Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[domino harvey]

Comencini's Bebo's Girl has also been restored, and Radiance have been keen on Comencini (Misunderstood, The Sunday Woman).

This would be a much welcome release as well! WhyNotBoth.GIF

[domino harvey]

Who owns Visconti’s Sandra? That’s another major film with no English friendly release

[rapta]

Would be nice if it's Let's Scare Jessica to Death, as I skipped the Imprint release when it was cheap and regretted it. That said, it's Paramount so there maybe be trouble for Radiance (or any other UK label) attempting to license it.

The Funeral would be great, or any Ferrara in fact. Obviously Fran has some history with releasing his films back at Arrow.

Not convinced the New French Extremity title will be Noé, but you never know (Arrow released three of his, so I'm inclined to think they'd do those; or Indicator, whose Irreversible release was a big deal).

Hoping for a UK disc of Trouble Every Day, since I'm a fan of Denis and haven't picked up The Film Desk release (not even sure it's Region B friendly). Worth mentioning Craig Keller is involved with both Radiance and The Film Desk, so could have helped get the title to Radiance (and perhaps rather than port over another hosted label release, they decided to upgrade it to UHD and add their own extras).

Some additional guesses:
Slow Cinema Masterpiece might be The Man Who Sleeps.
Animation could possibly be represented by The Tale of the Fox.
And for the Sight and Sound 2022 film I’m choosing to believe it could be The Quince Tree Sun mainly because it hasn’t had any proper release an English friendly DVD and would probably be get a very good Radiance release.

The Quince Tree Sun is a good guess. I thought it could be The Spirit of the Beehive.

Comencini's Bebo's Girl has also been restored, and Radiance have been keen on Comencini (Misunderstood, The Sunday Woman).

This would be a much welcome release as well! WhyNotBoth.GIF

A Cardinale set, perhaps?

Who owns Visconti’s Sandra? That’s another major film with no English friendly release

Sony, I think. At least, that's how it's listed on Park Circus, with a 4K restoration. Last I was aware, Sony aren't setting up new licensing deals with boutiques (e.g. IIRC, Indicator's current one is their last deal with the studio), so I figured Criterion might get to it one day.

[TechnicolorAcid]

My guesses would be either Georgiy Daneliya's Kin-dza-dza! (through Mosfilm), or Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes (mentioned in the blurb for The Dead Mother).

As much as a Radiance release of any Daneliya title would rule, Mosfilm is not licensing at the moment with the only reason there was a Blu-Ray release this year being because a licensing deal was made before the war. And personally I’d prefer any number of countless titles under Mosfilm that have yet to be released especially Daneliya’s Mimino or especially literally any Eldar Ryazanov film.

[dwk]

Re HK classics: on top of the two that yolos already mentioned, I'm also hoping for Comrades A Love Story (or is that with the weird hotel chain keeping other classics hostage to exorbitant demands too?) or a Radiance edition of My Heart Is That Eternal Rose.

Comrades is with Golden Harvest so it has the chance of either being a Criterion or 88 Films release but probably not a Radiance one.

Comrades is owned by Warner Brothers.

[Matt]

I was going to snark on this hint with “A minor French film starring a venerable has-been, some Italian crime film you’ve never heard of, and a violent but arty Japanese film,” but that’s unfair. I have purchased more Radiance discs in the past few months than I have in their existence, and they’re really developing a rich catalog lately.

They really showed me by announcing one of my favorite films, Il Posto!

[zedz]

I wonder what the Cardinale masterpiece could be. Is a The Leopard UHD remotely possible?

Could alternatively be Valerio Zurlini's La ragazza con la valigia (Girl with a Suitcase) also recently restored I believe...

Please God let this be it. How is there no English boutique release of this still?

It's going back a while, but No Shame released it on DVD in the US back in the noughties:

[zedz]

Some additional guesses:
Slow Cinema Masterpiece might be The Man Who Sleeps.

I love that film, but I don't see how it could possibly be construed as Slow Cinema, which is a pretty well-defined genre at this point. It's only 80 minutes long!

There are so many great Lav Diaz films without any home video release. I'd be happy for any of those. Maybe his lo-fi sci-fi Covid prophecy The Halt?

[TechnicolorAcid]

Some additional guesses:
Slow Cinema Masterpiece might be The Man Who Sleeps.

