HK DVD for Sion Sono's 'Strange Circus' September 2nd 2006, with English Subtitles.

That's great but once again my purchase will depend on whether or not they included and subtitled the extras, specifically the "Strange Days" feature length making of docu. I could follow the film just fine on the unsubbed Japanese R2. The making of and the interviews ... not so much.

Hm, I'm not sure if I should buy the HK- or the Japan DVD. After all, I'm learning japanese since the beginning of the year.


I'm always a little reserved regarding HK-DVDs.

when a DVD has subtitles, they can be removed. if you have a HK disc following an R2 Japan DVD, it is more than likely to be the same transfer, but with a much cheaper price.

"when a DVD has subtitles, they can be removed. if you have a HK disc following an R2 Japan DVD, it is more than likely to be the same transfer, but with a much cheaper price."

Depends on the company, as most of them churn out watered down versions of the originals. Look at what they did to Nana - http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=61657

I'm betting that this will eventually get a R1 release if you can wait that long. Lets just hope that TLA isn't the one picking it up :S

TLA's already got it, actually.

its one of those issues, the primary concern with most if not all of those writing within twitch, and for those living in the same part of the world as the largest (well, as far as i know) market for foreign films on DVD is that it has english subtitles. this is partly why i often mention the idea of lateral thinking for license ideas, the potential choices for licenses being much larger than is often clear - any japanese director, as the best example that is close to my knowledge and interest, has a huge back catalogue of work to pick from, and yet we still get generic choices left right and centre. that said, there are certain films which are more than likely to find multiple homes, its just that i dont let blind patriotism disctate where i buy films from, its about getting the opportunity to see a film and that requires subtitles as more of an issue than anything else. yes, theres tonnes of ins and out to the whole market, but although there was once a much more difficult-to-negotiate market in HK, these days (all factors considered, from my perspective anyway) any mention of waiting for R1 over R3 sounds more like conspiracy theory that actual fully-informed decision making. japanese films in HK are quite common now, HK was an english-speaking territory and will continue to use the language it seems, and the release come post-R2 J so theyre often ports of the picture with subtitles added. any qualms over the various other aspects on a DVD are down to the taste of the individual i suppose, but extras and beefy soundtracks never attracted me as much as the films did...

Is the R2J anamorphic? It seems like the HK dvd isn't.

logboy, if you're still reading this, could you please list some HK dvds that are R2J ports. Because the only HK company I can think of releasing R2J ports is IVL. Korean and Thai dvds are often R2J ports, but not HK dvds as far as I know...

not the kind of list i either keep or could do from memory - hey, i am no different to anyone else. besides, i bought the HK DVD and the film turned out to be one of the true turds of the year. really really bad film.

as a rule, it's often assumed (because it has been mentioned so many times across forums) that a japanese film on HK DVD will be stripped from an R2 J : because HK is low-cost, keen on short-cuts and they always follow R2 Js with a R3 HK a couple of months down the line as though theyre waiting to get their hands on the R2 J to work from...

I understand the logic in that, but from what I'm seeing it's just not happening that often in HK. I could be mistaken because I haven't bought too many recent japanese films, but the ones I have bought have not been ported from R2J to HK dvd (Nana, Install, Swallowtail Butterfly, Fried Dragon Fish, Uchiage hanabi, shita kara Miruka? Yoko kara Miruka?...). I would love to buy cheap HK dvds instead of unsubbed R2J's, though. That's why I was asking.

Now that I came to think of it, I think I read somewhere that Hinokio was a R2J port.

mikko, it's important to understand that compromise still plays an unfortunately large part in the scene - so if you get a slightly lesser transfer on a subbed release verses an immaculate print on an unsubbed release, and if you need subtitles in order to understand the film, then go for the lesser transfer with subtitles. in the end, once a film has been experienced it's in the brain that the best part of the benefit is to be fealt... focus is on taking in the films, thats the way i think it should be.

"compromise still plays an unfortunately large part in the scene"

for those who need subtitled releases, yes. Personally I don't mind spending a little time on making my own subs.

But it does take time, and R2J's take money. That's why I wish more HK dvds would be R2J ports. I've been disappointed by HK dvds too many times. I'm tired of having to buy the same film several times. Nowadays I buy some R2J's just because I don't want to take the risk of having to upgrade to a R2J later.

Back to Strange Circus; I'm not 100% sure but it seems like the R2J is anamorphic.