A Bittersweet Life / The Good, the Bad, the Weird (AmasiA Mediabook #9) [Germany]

[pygospa]

Release date: 25.09. 2020
Buy link: JPC, MediaDealer, Pretz
Price: €22.99 - €27.99
Discs: 3x BD
Booklet: 20 pages

Unfortunately not English friendly (Korean + German dubbing, and German subtitles!)

Important: This release is already sold out at Amazon and asking price is a crazy 60€! There are however many other shops still having these, so I listed the top 3 I found. Be fast if you want this. Alternatively this movie also has a Nameless Media Mediabook release, but that one does not come with the bonus movie.

 

 

 

I totally forgot to announce this, but I guess for the majority of the readers here these releases are not of interested due to the missing English friendliness. Which really is a shame for splendid's AmasiA series, as I would guess a lot of international buyers would be interested in, as well, as they are of really high quality and concentrate on movies no one else releases on the western market. This is already the ninth release in the series, with the others being:

 

1. Train to Busan / Seoul Station
2. The Villainess / Confession of Murder
3. The Great Battle / Blood and Flowers
4. Rampant / Prisoners of War
5. The Witch: Subversion / Swordbrothers
6. The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil / Kundo
7. The Devine Fury / Arahan
8. The Battle: Roar to Victory / The Suspect

 

Btw. the bold titles are those where the movie (according to blu-ray.com) hasn't been released anywhere else (with exception of Korea - but a lot of them even miss a Korean release), the rest usually only have a USA/Canada release. "The Suspect" was released only in Australia. And yes, as with the very first release, AmasiA kept on their signature attributes:

 

• All Korean movies
• Every release comes with a full-feature bonus movie on a second disc
• Limitation number on the back (below the J-Card), with crossed weapons used in the movie
• exclusive Artwork with glossy varnish and a 2p making of
• artwork under the transparent trays that continues on the disc artwork

 

No surprises with this release, but as someone collecting the series and likes having a continuous artwork over all the releases this is a plus. I was still surprised. Since 8 releases this is the first 3-Disc Release. Instead of having just one cut, "A Bittersweet Life" comes with two different editions: the Korean Cinema cut, as well as the Director's cut, each on it's own disc.

Regarding the two movies, "A Bittersweet Life" has two amaray releases, one in France and one in Spain - of course with the same problematic when it comes to Audio and Subtitles, but also a zillion releases in Korea (Fullslip release from a Company I don't know, three Nova Media Fullslips, two Budblu Fullslips and those do feature English subtitles), "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" has multiple western-country Amaray releases in (USA, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain, and some others). But I do not know if there are any extras on these, or if they are the same extras, if there are some. The J-Card on the German release advertises more than 150 minutes of extras, including 90 minutes of never before seen extras. But again these will probably be in Korean and feature just German subtitles. So unless you understand German or Korean, this is probably not interesting for you Also while researching I found out that there are two cuts of this movie as well, with the second (international) cut being shorter. I therefore checked my blu-ray against the time given on Wikipedia (139 Minutes), and it is 10 Minutes shorter; however even the Korean releases listed on blu-ray.com all show the same shorter version, so I'm not sure if that longer cut was ever released or if that information is even true.

Let's get to the movies: "A Bittersweet Life" (달콤한 인생, Dalkomhan insaeng) was released in 2005 by Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, I Saw the Devil) featuring Lee Byung-hun (I Saw the Devil, Inside Men), and tells the story of a hitman, who does not kill a target and since is hunted by his boss. It was pretty well received and gained some nominations and awards in Asia, was unofficially remade in India as Awarapan (2007), and an American remake under direction of Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2+3, The Darkest Minds) staring Michael B. Jordan (Creed 1+2, Black Panther), but that is still in the early phases of making.
"The Good, the Bad, the Weird" (좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈, Jo-eun nom nappeun nom isanghan nom) was released in 2008 and is included as another movie by the same director, with Lee Byung-hun, co-staring Song Kang-ho (Joint Security Area, Parasite) and Jung Woo-sung. It is set in China in 1939, months before the beginning of the Second World War and is an action/adventure/comedy movie telling the story of how tree distinctive figures, "The Bad" (a hitman who is trying to steal a treasure map), "The Weird" (a thief, who is also after the treasure map) and "The Good" (a bounty hunter who is hunting "The Bad"), get mixed up together. As the title already suggests, this movie is inspired by Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", and it once more got rather positive reviews grossing $44 Million USD, making it the the second highest grossing Korean films in 2008 and one of Koreas highest grossing films of all time.
 

