140 8½

[hearthesilence]

Not sure if this is related, but when I first visited London, I was astounded how literally EVERYONE on the Tube would be reading a physical newspaper during the morning commute. This was in 2007 when it was accepted wisdom that print was "dying" in the U.S., yet it seemed to be completely the opposite in the UK. I heard many reasons for this and that basically there's a different business model for how newspapers are run in the UK, but I do wonder if it's a cultural difference. You do hear that explanation about Japan where music streaming hasn't taken off to the same level because listeners still prefer to have a physical copy of the music they like.

[filmyfan]

Not sure if this is related, but when I first visited London, I was astounded how literally EVERYONE on the Tube would be reading a physical newspaper during the morning commute. This was in 2007 when it was accepted wisdom that print was "dying" in the U.S., yet it seemed to be completely the opposite in the UK.

Not any more it isn't
Hard to see anyone reading a paper or book these days.
Everyone has their face buried in their screen.

[onedimension]

No Dolby Vision or HDR on this one?

[rrenault]

Considering it’s 4K SDR I’m wondering whether or not I should cancel the preorder at some point, since the Blu-ray in the Essential Fellini set is already excellent and sourced from the same master. Or maybe a Euro UHD will get announced from someone at some point between now and December.

Although I must say these reissues of films with already solid blu rays are starting to get a tad decadent.

[TMDaines]

Not sure if this is related, but when I first visited London, I was astounded how literally EVERYONE on the Tube would be reading a physical newspaper during the morning commute. This was in 2007 when it was accepted wisdom that print was "dying" in the U.S., yet it seemed to be completely the opposite in the UK. I heard many reasons for this and that basically there's a different business model for how newspapers are run in the UK, but I do wonder if it's a cultural difference. You do hear that explanation about Japan where music streaming hasn't taken off to the same level because listeners still prefer to have a physical copy of the music they like.

It was surely when the free newspapers were being heavily distributed to commuters.

[Matt]

I'm not seeing any reviews for the UHD other than the review from Slant which is basically "it looks good."

[ryannichols7]

excited for a Nicolas or Chris review on this one, I'm surprised by how little it's been reviewed so far

[Stefan Andersson]

Interesting comment on the restoration of the film (browser translation from Italian Wikipedia entry):

"When the film was released in several copies distributed in Italy, some scenes were toned (in sepia in some copies, in blue in others): these were, as a caption at the beginning of the film explained, the scenes that represented what was dreamed or imagined by the protagonist. The toning was decided by the distributor to make it easier for viewers to distinguish between real and non-real scenes[9], especially with a view to distribution in foreign markets.

Other sequences, on the other hand, Fellini wanted them to be overexposed (i.e. excessively bright, an effect obtained during the printing of the positives), such as the sequence at the source, when Marcello is in line with other people, with his glass in his hand. This deliberately dazzled aspect of the scene has been lost with the recent restoration of the film. The restorers redid the sequence with a perfect black and white extremely contrasted, thus betraying Fellini's original intentions."
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/8%C2%BD

[rrenault]

Interesting comment on the restoration of the film (browser translation from Italian Wikipedia entry):

"When the film was released in several copies distributed in Italy, some scenes were toned (in sepia in some copies, in blue in others): these were, as a caption at the beginning of the film explained, the scenes that represented what was dreamed or imagined by the protagonist. The toning was decided by the distributor to make it easier for viewers to distinguish between real and non-real scenes[9], especially with a view to distribution in foreign markets.

Other sequences, on the other hand, Fellini wanted them to be overexposed (i.e. excessively bright, an effect obtained during the printing of the positives), such as the sequence at the source, when Marcello is in line with other people, with his glass in his hand. This deliberately dazzled aspect of the scene has been lost with the recent restoration of the film. The restorers redid the sequence with a perfect black and white extremely contrasted, thus betraying Fellini's original intentions."
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/8%C2%BD

Is this in reference to the 4K restoration or the one Criterion released on their circa 2010 blu-ray?

