BD 73-75 World Cinema Foundation: Volume One

[L.A.]

Hopefully After the Curfew (1954) and Law of the Border (1966) come out soon. Anxious to see.

[neilist]

assuming no rights issues

BFI released Ghatak's 'A River Called Titas' about a decade ago and it's still available from them, so it's debatable if that's going to be forthcoming from MoC.

[effigy105]

Just to mention it, Revenge also boasts at least one scene of overt animal cruelty. More problematic, it's integral to a key scene so I'm unsure just how the BBFC might work around it without making things rather confusing. Perhaps some trickery was employed for some section of the sequence but it looked pretty real throughout to me.

Spoiler

The scene clearly shows a rat being set on fire and then running while ablaze.

It would be a shame if Masters of Cinema had to edit and compromise this release because the film is superb.

[knives]

There's the possibility they had safety things in place for the rat scene like a special flame retardant cloak (I am aware of one film doing that).

[effigy105]

I'd be glad to if some neat little trick like that was used but looking at the way the scene is shot, I'm not sure there's much room for trickery.

Spoiler

There's three separate shots that make up the sequence, but that probably just means three separate rats got toasted. The sequence opens with a fairly telling mid-shot where we can clearly see the rat moving and being dangled into the flame. It's wet but it goes up like a rag soaked in petrol so I suspect no flame retardant was being used, probably quite the opposite.

If edits are made to this set, will that be the first time in MoC's catalogue has fallen prey to BBFC/UK Law intervention? I can't think of any other instances and it will certainly afford Criterion a significant advantage for whatever set they put forward. The BBFC's website doesn't list info for this so I guess we'll wait and see.

[kidc85]

The final shot looked faked, that rat ran exactly where it needed to. I thought the entire sequence was unfortunate - hideous rat death or no - and would have seemed silly even in FINAL DESTINATION. The film had been quite interesting up until that point (to make an analogy with another Hollywood film, it unfolded a bit like a macabre version of PAY IT FORWARD) and I enjoyed the way in which the film played with mystical elements but kept the tragedy at a human level. For the most part these people were not trapped by a predetermined fate but by their own poisonous obsessions. The film's turns into spirituality cheapen the intelligence of the whole, but it remains entertaining.

[effigy105]

Looks like Revenge and Dry Summer have both been submitted to the BBFC and passed uncut, with '15' and '12' ratings respectively.

Revenge features 'strong violence' with no mention of animal cruelty (could it all have been faked? If so, well done, they sure fooled me) and Dry Summer contains 'moderate violence and scenes of animal killing.'

In any case, very good news.

[RossyG]

Unless the were pre-cut prior to submission.

Just saying....

[MichaelB]

They weren't.

From what I gather, the BBFC did raise concerns (unsurprisingly, given the descriptions above!), but they were obviously allayed.

[Rustle]

When possible and appropriate, I hope a savvy regular will lead a discussion in which we plot a best-guess buying strategy for this series. The partial redundancy between MoC's and Crit's initial releases does not provide a quieting start. Life will be simplified if one company's introductory release is obviously superior, but I'm expecting the usual near-identical transfers with toss-up extras.

[MichaelB]

They'll obviously be the same source masters, so differences will be minimal to negligible.

[swo17]

Criterion and MoC are both official partners of the WCF for home video distribution, in the US and UK respectively. I imagine the plan is for both labels to eventually put all of these films out, barring any rights issues that might specifically impact each country. MoC has promised a couple of smaller sets a year. From Criterion, I might expect to see one larger set each year. You're probably safe to stick with whichever label's extras/region coding you prefer.

[rwaits]

What has been confusing about this series (and I'm not sure this has been addressed) is whether each label plans to release every one of these films. I get the feeling I'm probably going to have some overlaps.

[knives]

Yes, each label will release all of the restored films unless there is a rights problem (I believe for example the BFI have the Gitwak). Eventually all of these films will be released by the two companies.

[albucat]

Speaking of which, what's the rights situation with A Brighter Summer Day?

[antnield]

MoC have uploaded clips from...

Dry Summer
Revenge
Trances

[MichaelB]

Yes, each label will release all of the restored films unless there is a rights problem (I believe for example the BFI have the Gitwak). Eventually all of these films will be released by the two companies.

Three if you include Carlotta, who's the French partner. Although I daresay their releases won't be English-friendly.

[tenia]

Yes, each label will release all of the restored films unless there is a rights problem (I believe for example the BFI have the Gitwak). Eventually all of these films will be released by the two companies.

Three if you include Carlotta, who's the French partner. Although I daresay their releases won't be English-friendly.

Furthermore, they're most likely to be released only on DVD in France.

[chatterjees]

Does the BFI released A River Called Titas DVD has the correct beginning? Criterion/WCF version could not get the original title sequence, unfortunately. If the source is same, then probably MoC/BFI's future BD version will have the same beginning. I don't have the BFI DVD, so I would really love to know how the film begins in the DVD. On Hulu, the uploaded Criterion version has a reconstructed ~3 minutes of title sequence, which is only composed of title cards. The original sequence has a fisherman's boat floating on river Titas with a background folk song. Hulu version kept the background song accompanying those hand written title cards.
I asked about the probable reason behind using the alternate/ reconstructed beginning on Criterion's FB page several times. Unfortunately, they are BIG enough not to answer my question. I have emailed WCF too. No answer from them too.

I am really thankful that this film is finally getting the treatment it deserves, but its just annoying to see the alternate beginning.

[antnield]

Beaver.

[neilist]

It's arrived from Eureka! A great package as ever from MoC and definitely looking forward to spending some time with the set soon.

It says on the back the extras include ‘exclusive' introductions from Martin Scorsese, so potentially different introductions for ‘Trances’ and ‘Dry Summer’ to those in the Criterion set?

[tenia]

It says on the back the extras include ‘exclusive' introductions from Martin Scorsese, so potentially different introductions for ‘Trances’ and ‘Dry Summer’ to those in the Criterion set?

The screencaps of Scorsese intros at Beaver seems to point in that direction, since the room where he is sitting are different. I wouldn't expect a 3 min introduction being shot in 2 different places.

[Finch]

I need to watch Dry Summer again under better circumstances (life got in the way halfway through my first viewing) but first impressions are very positive though the post dub is indeed unfortunate. Not watched Trances yet but in my opinion, the set is worth buying for Revenge alone. What a terrific film, and I hope the future WCF sets will feature more cinema from Kazakhstan, both from this director and his peers. Thanks to Craig and co for this release!

[knives]

Yes, Revenge is a wonderful worth buying either this or the criterion set regardless of the other wealth present. Even just the first scene which seems to do the operatic artifice of something like Gate of Hell better than anything I can remember. It's just mindblowing in terms of how it chooses to differently tell each story almost like a series of different filmmakers telling each vignette which probably should be offputting, but turns out to be more enchanting breaking up the film in a way that engages the mind fully. It's definitely not an everyday picture.

[MichaelB]

I'm sure they'll be releasing it eventually, but Revenge isn't in the first Criterion WCP box.