LACMA Premieres John Woo's Complete Red Cliff

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• Tom Brueggemann | November 24, 2010 1:18 AMReply

  The DVD of the full version has been out for some time; unfortunately Netflix only (at least initially) stocked the edited US release. So one might need to purchase this to see it at home.
  
  I have the complete film, need to find five hours to watch it without disruption, which I've meant to do for some time (and was able to do with) Carlos.

• Brian | November 24, 2010 12:03 AMReply

  Magnolia kept RED CLIFF a big secret when they released it last November. Almost no promotion and only showing in two theaters in Manhattan, both tiny theaters in inconvenient locations. This should have had a big HERO-like push and opened at a 42nd Street multiplex with a big opening night crowd. It's definitely much more of a crowd-pleaser than HERO. Of course, I'm talking about the two-and-a-half-hour version. They did run the long version once in New York, I think at Lincoln Center, but it was on a day I couldn't make it. But I had seen it on DVD and found the second half tough to get through. I mean, yeah, we're waiting for the wind to change. Oh, okay, still waitin'. An hour or two later, "Ah, here it comes, just in time!" There are a few scenes that were cut that I missed from the short version. If they'd been put back, it would have made for a very nice 3-hour cut. But, sorry, five hours is way too long.