4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: C/B/B/B- Sound: C+/C+/C+/B- Extras: C/B-/B-/C+ Films: C+

Here are more films with erotic content, but to what degree do they succeed?...

Daniel Werner's Amor Bandido (2021) is yet another film we could site as being part of the long-running 'hot for teacher' cycle where a young guy (Renato Quattordio) falls for his teacher (Romina Ricci) and a passionate relationship starts up. They go to the country, only for him to be kidnapped by some older guy, then the film gets uneven and never recovers. At least the acting is not bad.

However, the erotic part is badly handled with the teacher never nude and the student oddly so, then things get odder here too and when the oddly short 80 minutes is over, you wonder what was this supposed to be about or show us what we have not seen before. I just wish it were bolder and used its time better. Maybe its budget stopped it from being longer or footage that was actually erotic was somehow cut out? This 'love bandit' will mostly only steal your time.

Extras are the least here and include a 3-minute radio interview with Director Werner and several trailers for other Cinephobia releases that look interesting enough.

Jess Franco's Justine 4K (1969) and Philosophy In The Boudoir 4K (1970, aka Eugene) already received top notch, extensive Blu-ray releases by the great Blue Underground label, but they have reissued them and further upgraded the films in 4K Ultra HD with just about all the same extras. We originally covered the films at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13982/Eugenie

Needless to say having name stars like Christopher Lee, Jack Palance, Mercedes McCambridge, Maria Rohm, Akim Tamiroff and an actor who has a reputation for being pure torture worthy of De Sade himself, Klaus Kinski, certainly makes these two films curios. However, some of them are only in them briefly and the films did not work for me much more than my fellow critic. Not my kind of film, they are visually interesting and have some good moments, but nothing really sexy (if intended?) and not as bold, political or daring as Pasolini's Salo (1975, see our Criterion coverage elsewhere on this site) so that would be a more extreme and accurate take on such material.

Still, that these got made at all and with name stars shows how the counterculture, independent and alternative cinema of the time was just getting warmed up, while Franco seemed like he was on a commercial upswing. Franco is a good director who was almost an auteur working in the non-mainstream and his films are usually interesting. These are near his usual level of watchable films at best that at least are by someone who is a capable filmmaker who knows what a narrative is. Which I could say that about more directors now. The very curious will want to give both of these a look, especially so well restored.

Both Blue Underground 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray sets have the same extras as the previous 3-disc sets, save the CD soundtracks and DVDs.

Lastly we have Shohei Imamura's Warm Water Under A Red Bridge (2001) in his last film with an unemployed white collar worker (Koji Yakusho) meeting a woman (Misa Shimizu) whose apparently very sexually needly, yet villagers think her sexuality can help fisherman and fish thrive? From that premise, the film is trying to be a comedy, but it is not funny if you do not accept any of its premises and not able to suspense disbelief due to a lack of exposition or the like.

The look is not bad and neither are the actors, plus I can see how something like this might appeal to some viewers, but the pretension and linking honest eroticism to some fantasy silliness just never gels for me no matter how it is done. That makes it some kind of curio for those interested in what the makers did with these ideas, but I found it as unsexy as ti is forgettable. Now you can see for yourself.

Extras include a 16-page illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and an essay by film scholar/writer Hwang Kyunmin and video essay dubbed Messy & Juicy by author/film curator Tom Vick.

Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.66 X 1 (on Justine) and 2.35 X 1 (Eugene, in 2-perf Chromoscope/Techniscope), Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image are not only improvements over the already solid 1080p Blu-rays also included, but even I was surprised by the excellent color improvements (especially on Justine) and overall detail and depth upgrades we get here. That makes them as good as any of the many Jess Franco feature films issued on home video over the decades. Even if you are not a fan, or comfortable with the subject matter, these still look really good and the restoration work is top notch for films that may not have always had the top preservation treatment over the last 50+ years. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mixes on Justine and Eugene repeat the original theatrical monophonic sound on the Blu-rays we previously reviewed and are included here. They show their age much more, but have been as cleaned up as possible and will never sound better. Too bad the CD soundtracks from the last sets are not here.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Water is good, but it can be a rough film visually and it has a certain style that is more contemporary than vivid. Color is good, but just a little too much softness holds the visuals back. Otherwise, this is what the film has always looked like from what little I have seen of it over the years. The Japanese DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix is fine, but has its sonic limits, plus it has its share of silence and dialogue-driven scenes. The combination is passable, but not stunning.

Lastly, the anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Bandido is softer than expected, especially odd since this is the newest production on the list by over two decades, even considering the limited definition of the older DVD format. I wished for a Blu-ray at least, so we'll see if this ever get an HD upgrade. The lossy Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundmix fares a bit better, but in this age of lossless 12-track sound, the codec makes the sound play a little older than it actually is. The combination is barely passable.

- Nicholas Sheffo