The Housemaid (Blu-ray Slipbox) (KOFA Blu-ray Collection) (Plain Selective) [Korea]

[teddyjun]

Release Date : December 10, 2014

Price : $27.50

Link : Plainarchive.com (Pre-order date is November 29th, 10PM, Seoul, South Korea)

Note : The Housemaid : KOFA Blu-ray Collection 001

"A consensus pick as one of the top three Korean films of all time, Kim Ki-young's masterpiece The Housemaid occupies a place all its own within Golden Age Korean cinema." (Darcy Paquet)

• BD Authoring & Design: Plain Archive & Propaganda Alternative Graphics
• Beautiful embossed calligraphy on Full Slip Case
• 40p Booklet (Written in Korean & English)
• Black colored Viva Elite Keep case
• Pre-order Gift : You can get 2 Extra Plain Archive Exclusive stickers!!

Video : 1.53:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio : Korean DTS-HD MA Mono
Subtitles : Korean, English, French, Japanese
Running Time : 111min

* Special Features
- Martin Scorsese on the Housemaid (Sub : Kor/Eng)

- Commentary (Sub : Kor/Eng)

• Park Chan-wook (Film Director)
• Lee Dong-jin (Film critic)

- Directors on Kim Ki-young (Directed by Kim Hong-joon) (48min) (Sub : Kor/Eng/Fre/Jpn)

- The Box of Death (79min)

- I am a Truck (18min) (Sub : Kor/Eng)

Spoiler: Real Package Shots

 

[PunkNinja]

The slipbox design looks like a Criterion Collection.

 

[PunkNinja]

 

[AnubisNefer]

Just got them in....

 

[MGD]

Mine came in Friday!

 

[Real Steel]

Has anyone opened and watched his copy of The Housemaid? There seems to be a serious issue. The picture started off looking pristine and I was thoroughly enjoying the movie. But startlingly at 46:33 the picture quality turned shocking. It looked like it was unrestored! This lasted until 55:46 where it became fine again. But the poor picture quality happened again in these two other segments:
1:14:36 - 1:19:06
1:19:35 - 1:24:20

I really wonder what happened. Could some unrestored segments have gotten mixed up with the restored segments? It was really disappointing as the drastic drops in picture quality disrupted my enjoyment of the movie, which I find to be exactly like what Martin Scorsese says: "I was startled the first time I saw the picture...is quite unlike anything I have ever seen".

 

[Real Steel]

So the 2010 version is the remake of 1960 ?

Anybody seen the remake? I never open Plain releases but I really want to see this film. It's on YouTube but without subs, and the remake is on Netflix instant watch but if the remake isn't true to the source I might have to open this when it arrives

An update. I've now seen both the 1960 original and the 2010 remake. I must say they are very different movies, in terms of the story line, characters and pretty much everything else. Which was good as it was like watching an entirely new movie.

 

[Bluprint]

Has anyone opened and watched his copy of The Housemaid? There seems to be a serious issue. The picture started off looking pristine and I was thoroughly enjoying the movie. But startlingly at 46:33 the picture quality turned shocking. It looked like it was unrestored! This lasted until 55:46 where it became fine again. But the poor picture quality happened again in these two other segments:
1:14:36 - 1:19:06
1:19:35 - 1:24:20

I really wonder what happened. Could some unrestored segments have gotten mixed up with the restored segments? It was really disappointing as the drastic drops in picture quality disrupted my enjoyment of the movie, which I find to be exactly like what Martin Scorsese says: "I was startled the first time I saw the picture...is quite unlike anything I have ever seen".

This is the same restored transfer used in the 2013 Criterion release of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project. It was noted that this was the most difficult one to restore. This was because while the restorers had access to the original negatives -- two reels were missing and they then had to feel in the two gaps that you mentioned with footage from a original print that was found in 1990.

The problem with that is it wasn't the quality of the original negatives and along with stabilizing, and all the digital work involved with removing the English subtitles and cleaning it up caused the fluctuations in clarity/quality that you mentioned above.

With that said, unless they discover better prints of the two missing reels, this is the best we can hope for. I hope this explanation wasn't too long.

 

[Real Steel]

This is the same restored transfer used in the 2013 Criterion release of Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project. It was noted that this was the most difficult one to restore. This was because while the restorers had access to the original negatives -- two reels were missing and they then had to feel in the two gaps that you mentioned with footage from a original print that was found in 1990.

The problem with that is it wasn't the quality of the original negatives and along with stabilizing, and digitally the work involved with removing the English subtitles and cleaning it up caused the fluctuations in clarity/quality that you mentioned above.

With that said, unless they discover better prints of the two missing reels, this is the best we can hope for. I hope this explanation wasn't too long.

Thanks @Bluprint. I've read that and I am still trying to find out more.

I've received an answer from PA that basically says the same thing. But the poor picture segments do not seem to be like what was explained.

Have you played either this disc or the Criterion version? I have just ordered the Criterion to see if it is exactly the same.

I will post some photos of the damaged scenes later today.

 

[Bluprint]

Thanks @Bluprint. I've read that and I am still trying to find out more.

I've received an answer from PA that basically says the same thing. But the poor picture segments do not seem to be like what was explained.

Have you played either this disc or the Criterion version? I have just ordered the Criterion to see if it is exactly the same.

I will post some photos of the damaged scenes later today.

I've recently seen the Criterion edition but I have yet to see the KOTA (PA) release. On the one I'd seen, it was very distractive and problematic to the point where I thought something was wrong with my hardware. But after doing some research, as you did, and given the facts, I respect and appreciate what they were able to do. Can't wait to see the comparison shots!

 

[Real Steel]

I've recently seen the Criterion edition but I have yet to see the KOTA (PA) release. On the one I'd seen, it was very distractive and problematic to the point where I thought something was wrong with my hardware. But after doing some research, as you did, and given the facts, I respect and appreciate what they were able to do. Can't wait to see the comparison shots!

I will not receive my criterion order for some time yet to do a comparison. Meanwhile I can post a couple of clips of the KOTA release using my iPhone video recorder. Is there a way to directly upload the video clips here? I tried taking photos of some scenes but the static photos do not show the picture problems well.

This is the only comparison shot I can do for now. The first pic is screenshot from br.com. The second is my iPhone capture of the image on my 120" screen (contrast sharpened by iPhone camera). The two actual pictures look same in quality. But what I would like to show are the fine vertical streaks that look like rain in the problem segments, which can't be seen from the static pic. Does the Criterion have this same problem?