GIANTS AND TOYS

New release: British distributor Arrow Films will release a Blu-ray edition of the 1958 Japanese film Giants and Toys in May. I remember watching a DVD release many years back and enjoyed the movie's take on late-50s marketing and publicity. Giants and Toys was directed by Yasuzo Masumura (Nakano Spy School, Black Test Car). From the press release: "Giants and Toys is a sharp and snappy corporate satire revolving around the ruthless machinations of a group of admen working in the confectionary industry. As a new recruit to the marketing department of World Caramel, fresh-faced graduate Nishi (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is eager to impress his ambitious and hard-nosed boss Goda (Black Test Car's Hideo Takamatsu), even if it strains his relationships with his college friend Yokoyama (Koichi Fujiyama) and budding love interest Masami (Michiko Ono), who work at the rival companies of Giant and Apollo. With World's lead over its competitors slipping badly, the two spot a chance to get back in the race in the shape of the pretty but unsophisticated 18-year-old, Kyoko (Hitomi Nozoe). Goda and Nishi get to work polishing this rough diamond as their new campaign girl, but as the three rival confectionary companies pitch themselves into an all-out advertising war that spills out onto the streets of Tokyo as it escalates to ludicrous extremes, Kyoko's newfound fame starts going to her head. Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, this lurid adaptation of the award-winning 1957 novel by Ken Kaiko is considered a landmark in Japanese film history and a key work by Yasuzo Masumura (Blind Beast, Red Angel), one of the country's most highly acclaimed directors of his generation. Its absurdist and acidly cynical take on the excesses of the media and advertising worlds recalls the work of Frank Tashlin (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), as it presents a garish vision of a bold new postwar Japan where traditional company values come head-to-head with American-style consumer capitalism." I don't remember the film being particularly "lurid," but it is a nice time-capsule of the period. Giants and Toys would make a good double feature with Black Test Car, about auto design and industrial espionage. More info at Arrow Films and Blu-ray. This release is Region B, so Spy Vibers in the States will require an all-region player. Enjoy! 

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FELLINI BOX SET

New release: Essential Fellini. The Criterion Collection made a very exciting announcement today! They have created a massive 4K-restoration project celebrating director, Federico Fellini! This gorgeous box set will include 14 films: Variety Lights, The White Sheik, I vitellone,  La Strada, Il Bidone, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Satyricon, Roma, Amacord, And the Ship Sails On, and Intervista. Many of these films, especially the early titles and Juliet (yes!), will see their first Criterion hi-def editions. Additionally, Il Bidone and Intervista (see Marcello dress up as Mandrake and reunite with Anita Ekberg!) will be new to Criterion's catalog. Not included: "Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio" from Boccaccio 70, The Clowns, Casanova, Orchestra Rehearsal, City of Women, Ginger and Fred, and The Voice of the Moon. Hopefully we'll see those added eventually (Viewers can find some of these released by other distributors, but I often prefer Criterion's treatment). In terms of special features, we have a lot to look forward to, not least of which is Fellini's outstanding short, Toby Dammit, starring Terence Stamp, from Spirits of the Dead. I'll add the full list of goodies below. This box set arrives in November. If you have never explored Fellini's work, you are in for a truly amazing experience  He made his start drawing cartoons and working on scripts, and then made a really profound journey as a director from Neo-Realist dramas to unique cinematic flights of imagination, often combining memory, dream, and fantasy into his narratives. They are all exceptional works, but for Spy Vibers starting out, I would suggest looking at La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, and Toby Dammit. As far as I can remember, Juliet of the Spirits was the first foreign-language movie I ever saw -I was around twelve years old- and it both intrigued and frightened me (a lot!). I then rediscovered his work in High School and became a huge film history buff. We had a really influential English and Drama teacher at the boarding school I attended and he showed us a number of Fellini films- much easier to process as an older teenager! I then ran two film series in college, became a film series programmer and founder as an adult, and eventually created Spy Vibe- and I think it all started by seeing Fellini (and some Chaplin, to be fair) as a kid. I should also shout out the wonderful and essential soundtracks by Nino Rota, who was Fellini's long-term collaborator. Please join me in applauding The Criterion Collection for crafting this set for us. More details at Criterion. Read Tim Lucas' book about Toby Dammit (and Spirits of the Dead). Enjoy! 

• NEW 4K RESTORATIONS OF 11 THEATRICAL FEATURES, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks for all films
• NEW DIGITAL RESTORATIONS of the short film Toby Dammit (1968) and the television film Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969), with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• Feature documentaries Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (2002) and Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember (1997), the latter presented in its 193-minute version
• Two-hour, four-part 1960 interview with director Federico Fellini by filmmaker André Delvaux for Belgian television
• Four behind-the-scenes documentaries: Reporter's Diary: "Zoom on Fellini" (1965), Ciao, Federico! (1969), The Secret Diary of "Amarcord" (1974), and Fellini racconta: On the Set of "And the Ship Sails On" (1983)
• Fellini racconta: Passegiatte nella memoria, a 2000 documentary featuring interviews with a late-in-life Fellini
• Giulietta Masina: The Power of a Smile, a 2004 documentary about Fellini's wife and frequent collaborator
• Once Upon a Time: "La dolce vita," a French television documentary about the film
• Audio commentaries on six of the films
• Program from 2003 on Fellini's 1980s television advertising work
• Archival interviews with Fellini stars and collaborators, including Mastroianni, Sandra Milo, Anouk Aimée, and Magali Noël
• Archival audio interviews by film critic Gideon Bachmann with Fellini, Mastroianni, and Fellini's friends and family
• Video essays, trailers, and more
• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of content: notes on the films by scholar David Forgacs, essays by filmmakers Michael Almereyda, Kogonada, and Carol Morley; film critics Bilge Ebiri and Stephanie Zacharek; and novelist Colm Tóibín, and dozens of images spotlighting Don Young's renowned collection of Fellini memorabilia.

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