I love that film, but I don't see how it could possibly be construed as Slow Cinema, which is a pretty well-defined genre at this point. It's only 80 minutes long!

There are so many great Lav Diaz films without any home video release. I'd be happy for any of those. Maybe his lo-fi sci-fi Covid prophecy The Halt?

I was looking through a list of slow cinema hence why I thought it could be that one. Another film maybe could be The Puppetmaster since I believe that one was restored recently and we know Radiance has another Chinese film licensed.

[yoloswegmaster]

The Puppetmaster is Taiwanese, not Chinese

[TechnicolorAcid]

The Puppetmaster is Taiwanese, not Chinese

Tell China that.

[ryannichols7]

The Puppetmaster is Taiwanese, not Chinese

Tell China that.

it's literally about the history of Taiwan, covering the period of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan

[TechnicolorAcid]

Drat foiled again.

[starmanof51]

It's going back a while, but No Shame released it on DVD in the US back in the noughties:

Both quite good! Happy to have this, but happy to upgrade

[domino harvey]

Yeah, either of those would be great Blu-ray releases. Kino/Raro put out his La soldatesse recently on Blu too and I can heartily recommend. I guess Radiance being Radiance, they might be more interested in Cronaca familiare, which I hated, though!

[Omensetter]

Doesn't "further volumes of our most well-liked box sets" just mean another World Noir set given that the Risi set hasn't gone through its initial run? (The Daiei is likely selling well, so that too.) If so, that would seem to eliminate a Germi version, so the Palme winner could go elsewhere. I think it's The Mattei Affair. It was a failed license in 2023, but it's something "they regularly check on", and Simeoni seems like such a Rosi fan, Salvatore Giuliano is deemed Radiance-core according to him, and he did co-produce that lovely Arrow edition. Maybe Hands over the City, too.

My hope on the Sundance winner is Ruby in Paradise, but I won't let my hope get too high since it seems fairly unsexy for Radiance in that it's not cultish and not from a Name. Since Simeoni's a fan, Sherman's March seems the frontrunner here.

The Sight and Sound clue is the most interesting as it seems likely to result in the best film. The Erices are my guess. One of the Weerasethakuls seem possible and would also fulfill the slow cinema clue. Killer of Sheep seems destined for Criterion, and it doesn't seem worth it to compete with them directly. The Archers films would be a dream, but they seem too high-profile for Radiance? They seem very BFI-y. I suppose The Mother and the Whore is a possibility, but I'm holding out hopes for a no-guarantee Criterion set (M&W would sell well-enough by itself outside a potential Criterion set, surely).

[dwk]

Janus also has the UK rights to the Eustache films, so it wont be The Mother and the Whore.

A lot of Powell and Pressburgerfilms are with ITV, and they don't license in the UK.

[TVC15]

Radiance posted this image along with their 2025 bundle:



And I think the 4th one down, the one with 'World English-Subtitled Blu-Ray Premiere' in the text, is an unannounced title, though I can't tell what it could be.

Blu-ray forum user ladysnowblood posted a still from Die Katze that matches it.

[rapta]

Doesn't "further volumes of our most well-liked box sets" just mean another World Noir set given that the Risi set hasn't gone through its initial run? (The Daiei is likely selling well, so that too.) If so, that would seem to eliminate a Germi version, so the Palme winner could go elsewhere. I think it's The Mattei Affair. It was a failed license in 2023, but it's something "they regularly check on", and Simeoni seems like such a Rosi fan, Salvatore Giuliano is deemed Radiance-core according to him, and he did co-produce that lovely Arrow edition. Maybe Hands over the City, too.

My hope on the Sundance winner is Ruby in Paradise, but I won't let my hope get too high since it seems fairly unsexy for Radiance in that it's not cultish and not from a Name. Since Simeoni's a fan, Sherman's March seems the frontrunner here.

The Sight and Sound clue is the most interesting as it seems likely to result in the best film. The Erices are my guess. One of the Weerasethakuls seem possible and would also fulfill the slow cinema clue. Killer of Sheep seems destined for Criterion, and it doesn't seem worth it to compete with them directly. The Archers films would be a dream, but they seem too high-profile for Radiance? They seem very BFI-y. I suppose The Mother and the Whore is a possibility, but I'm holding out hopes for a no-guarantee Criterion set (M&W would sell well-enough by itself outside a potential Criterion set, surely).

