Kinsayder wrote:Le souvenir d'un avenir (2001), by Yannick Bellon and Chris Marker, is an extra on this double disc set of Bellon's L'Amour nu & L'Affut:
The cat film (which is indeed delightful) is also on the French Last Bolshevik DVD, where it has been incorporated in its entirety as an entr'acte between the two parts of the main film.
Pretty brilliant programming by whoever decided on Sans Soleil. Cool story. And I agree, one of my all-time favorites as well, although I still have a lot of exploring to do in the essay-film genre. I'd love a Criterion even though the R2 with La Jetee is pretty good.
Recently got a pretty good copy of Loin du Vietnam on DVD from cdJapan.co.jp. Region 2, NTSC with removable Japanese subtitles (no English). Produced by Columbia Music Entertainment, I have no idea how it compares to an Imagica release derided by someone in another thread, but considering the variety of different film and video sources used in the film, this copy is quite watchable. I know this may not technically be a Chris Marker film, though he had a lot to do initiating and putting the project together. As a companion piece to de Antonio's In the Year of the Pig, it's a real eye-opener definitely worth checking out, even with the lack of English subtitles.
Les groupes Medvedkine (Editions Montparnasse) includes Chris Marker's A bientôt, j'espère (1967), though of course Marker was involved in the whole project:
solaris72 wrote:Les Astronautes, a partially animated collaboration between Marker and recently-deceased filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk, will be a special feature on the Cult Epics release of Borowczyk's Goto, Island of Love.
Just to follow up on Solaris72's post, I just watched Les Astronautes, and found it to be an utterly charming work. It kind of plays as a daydream of space travel companion piece to Marker's more serious-minded rumination on time travel that is La Jetee. And it has the Argos owl making an appearance, with the only spoken word in the film, "Einstein"!
Macintosh wrote:Quick question, exactly how do I pronounce Sans Soleil?
Roughly: sonn so-LAY
But really, you should kind of swallow the "n" sound, as if you're about to say "song" without pronouncing the "g". And you should sort of add the slightest hint of a whisper of a "yuh" sound at the end of "Soleil". Like so-LAY-yuh.
Matt wrote:But really, you should kind of swallow the "n" sound, as if you're about to say "song" without pronouncing the "g". And you should sort of add the slightest hint of a whisper of a "yuh" sound at the end of "Soleil". Like so-LAY-yuh.
While this thread is being resuscitated, I thought I'd join the chorus of the Marker-curious at a tangent to the 1968 thread.
Anglophone-friendly versions of Lettre de Sibérie, Le Joli mai, Loin du Vietnam and Le Fond de l'air est rouge should be released by some dedicated company which is prepared to lose a lot of money on them (highly unlikely to be Criterion).
Incidentally, I recently got to a screening of Description d'un combat (1960) in London (the print had faded to pink, and it had a plummy English-language narration, but apparently the best the BFI could get hold of), one early Marker film which, I'm sorry to report, is not really worthy of revival other than for negative reasons. It's on the theme of Israel, but made in the days when the left still had some sentimental ideas about Israel as a post-Holocaust utopia. The Palestinians are given scant attention, and the whole thing is frankly painful to watch, given the subsequent course of historical events.
Matt wrote:But really, you should kind of swallow the "n" sound, as if you're about to say "song" without pronouncing the "g". And you should sort of add the slightest hint of a whisper of a "yuh" sound at the end of "Soleil". Like so-LAY-yuh.
Yes, wonderful. That "hint of a whisper" is what's called a "phantom vowel." I always loved that. Mark E. Smith is the maestro of the phantom vowel. That's how I use it casual conversation.
There is apparently only one unsubtitled 35mm print of "Le joli mai" in Europe and it is in so-so condition. The producer who owned the print recently passed away. I suspect it will be a while before we see a good copy of this on video.
(Incidentally the same producer owned "Loin du Vietnam" and Resnais' "Guerre est finie.")
Last edited by whaleallright on Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
jonah.77 wrote:There is apparently only one unsubtitled 35mm print of "Le joli mai" in Europe and it is in so-so condition. The producer who owned the print recently passed away. I suspect it will be a while before we see a good copy of this on video.
You can find subbed VHS tapes in university libraries here and there. It doesn't look great, but it's totally watchable.
That tape is widely available, but I remember it having many instances of dreaded white-on-white subtitles. And I've only seen nth-generation copies so the image wasn't much either.
jonah.77 wrote:That tape is widely available, but I remember it having many instances of dreaded white-on-white subtitles. And I've only seen nth-generation copies so the image wasn't much either.
That's definitely true. I've seen three different copies, and all of them suffered from spots of that. But on the whole, they were watchable.
The company behind the Spanish Markers is Intermedio, who did a great job this year bringing out three Bressons (Un condamné Ã mort s'est échappé / Lancelot du Lac / Le Diable probablement) that Gaumont France had promised but failed to deliver.
The picture quality is excellent on Lancelot du Lac (I haven't watched the others yet) The sound is original French with Spanish subtitles which are fixed but not burnt in. Lots of extras, too. If Intermedio do as good a job on the Markers - but preferably with more easily removable subs - I'll be happy.
Kinsayder wrote:If Intermedio do as good a job on the Markers - but preferably with more easily removable subs - I'll be happy.
I think Islandempire's point is that they are unlikely to be subtitled at all. As long as there were Spanish-narrated versions produced, those are the ones Marker would authorise.
Kinsayder wrote:If Intermedio do as good a job on the Markers - but preferably with more easily removable subs - I'll be happy.
I think Islandempire's point is that they are unlikely to be subtitled at all. As long as there were Spanish-narrated versions produced, those are the ones Marker would authorise.
Mmmmm, I don't think so. There aren't dubbed versions (AFAIK) of the documentaries they're releasing, and dubbing is a very expensive process. Intermedio's catalogue is in its majority comprised of original audio + subtitles only DVDs.
backstreetsbackalright wrote:In the latest ish of Cinemascope, Jonathan Rosenbaum says that the French DVD of The Last Bolshevik is subtitled. Can anyone chime in to confirm or deny this allegation?
In answer to my own question, both discs in this package are subtitled in English. The Marker disc also has an English audio option. This is possibly my favorite DVD of 2005. Oh, and I should mention that the packaging differs from the image shown on Amazon. It's better, actually.
Is this the only Marker DVD discussed in this thread that's been confirmed English-friendly? Any others include English tracks, if not subs?
I guess my question boils down to: are there any Marker films available on DVD for English audiences in addition to "Le Jetee/Sans soleil", "AK", and "One day in the life of Andrei Arsenevitch"?
