Jean Eustache on DVD

[tenia]

He's just shooting himself in the foot and screwing over the rest of us.

Absolutely.

I've understood from people who've followed this story that he basically has no idea how the licencing fees, advances or whatever work. While he always said "it's not about money", it actually absolutely is : he just wants to get a gigantic check handled to him, but since he seems far away from reality, I believe he has unrealistic expectations about how "gigantic" such a check can be.

Meanwhile, indeed, he gets nothing, zero, nada, just what the TV and theatrical sales gets him.

[jindianajonz]

I would also imagine that holding these films back is having a deleterious effect on the public awareness of them, which is only going to drive their value down in the eyes of any label interested in licensing them...

Shooting himself in the food, indeed.

[chaddoli]

The Mother and the Whore is playing in New York on 35mm in January.
http://www.fiaf.org/events/winter2016/2 ... aman.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Drucker]

Thanks for then heads up. This is going to kill me on a work night but I have to go.

[bearcuborg]

Luckily I have a copy, though I would like to see Mes Petites Amoureuses again.

[JakeB]

Luckily I have a copy

What do you mean by you 'have a copy?!'

Also, for UK people. This is screening at the Barbican on Valentines day: http://www.barbican.org.uk/film/event-d ... p?ID=18978

[bearcuborg]

I have it on VHS and DVD.

[JakeB]

Ahhh, I see. Not going to remotely compare to seeing it on 35mm though, surely?

[bearcuborg]

No, especially if you haven't seen it before.

[hearthesilence]

Glad I caught it at BAM a couple of years ago. If it's the same print that will be screening at FIAF, it should be a good one unless something happened to it in the interim.

[JakeB]

No, especially if you haven't seen it before.

I haven't. There's a HDTV rip doing the rounds online, but I will definitely make the trip down and see it instead.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Glad I caught it at BAM a couple of years ago. If it's the same print that will be screening at FIAF, it should be a good one unless something happened to it in the interim.

Are there very many prints of the film out there?

[hearthesilence]

Are there very many prints of the film out there?

I doubt it - I imagine there's a good chance it's the same one.

[hearthesilence]

Metrograph's Jean Eustache retrospective goes on for five more days (including today) and I highly recommend going. The venue itself is very charming and elegantly designed, and somewhat off the beaten path in Chinatown.

My Little Loves played yesterday, and it looked beautiful - colors and light on previous video transfers look washed out and lifeless compared to the real deal. The print was worn around the reel changes, but otherwise it was in great shape and really did justice to Nestor Almendros' beautiful natural light photography.

It's a very fine movie, but I was immediately struck by how much it owed to Robert Bresson. This is especially true for the great climactic walk towards the end - which peaks with a wonderfully orchestrated shot that itself owes something to Vertigo - in terms of the cutting, composition and voice-over. The other great scene, the screening of Pandora, seemed a bit derivative as well (Last Picture Show comes to mind). I feel a little mixed about how the sources were so apparent, but regardless, I still enjoyed it and there are so few features from Eustache, everyone really should make an effort to see it in the best format while they still can. It plays one more time tomorrow night.

There are no more screenings of The Mother and the Whore - hands down his greatest work - but it does seem to screen in 35mm about once a year around NYC, so if you missed it, be patient.

[Drucker]

Saw Mother and the Whore today. Also had tickets for Santa Claus has Blue Eyes but I bailed, with some personal stuff going on and being under-prepared for 5.5 hours at the cinema.

However, Mother and the Whore was great, and opened with a New Yorker log for what it's worth. I'll try to jot down more thoughts in the coming days, but this, paired with some recent Oshima viewings is really aiding my ability to watch "New Wave" films, and "get it" in a way I haven't been before. For the most part, the print was in great shape, except around reel changes.

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, Santa Claus has Blue Eyes pops up a lot on YouTube and usually doesn't look terrible.

I'd also recommend Le cochon, which is actually a great direct-cinema documentary. A bit under an hour, it's a film about sausage-making, which is hilarious only in that such a description seems to be a common expression whenever I hear someone deride a dry, making of documentary. Not in this case, which shows the traditional artisanal process used in rural France, done completely by hand (no electric tools), from the slaughter through the cleaning and the preparation of the sausage. A wonderful bit of anthropology.

[charal]

For those who haven't indulged yet check out most of Eustaches's films on youtube with english subs. I just watched his second feature and found it to be quite interesting. The fact that I admire Bresson helps a lot in this regard since the film appears to be drenched in Bresson. Critics have declared the film to be too long for such a slight subject but I prefer to view films from my own angle. If you like spare, visual filmmaking check it out while it is available. The transfer is actually quite good. SANTA CLAUS is aclually quite the little comedy which is not hard to achieve with Leaud in the lead.

Alain Tanner's films are out with subs at present on youtube as well. LIGHT YEARS AWAY is eccentric but simple and MESSIDOR is much better than reviewers would have you believe. This film is nothing more rhan an extended esssay on freedom with a constant reference to the basic existential needs of food and shelter and of how we all take them for granted. Both transfers appear to be from the average out of print French DVDs.

[Ted Todorov]

Just saw (for the 5th time since the '70s) Mother and The Whore at the Walter Reade - always I'm amazed just how good it is, for different reasons. It's playing again on Monday. Definitely will go to as many as possible at the Jean-Pierre Leaud retro, which does include one more Eustache film Santa Claus has Blue Eyes.

[spectre]

Well, here's some pretty big news:

http://www.potemkine.fr/Potemkine-film/ ... 3f289.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No word on whether it will have English subtitles.

[zedz]

Well, here's some pretty big news:

http://www.potemkine.fr/Potemkine-film/ ... 3f289.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No word on whether it will have English subtitles.

My jaw dropped.

Potemkine are pretty good with English subs unless licensing prohibits it. (e.g. their Alonso set had subs on everything except for Liverpool, because that was with Second Run) Any extras might not be subbed, though.

[Ashirg]

Amazon.fr isn't listing Anglais Sous-titres yet, but here's the extras -

Entretien avec Jean-Noël Picq (psychanalyste, ami de Jean Eustache et acteur du volet documentaire)
Présentation du film par Gabriela Trujillo, spécialiste de l'oeuvre de Jean Eustache

[spectre]

Anyone care to guess what this means? Is Boris starting to come around, and are we about to embark on a run of Eustache releases? Or is there a reason why Une Sale Histoire might be an exception?

[hearthesilence]

Boris is 57 - I would hope he'd come around by now, because now that years have passed, it's clear he's shot himself in the foot and pissed away much of the monetary gain from having the rights to these titles while pushing his father deeper into obscurity (outside of cinephiles, very few and now even fewer people know who he is). I don't know if he's wealthy, but when you're 57 with fewer working days ahead of you and possibly children and grandchildren that could use some help, there are money issues to consider.

[kubelkind]

Seems like an odd one to start with...not to mention a damn short DVD. You'd think they'd go for the "greatest hit" first. I liked Une Sale Histoire, but I can't see a talky, short, repetitive experimental film on a highly objectionable subject paying Boris's retirement fund somehow...

[McCrutchy]

Amazon.fr have posted an image of the back cover of the Potemkine DVD of Un sale histoire. No English subs, only French SDH, it seems.