Tartan sent us a little note on a couple upcoming releases from the company, as well as a big change on their distribution front.
Genius Products, Inc., fresh from their deal with The Weinstein Company back in December, have secured the rights for U.S. home entertainment distribution of Tartan’s library of over 60 films (past and future), including the Asia Extreme line. This news comes just as Tartan Films begins the theatrical release of Park Chan-Wook’s SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, which opens in New York today (April 28th).
On the Asia Extreme front, director Lee Woo-Chul makes his feature film debut with CELLO when it hits DVD July 25th. Shot in 40 days, the story for CELLO revolves around Mi-ju, a brilliant cellist who craves peace and stability after surviving a car crash which killed her best friend. Haunted by terrifying memories of the accident, she decides to forgo a professional career in music in favor of teaching college students and her daughter how to play.
Her life is beginning to find some normalcy until one of her students attacks her. She then begins to notice her sister in-law’s dangerous obsession with her fiancée. Furthermore, her new housekeeper is scaring her to death. Tying all of these events together is the very ominous music coming from her daughter’s cello. Specs for CELLO include:
Also announced was Yoji Yamada’s THE HIDDEN BLADE, which slashes onto DVD August 8th. THE HIDDEN BLADE tells the story of Munezo Katagiri (Masatoshi Nagase), an honest and low ranking samurai who is trapped in a state of personal and professional imbalance. Secretly in love with his family’s maid, Kie (Takako Tabata), Munezo begins an uneasy courtship with her, knowing that a relationship is impossible.
Raised to respect traditions from the past and the demanding moral code of the samurai, circumstances have now forced Munezo to look to the future. Required to master western military strategies, particularly the art of artillery, Munezo is ordered to find and kill Yaichiro, a former friend, samurai, and brilliant swordsman. Munezo knows that he cannot beat Yaichiro with fire power alone, so he enlists the help of his old teacher, Kansai Toda, a master swordsman who entrusts Munezo with the secret and power of The Hidden Blade. Specs for this release include: