The Criterion Collection and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have announced the titles to be released on Blu-ray in May 2017. On 1 May mouths will be watering for the release of Juzo Itami's Tampopo starring Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai). This "ramen western" combines the ingredients of Seven Samurai-style action, romance and Japanese cooking to create the perfect film dish. On 15 May Sidney Lumet's powerful courtroom drama 12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda, is released. Going behind the closed doors of the jury room, it is a riveting look at the US legal system and an epic drama as one man's life is held in their hands.
Tampopo | Japan 1985
The tale of an eccentric band of culinary ronin who guide the widow of a noodle-shop owner on her quest for the perfect recipe, this rapturous “ramen western” by Japanese director Juzo Itami is an entertaining, genre-bending adventure underpinned by a deft satire of the way social conventions distort the most natural of human urges – our appetites. Interspersing the efforts of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) and friends to make her café a success with the erotic exploits of a gastronome gangster and glimpses of food culture both high and low, the sweet, sexy, and surreal Tampopo is a lavishly inclusive paean to the sensual joys of nourishment, and one of the most mouthwatering examples of food on film ever made.
Special Edition features:
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New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
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The Making of Tampopo, a ninety-minute documentary from 1986, narrated by director Juzo Itami
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New interview with actor Nobuko Miyamoto
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New interview with food stylist Seiko Ogawa
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New interviews with ramen scholar Hiroshi Oosaki and chefs Sam White, Rayneil De Guzman, Jerry Jaksich, and Ivan Orkin
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Rubber Band Pistol, Itami’s 1962 debut short film
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New video essay by filmmakers Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos on the film’s themes of self-improvement and mastery of a craft
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Trailer
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New English subtitle translation
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An essay by food and culture writer Willy Blackmore
12 Angry Men | USA 1957
12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the dissenting member on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. The result is a saga of epic proportions that plays out over a tense afternoon in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature film debuts.
Special Edition contents:
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New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
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Frank Schaffner’s 1955 teleplay of 12 Angry Men, from the series Studio One, featuring an introduction by Ron Simon, curator at the Paley Center for Media
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Production history of 12 Angry Men, from teleplay to big-screen classic
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Archival interviews with director Sidney Lumet
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New interview with screenwriter Walter Bernstein about Lumet
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New interview with Simon about writer Reginald Rose
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Tragedy in a Temporary Town (1956), a teleplay directed by Lumet and written by Rose
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New interview with cinematographer John Bailey about director of photography Boris Kaufman
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Original theatrical trailer
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A booklet featuring a new essay by writer and law professor Thane Rosenbaum
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