Takashi Shimura · 1950s

dir. Akira Kurosawa

The BFI vs. Criterion debate dominated every thread. BFI has HDR and what people call the best authoring house in the world (Fidelity in Motion), while Criterion has the deeper extras catalog. Most people who already own the Criterion Blu-ray went BFI for the encode quality bump. The BFI hardbox at $35 USD from OrbitDVD was considered a steal compared to the typical $42-60 USD range for rigid box editions. Criterion's 4K is SDR, which stung given BFI was offering HDR of the same restoration. Seeing it in theaters during the 4K restoration tour was almost too sharp for some viewers, with bald cap seams visible for the first time.

Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Akira Kurosawa

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

BFI · 4K + Blu-ray (United Kingdom)

dir. Ishirō Honda

The 1954 original. Criterion's S-Tier 4K preserves the grain of the black-and-white negative and the restoration gives Honda's creature feature the clarity its early special effects deserve.

Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Akira Kurosawa

The BFI 4K is the version collectors are buying while everyone else waits for a Criterion Kurosawa box that may or may not happen. Kurosawa's Macbeth adaptation with Mifune at full intensity, and the fog sequences are exactly the kind of high-contrast material that rewards a good restoration.

BFI · 4K + Blu-ray (United Kingdom)

dir. Akira Kurosawa

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Toho · 4K Ultra HD