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by pygospa

[pygospa]

And here are photos of my edition that just arrived today. Enjoy:

 

[pygospa]

Shoot. I forgot to put a link under the first Entry of the list in my initial post. Here you go:

 

 

[extantsrevenge]

This is a great looking edition I might get that, the only thing that is annoying is that it includes a second movie (and it is one I don't like 😅).

[Veum]

Spoiler

On 9/25/2020 at 10:46 AM, pygospa said:

Release date: 25.09. 2020
Buy link: JPC, MediaDealer, Pretz
Price: €22.99 - €27.99
Discs: 3x BD
Booklet: 20 pages

Unfortunately not English friendly (Korean + German dubbing, and German subtitles!)

Important: This release is already sold out at Amazon and asking price is a crazy 60€! There are however many other shops still having these, so I listed the top 3 I found. Be fast if you want this. Alternatively this movie also has a Nameless Media Mediabook release, but that one does not come with the bonus movie.

 

 

 

I totally forgot to announce this, but I guess for the majority of the readers here these releases are not of interested due to the missing English friendliness. Which really is a shame for splendid's AmasiA series, as I would guess a lot of international buyers would be interested in, as well, as they are of really high quality and concentrate on movies no one else releases on the western market. This is already the ninth release in the series, with the others being:

 

1. Train to Busan / Seoul Station
2. The Villainess / Confession of Murder
3. The Great Battle / Blood and Flowers
4. Rampant / Prisoners of War
5. The Witch: Subversion / Swordbrothers
6. The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil / Kundo
7. The Devine Fury / Arahan
8. The Battle: Roar to Victory / The Suspect

 

Btw. the bold titles are those where the movie (according to blu-ray.com) hasn't been released anywhere else (with exception of Korea - but a lot of them even miss a Korean release), the rest usually only have a USA/Canada release. "The Suspect" was released only in Australia. And yes, as with the very first release, AmasiA kept on their signature attributes:

 

• All Korean movies
• Every release comes with a full-feature bonus movie on a second disc
• Limitation number on the back (below the J-Card), with crossed weapons used in the movie
• exclusive Artwork with glossy varnish and a 2p making of
• artwork under the transparent trays that continues on the disc artwork

 

No surprises with this release, but as someone collecting the series and likes having a continuous artwork over all the releases this is a plus. I was still surprised. Since 8 releases this is the first 3-Disc Release. Instead of having just one cut, "A Bittersweet Life" comes with two different editions: the Korean Cinema cut, as well as the Director's cut, each on it's own disc.

Regarding the two movies, "A Bittersweet Life" has two amaray releases, one in France and one in Spain - of course with the same problematic when it comes to Audio and Subtitles, but also a zillion releases in Korea (Fullslip release from a Company I don't know, three Nova Media Fullslips, two Budblu Fullslips and those do feature English subtitles), "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" has multiple western-country Amaray releases in (USA, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain, and some others). But I do not know if there are any extras on these, or if they are the same extras, if there are some. The J-Card on the German release advertises more than 150 minutes of extras, including 90 minutes of never before seen extras. But again these will probably be in Korean and feature just German subtitles. So unless you understand German or Korean, this is probably not interesting for you Also while researching I found out that there are two cuts of this movie as well, with the second (international) cut being shorter. I therefore checked my blu-ray against the time given on Wikipedia (139 Minutes), and it is 10 Minutes shorter; however even the Korean releases listed on blu-ray.com all show the same shorter version, so I'm not sure if that longer cut was ever released or if that information is even true.

Let's get to the movies: "A Bittersweet Life" (달콤한 인생, Dalkomhan insaeng) was released in 2005 by Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters, I Saw the Devil) featuring Lee Byung-hun (I Saw the Devil, Inside Men), and tells the story of a hitman, who does not kill a target and since is hunted by his boss. It was pretty well received and gained some nominations and awards in Asia, was unofficially remade in India as Awarapan (2007), and an American remake under direction of Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2+3, The Darkest Minds) staring Michael B. Jordan (Creed 1+2, Black Panther), but that is still in the early phases of making.
"The Good, the Bad, the Weird" (좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈, Jo-eun nom nappeun nom isanghan nom) was released in 2008 and is included as another movie by the same director, with Lee Byung-hun, co-staring Song Kang-ho (Joint Security Area, Parasite) and Jung Woo-sung. It is set in China in 1939, months before the beginning of the Second World War and is an action/adventure/comedy movie telling the story of how tree distinctive figures, "The Bad" (a hitman who is trying to steal a treasure map), "The Weird" (a thief, who is also after the treasure map) and "The Good" (a bounty hunter who is hunting "The Bad"), get mixed up together. As the title already suggests, this movie is inspired by Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", and it once more got rather positive reviews grossing $44 Million USD, making it the the second highest grossing Korean films in 2008 and one of Koreas highest grossing films of all time.
 

 

 

 

Boo not English friendly...

 

[pygospa]

1 hour ago, extantsrevenge said:

This is a great looking edition I might get that, the only thing that is annoying is that it includes a second movie (and it is one I don't like 😅).

 

Oh, you really think so? I actually love it, when they include a bonus movie - most of these movies that AmasiA includes, wouldn't stand a chance as a single release, as they would be too special interest. For instance one of them contained the movie Frozen Flower as extra, which tells the story of a gay king who is in love with one of his guards, but married to a woman, who this guard is to empregnate for an heir, but then he falls in love with her, and the king feels betraied. It's a rather strange story, with a really slow pace, but impressive scenary and sets and especially bright colors. So strangely it was an enjoyable watch even though I would never have bought this, and I would never recommend anyone else to spent money on it, if it was a single release. But in this bundle it's a great bonus, and adds to my asian movie collection  

Here is a scene out of it:
 

 

23 minutes ago, Veum said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Boo not English friendly...

 

 

 

I'm really sorry for you guys, but yeah, that's a problem with these German releases. However, to be fair, I guess it's much easier and more common to find English friendly German releases, than the other way round, though. Or could you name any German friendly US releases? 😝

But yeah, it always sadens me a bit when I cannot recommend something to you guys, because of the language restriction. Sorry for that  

[pygospa]

PS: @extantsrevenge if the bonus movie bothers you so much in the "A bittersweet Life"-Release, then there is also this single release by Nameless. You'll pay extra for the missing movie (it's around 30-32€), but therefore it comes in three covers to choose from  

[extantsrevenge]

@pygospa I have this Edition from Budblu

 

But I'm not sure if I can open that 😅 so the Mediabook might be a good choice, I like it more than the other 3 edition and I don't need to see the other movie 😂

[pygospa]

@extantsrevenge Wow, that's a great set. Didn't even know that existed, but yeah, if you own this release, and want another one to open, I guess the AmasiA Mediabook is a good one to get. I haven't double dipped, so I have no idea, what the booklet text from the Nameless releases is all about, but I feel you get more "bang for the bug" when going with the AmasiA release, though technically just from the build quality the Nameless is superior (thicker cardboard, sewn booklet, thicker paper).

 

 

[extantsrevenge]

@pygospa thanks for the additional info, I completely forgot to include a link to the Budblu release, check it out here they had 2 different editions.

[Bunaldinho]

As far as I know the Nameless Mediabook repacked the 2012 Splendid / Amasia Disc. So I wouldn't go for that, since they're even more expensive than the new Splendid Mediabook which seems to have a better new master as advertised?

 

I just received the Splendid Mediabook and took a look into both movie cuts, but I can't tell if the master is really better than the 2012 disc in comparison, because I don't want to open my old amaray, which is still sealed. LOL

 

The theatrical cut has a warm color palette with a softer look, the directors cut a cooler colors with more sharp contours.

[Bunaldinho]

vor 18 Minuten schrieb Bunaldinho:

As far as I know the Nameless Mediabook repacked the 2012 Splendid / Amasia Disc. So I wouldn't go for that, since they're even more expensive than the new Splendid Mediabook which seems to have a better new master as advertised?

 

I just received the Splendid Mediabook and took a look into both movie cuts, but I can't tell if the master is really better than the 2012 disc in comparison, because I don't want to open my old amaray, which is still sealed. LOL

 

The theatrical cut has a warm color palette with a softer look, the directors cut a cooler colors with more sharp contours.

 

Have to revise the information about the 3 Nameless Mediabooks, they're advertised to include the new master as well. But yeah, the price...