The Mattei Affair would be incredible news either way. It did sound like he was close to figuring that one out, but just didn't manage it in 2023 (or evidently 2024 either). I loved Salvatore Giuliano especially, and Hands Over the City was great too (that one was MoC though, not Arrow).

Not sure if Commedia all'italiana is quite dead yet, as I could see him focusing on Monicelli, Germi or Comencini next (maybe even Ferreri, Pietrangeli, Bolognini). We had a Germi in the first World Noir set in fact, and Comencini's name has appeared twice in the general line. Germi's 60s output might be the safest bet (e.g. Divorce Italian Style, Seduced and Abandoned, The Birds, the Bees and the Italians, The Climax), assuming Monicelli would be a little too much crossover with Criterion (e.g. Big Deal on Madonna Street, The Passionate Thief, The Organiser, The Girl with a Pistol). I'd buy either though!

I suggested elsewhere that Sherman's March might be the Sundance winner, in which case a brave choice since it's documentary, but if he's also willing to do animation it shows Radiance is starting to branch out formally. I'd love them to get Tai Kato's The Ondekoza from Shochiku if possible, or at least pair it up with another Kato film (I like how this month's announcements have been double-bills; two Olmi films in one set, and a bonus Suzuki film as an extra to the main feature).

Either Erice seems most sensible for the S&S clue, but you're right that Apichatpong could also be possible, though I think Second Run would be daft not to upgrade those (surely some of their most requested titles for Blu-ray). Syndromes and a Century was released by BFI on DVD though, so might be available if Second Run weren't looking to do a triple-set (of that along with Blissfully Yours and Tropical Malady). He's one of my favourite modern directors so I'm sure I'd be happy whoever releases them. Killer of Sheep is one I failed to pick up on BFI DVD somehow, but I did get My Brother's Wedding, and it's bizarre neither have been upgraded yet (you'd think Criterion would have by now).

Radiance posted this image along with their 2025 bundle:

SpoilerShow

And I think the 4th one down, the one with 'World English-Subtitled Blu-Ray Premiere' in the text, is an unannounced title, though I can't tell what it could be.

Blu-ray forum user ladysnowblood posted a still from Die Katze that matches it.

Yeah, great spot from that user. Some people were way off (someone suggested it was Sonny Chiba), and I was sniffing around 70's poliziotteschi and 60's French gangster films and coming up short! Glad the hunt has come to an end already. From the trailer it looks fun, and similar in tone to the Widerberg films, but obviously made a bit later on (and in Germany, not Sweden). Another great find!

[DJBillyMac]

So if they're now upgrading films that were previously only available as Criterion DVDs, and they're doing more Seijun Suzuki films, could that mean some of Criterion's Suzuki films like Story of a Prostitute could get Radiance blus? Or possibly some of those ones from the long-out-of-print Arrow 'Seijun Suzuki's Early Years' sets? I think he still has plenty of films even outside of those, but it is a little annoying that there's no better way to get those at the moment.

[49CHOMPS]

The 90s American crime film could be Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan. Arrow is only releasing it in the US, leaving UK open for another label.

[DJBillyMac]

Oh yeah, they never have done whatever PDC was in that list of hints - I wonder if they waited to do Pastoral: To Die In The Country on UHD? Or maybe that's the 1970s fantasy they mentioned?

[dwk]

A Simple Pan is Paramount, who don't currently license in the UK.

Fran shot down the Gate of Flesh, Story of a Prostitute, and Carmen from Kawachi trio a few years ago. I guess that could have changed, but doubt it. I expect the other Suzuki will be Kanto Wanderer (the third of three Suzuki films released by Home Vision)

[beamish14]

A Simple Pan is Paramount, who don't currently license in the UK.

Fran shot down the Gate of Flesh, Story of a Prostitute, and Carmen from Kawachi trio a few years ago. I guess that could have changed, but doubt it. I expect the other Suzuki will be Kanto Wanderer (the third of three Suzuki films released by Home Vision)

Please, god, let it be A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness

[beamish14]

The 90s American crime film could be Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan. Arrow is only releasing it in the US, leaving UK open for another label.

Could it be Little Odessa?

Sundance winner guess: Mark Romanek’s Static