Persepolis on Subtitled Home Video & Other Animation on Blu-ray Disc

The animated feature film of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud, a.k.a. Winshluss) will be released on both DVD-Video and Blu-ray Disc in both North America and the British Isles in the next few months: 24 June 2008 in the USA and 18 August 2008 in the UK.

I also thought it worth mentioning that Blue Underground in North America are planning to release Ralph Bakshi's 1983 feature Fire and Ice onto Blu-ray – though there's no release date set, this would make it one of the very first high-definition releases of pre-digital animation and, discounting the Don Bluth-directed interactive animation Dragon's Lair, certainly the first to be neither Disney nor anime. The only other such releases so far in anywhere other than Japan are Disney's Clyde Geronimi-directed Sleeping Beauty (1959, making it by far the oldest of these) and several of the Dragon Ball Z theatrical features and TV specials. Meanwhile, the sole work of stop-motion – the medium which I find benefits most of all from high-definition – on either home format is Corpse Bride. This makes me want to cry, just a little, as Corpse Bride is not a great example of the art form – if there is only going to be one, it should at least be Shisha no Sho or Staré povesti ceské; even The Nightmare Before Christmas would have given me some hope.

Anyway, thanks to Blu-ray.com and Twitch for alerting me to these. On vaguely related note, have a look at the cute artwork of the Blu-ray/DVD bundle release of Rintaro's 2001 Metropolis film – much better in my opinion than the film itself and, judging by the comments, than the new transfer. The original DVD release also had something more in this vein.

And one last word of advice – Park Chan-Wook's Saibogujiman Kwenchana (I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK, 2006) has been slowing moving around cinemas in the British Isles since 4 April 2008, and is the funniest (or perhaps more accurately, funest) film since Tôkyô Godfathers. I'll warn you, as I wish others had, that there is one genuinely icky shot near the end of the opening titles and one revealing scene of Rain which makes it definitely not one to see with one's parents – but other than that it's pure, genuine and exhilaratingly surreal enjoyment, with just enough emotional "fibre" to make it satisfying (and thus avoid the "hollow" feeling of something like CLAMP's Seiden). Though it certainly builds on some elements first seen in his earlier films, the different focus makes whether or not you liked those little indicator or whether you'll like this. The best reference points would be Tôkyô Godfathers and the Urusei Yatsura movies as I found those similarly enjoyable – perhaps even Princes et princesses. The titles it's most similar to are actually Michel Gondry's La Science des rêves and Jeunet's Amélie, but the "cult" element which Park introduces makes Saibogujiman Kwenchana appeal to a different audience and sense of humour, the sensitive mixing of romance and robots making it the perfect otaku date movie.