13 Assassins - Kôji Yakusho

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Jûsan-nin no shikaku" or "13-nin no shikaku")

directed by Takashi Miike
Japan 2010

A brave samurai assembles an elite team of 13 killers to assassinate the brother of the Shogun, a sadistic and well-protected... young lord who's above the law, raping and killing innocents with impunity. The film culminates in a mind-blowing, 45 minute battle sequence.

***

A stirring, unexpectedly moving story of love and blood, the samurai movie “13 Assassins” opens with a dignified man seated alone in a large courtyard. Perfectly centered in the shot, he says nothing, his face a ferocious mask. But words are immaterial given his open shirt and the blade in his hand. The Japanese director Takashi Miike has no qualms about letting the red run down the screen. Here, though, instead of showing the blade sinking in, he moves in closer, letting the scene play out in the man’s crumbling face, the gray sky framing him as the moist, tearing sounds of the knife doing its terrible work fill the air.

Excerpt from Manohla Dargis at NY Times located HERE

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Theatrical Release: 25 September 2010 (Japan)

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DVD Comparison:

Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL vs. Magnolia Home Entertainment/Magnet - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!

(Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - LEFT vs. Magnolia Home Entertainment/Magnet - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Artificial Eye Region 0 - PAL	Magnolia Home Entertainment/Magnet Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:00:00 (4% PAL speedup)	2:04:56
Video	2.39:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.21 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	2.37:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.39 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Artificial Eye
Bitrate: Magnolia Home Entertainmen t/Magnet
Audio	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1; Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1; English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles	English, none	English, Spanish, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.39:1 Edition Details: • Deleted Scenes (16:9; 22:46) • Interview with Takashi Miike (16:9; 18:44) • Trailer (16:9; 1:54) DVD Release Date: 5 September 2011 Amaray Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment/Magnet Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.37:1 Edition Details: • DISC 1: • Deleted Scenes (16:9; 18:14) • Interview with Takashi Miike (16:9; 18:43) • Trailer (16:9; 2:32) • Bonus Trailers for HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, RUBBER, TROLL HUNTER, THE PERFECT HOST and HDNet promo • DISC 2: • Digital Copy of the Film DVD Release Date: 5 July 2011 Amaray Chapters 12

Comments

Neither release looks stunning (they are likely sourced from the same HD master) - although this is partly due to the deliberately muted color scheme (including purplish blood) - but the Artificial Eye disc is the sharper of the two. The deleted scenes are likely the bits that were trimmed from the 141 minute Japanese original cut for the international version presented on both discs (it is unfortunate that there is no option to re-integrate this footage back into the film as I believe the Japanese import editions are not English-friendly). The Miike interview is the same on both editions. Magnolia's R1 edition is a two-disc set but the only real difference is the addition of an awful English 5.1 dub (disc 2 contains only a digital copy of the film).

Both Magnolia and Artificial Eye have also released Blu-ray, coded Region A (HERE) and Region B (HERE) respectively.

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus
(Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - LEFT vs. Magnolia Home Entertainment/Magnet - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)