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This collection brings together Women is the Future of Man and Tale of Cinema, the fifth and sixth films by Hong Sangsoo, the masterful South Korean filmmaker who has been favourably compared to that great French observer of human foibles, Eric Rohmer.

Women is the Future of Man tells of two long-time friends, a filmmaker (Kim Taewoo) and a teacher (Yoo Jitae), who have had an affair with the same woman (Sung Hyunah). The friends decide to meet the girl one more time and see what happens...

Tale of Cinema uses the trope of a film within a film to tell two stories, that of a depressive young man (Lee Kiwoo) who forms a suicide pact with a friend (Uhm Jiwon); and the tale of a filmmaker (Kim Sangkyung) who sees see a film that he believes was based on his life, and who meets the actress from the film with view to turning their onscreen relationship into reality.

With these critically-acclaimed films, presented here in High Definition for the first time with a wealth of extras, Hong Sangsoo employs his idiosyncratic, measured style to create two compelling and truthful tapestries of human emotion and behaviour.

CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Newly translated optional English subtitles
• Newly filmed introductions to both films by Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
• Interviews with Kim Sangkyung, Lee Kiwoo and Uhm Jiwon, the stars of Tale of Cinema
• Introduction to Woman is the Future of Man by director Martin Scorsese
• The Making Woman is the Future of Man, a featurette on the film’s production
• Interviews with the actors of Woman is the Future of Man
• Original trailers
• Stills gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by Michael Sicinski

Michael Kerpan wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:30 pm

It looks like New Yorker has picked this very fine Korean film up for US distribution some time soon:

http://www.newyorkerfilms.com/nyf/t_ele ... man1_t.htm

As far as I can tell, this is the very first Hong film to actually obtain US distribution. Congratulations (and good luck) to New Yorker for taking a chance on this!

How does this stack up with the rest of of his work?

denti alligator wrote:How does this stack up with the rest of of his work?

I'm not a good person to ask -- I consider Hong one of the best younger directors and I like all of his films very much -- and feel they each have their own particular special virtues.

Some reviewers felt this film was "slighter" than his previous work. I didn't really understand their problem.

Michael Kerpan wrote:

denti alligator wrote:How does this stack up with the rest of of his work?

I'm not a good person to ask -- I consider Hong one of the best younger directors and I like all of his films very much -- and feel they each have their own particular special virtues.

I agree. He's yet to make a bad film. Personally, I prefer Kangwon Province and Virgin Stripped Bare, in which he's more formally adventurous, but Woman Is The Future of Man is a fine character piece with his trademark pitiless view of the male animal. You're likely to get much more out of the film by viewing it in the context of the rest of his work: it could well look 'slighter' or more conventional in isolation.

I loved Kangwon and Virgin, and to a slightly lesser degree Turning Gate and Pig, so I'll be sure to see this.

If I had to pick my two top favorites, they would also be "Kangwon" and "Virgin" -- but the others come very close behind these.

While "Virgin" is my favorite, this was not far behind. I agree that he has yet to make a poor film!

I missed the ship that the dvd edition of this film sailed on, and I know New Yorker will botch this somehow (they justhave to), so does anyone know if there will be another version (oh, let's say region 3 or 2? asia?) re-release soon? The 2-disc limitededition has been out-of-printfor a while now; maybe the french PAL release will be our saving grace? Hmm hmm hmmmm.

Here is Filmbrain's review of Woman Is The Future Of Man. He seems the best placed to put the film in the context of the rest of the director's work. The 'Like Anna Karina's Sweater' blog also covers a lot of other Korean films (it's inspired me to try out The President's Last Bang!)

Tale of Cinema & Woman is the Future of Man: Two Films by Hong Sang-soo



This collection brings together Women is the Future of Man and Tale of Cinema, the fifth and sixth films by Hong Sangsoo, the masterful South Korean filmmaker who has been favourably compared to that great French observer of human foibles, Eric Rohmer.

Women is the Future of Man tells of two long-time friends, a filmmaker (Kim Taewoo) and a teacher (Yoo Jitae), who have had an affair with the same woman (Sung Hyunah). The friends decide to meet the girl one more time and see what happens...

Tale of Cinema uses the trope of a film within a film to tell two stories, that of a depressive young man (Lee Kiwoo) who forms a suicide pact with a friend (Uhm Jiwon); and the tale of a filmmaker (Kim Sangkyung) who sees see a film that he believes was based on his life, and who meets the actress from the film with view to turning their onscreen relationship into reality.

With these critically-acclaimed films, presented here in High Definition for the first time with a wealth of extras, Hong Sangsoo employs his idiosyncratic, measured style to create two compelling and truthful tapestries of human emotion and behaviour.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Newly translated optional English subtitles
Newly filmed introductions to both films by Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
Interviews with Kim Sangkyung, Lee Kiwoo and Uhm Jiwon, the stars of Tale of Cinema
Introduction to Woman is the Future of Man by director Martin Scorsese
The Making Woman is the Future of Man, a featurette on the film's production
Interviews with the actors of Woman is the Future of Man
Original trailers
Stills gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by Michael Sicinski

I know some people (myself included) were hoping for a more comprehensive Hong box set, along the lines of this set that was released in Korea a few years ago, but these appear to be the only Hong Sang-soo films in the MK2 catalog from which Arrow also licensed Irma Vep, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno and their Jia Zhangke titles. (The rumoured Eraserhead is also part of this catalog)

Is there anything that Tony Rayns isn't prepared to do an introduction for

I never expected a major box release since I'd already assumed this would be part of the ongoing MK2 licenses—but I didn't expect Tale of Cinema either, as it never appeared on Blu in Korea and I wasn't sure if it existed in HD. It's one of my favorites in his filmography, so it's wonderful to learn that my expectations were too low.

Pleasantly surprised this is a UK/US release!

Ribs wrote:Is there anything that Tony Rayns isn't prepared to do an introduction for

They could've gone for Bordwell or someone but Tony Rayns is the obvious choice, it's quite possible he recommended Hong to Arrow.

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:... Tale of Cinema ... one of my favorites in his filmography.

By far my favorite. The Hong film that most obviously converts his solipsism into form.

And yes, it's infuriating this one got passed over in the beautiful Korean BD series of Hong's stuff. So great news!

*Soon maybe Woman on the Beach, Like You Know It All, and HaHaHa?

This is a pleasant surprise! I really enjoyed Right Now, Wrong Then. It's a shame this isn't a big box-set like the Korean one that came out a few years ago, but this is a good start. I'm deciding to watch In Another Country or Nobody's Daughter Haewon next.

More likely to blind-buy this sooner since it's a one-disc affair, so great stuff! May get the Koreeda too whilst I'm at it.

Ribs wrote:Pleasantly surprised this is a UK/US release!

Same here! I even remember watching Woman on New Yorker's old dvd - a film I've wanted to revisit for some time now.

DVD Beaver.

Two very fine films -- look forward to seeing these new releases. Not sure that Tale of Cinema is BETTER than WItFoM, but I found it a bit more intriguing.