[Stefan Andersson]

Interesting comment on the restoration of the film (browser translation from Italian Wikipedia entry):

"When the film was released in several copies distributed in Italy, some scenes were toned (in sepia in some copies, in blue in others): these were, as a caption at the beginning of the film explained, the scenes that represented what was dreamed or imagined by the protagonist. The toning was decided by the distributor to make it easier for viewers to distinguish between real and non-real scenes[9], especially with a view to distribution in foreign markets.

Other sequences, on the other hand, Fellini wanted them to be overexposed (i.e. excessively bright, an effect obtained during the printing of the positives), such as the sequence at the source, when Marcello is in line with other people, with his glass in his hand. This deliberately dazzled aspect of the scene has been lost with the recent restoration of the film. The restorers redid the sequence with a perfect black and white extremely contrasted, thus betraying Fellini's original intentions."
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/8%C2%BD

Is this in reference to the 4K restoration or the one Criterion released on their circa 2010 blu-ray?

I Googled this and found no definite answer.

The above info, with mention of a recent restoration, is described in these Italian articles from 2022 and 2017:
https://www.npcmagazine.it/8%C2%BD-fellini-analisi/
https://www.universalmovies.it/cult-cla ... lini-1963/

[tenia]

One could check when this has been added to the Wiki page. If it's after the latest 4k restoration, then it'd be likely to refer to it. I don't recall how the older Criterion and Gaumont presentations are presenting this, and if it's overexposed or not, but it would also give intel about this.

[Stefan Andersson]

Hi tenia, thanks for this information!

"Aggiunta nota sul viraggio delle scene immaginate o sognate" (Added note about tinting of imagined/dream sequences) Dec. 18, 2009:
https://it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... &limit=500

[tenia]

So it cant' be referring to the latest 4K restoration, so we can't know for sure which presentation this is referring to, especially as it even pre-dates the Criterion 2010 BD, and that the movie's seeminly sole italian BD release was in 2014 (after this note) and the closest italian DVD release was from 2003 (quite some time before this note).

Though it looks like the tinting thing is referenced, I'm wary about the overexposing one, as it's unsourced on Wikipedia, and it looks very much like that 2022 NPC Magazine article is C+Ping this from this very Wiki page.

[Stefan Andersson]

See also footnotes 5 and 8 on the French Wiki page:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huit_et_demi

Footnotes references these pages:
https://2021.festival-lumiere.org/manif ... -demi.html - footnote 5
https://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/Huit-et- ... -grandiose - footnote 8, comment about overexposed scene(s) is differently worded than the Italian Wiki commment.

[rrenault]

Just as a side note, I'm surprised the 4K restoration of 8 1/2 hasn't received home video treatment of any kind in the UK/EU. I know there's the Cult Films blu-ray, but I don't think it uses the 4K master.

[Stefan Andersson]

DoP Gianni di Venanzo comments on the lighting of the water dispensing scene on p. 17 of this issue of the Italian film magazine Bianco e Nero:
https://fondazionecsc.b-cdn.net/wp-cont ... 963_04.pdf

If I understand the Italian correctly, the lighting was changed from the normal "12" setting to "circa 6", and this was preserved on the negative, to achieve an effect of blinding light.

The run of Bianco e Nero 1937-2002 is available for free here:
https://www.fondazionecsc.it/pubblicazi ... nero-1937/

[Stefan Andersson]

Info from 2015 about the Gaumont bluray:
"I've also noticed the blown-out whites present on this disc. (most noticeable during the "ride of the valkyries"-scene) The Gaumont disc also contains a 34 minute HD documentary/interview with legendary director of photography Darius Khondji (Seven, Midnight in Paris). In this very informative docu mr. Khondji explains at length that a number of scenes in 8 1/2 were intentionally over-exposed resulting in... "blown-out whites".

Post 17 here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=239762

Update:
this must be the bluray referred to above:
https://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/f153168-8-12.html