatrical release it had in the States was long after it had already come out on dvd all around the world. I think it was through Tartan, which did the best they could with their very limited funds.

tylergfoster

Perhaps, but I don't think it was going to be particularly big. I do get the impression it didn't get the kind of grand limited opening that some indies do, and it should've; it's got a director recognizable to film fans. But I don't know that the audience for SpikeTV is the audience for Thirst.Yes, it was through Tartan. What I meant was, why should Thirst have gotten a different-style release than Oldboy, i.e. why is what was, as far as I know, "right" for that film "wrong" for this one? Just because Focus has more money?