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Excited for an eventual definitive release of Rublev finally, but Stalker is great too. If there is a new deal with the studio, maybe Criterion could do Kin-Dza-Dza as well?

I just ordered a copy for myself and a few extras for Christmas gifts through Cygnnet's shop. Shipping was a bit high, so I ended up buying one more copy than I wanted just to justify paying the shipping.

Mosfilm has the new restoration up on their Youtube channel. Looks beautiful despite the dreadful Youtube low-bitrate compression. Restoration credits don't seem to list any non-Mosfilm names (e.g. Criterion), which makes it even more confusing why Artificial Eye did not get their hands on this new restoration.

There's loads of stuff up there. Is Solaris new too?

TMDaines wrote:There's loads of stuff up there. Is Solaris new too?

Yes, and it's from the same master as the Russian Close-Up blu-ray (but with correct gamma?). Pretty sure it's the latest 2K restoration of the film.

No subs (presumably because of their contract w/ Criterion) but the new restoration is breathtaking!

eerik, thank you for the heads-up, the Stalker restoration looks amazing (with a small caveat that original tinting seems to be completely removed from the respective B&W sequences). I hope Criterion won't sit on it for two long!
The Mirror is also added to the Mosfilm Youtube channel, but it appears the exact same resto AE was using. It is not bad though, I just watched it a week ago and the shortcomings did not distract me in the least from the experience. It far surpasses the DVDs in all respects. Again, though, the original tinting was missing.
I am very curious if CC will go as far as upgrading their Solaris Blu using the new Russian restoration.
Video-wise I prefer the CC over all others, but the major issue with Criterion's version is over-scrubbed soundtrack - many of the subtle noises and faint sounds which Eduard Artemyev included for the very unique soundscape of the film are gone now. The Russian fans of the film have even created a hybrid version - video taken from CC and audio from the Russian blu-ray, for the "perfect" Solaris experience.

Yakushima wrote:Video-wise I prefer the CC over all others, but the major issue with Criterion's version is over-scrubbed soundtrack - many of the subtle noises and faint sounds which Eduard Artemyev included for the very unique soundscape of the film are gone now. The Russian fans of the film have even created a hybrid version - video taken from CC and audio from the Russian blu-ray, for the "perfect" Solaris experience.

Is that audio track in question the 5.1 from the Russian blu-ray? I haven't heard that track but I remember the Ruscico DVDs had 5.1 tracks with a lot more soundscape than the mono tracks, but as I recall (at least in the case of the DVDs) it wasn't a matter of the mono having been scrubbed but of the 5.1 having been added to, even (at least for Stalker) going so far as to add music to scenes that didn't have it.

solaris72 wrote:

Yakushima wrote:Video-wise I prefer the CC over all others, but the major issue with Criterion's version is over-scrubbed soundtrack - many of the subtle noises and faint sounds which Eduard Artemyev included for the very unique soundscape of the film are gone now. The Russian fans of the film have even created a hybrid version - video taken from CC and audio from the Russian blu-ray, for the "perfect" Solaris experience.

Is that audio track in question the 5.1 from the Russian blu-ray? I haven't heard that track but I remember the Ruscico DVDs had 5.1 tracks with a lot more soundscape than the mono tracks, but as I recall (at least in the case of the DVDs) it wasn't a matter of the mono having been scrubbed but of the 5.1 having been added to, even (at least for Stalker) going so far as to add music to scenes that didn't have it.

Yes, that audio track is not what Tarkovsky signed off on - assuming the version I saw in UK repertory cinemas many times in the 1980s was definitive.

solaris72 wrote:Is that audio track in question the 5.1 from the Russian blu-ray? I haven't heard that track but I remember the Ruscico DVDs had 5.1 tracks with a lot more soundscape than the mono tracks, but as I recall (at least in the case of the DVDs) it wasn't a matter of the mono having been scrubbed but of the 5.1 having been added to, even (at least for Stalker) going so far as to add music to scenes that didn't have it.

No - while the remix is certainly as horrible as you say, the mono track that's also on the Close-Up blu-ray sounds much better than the one on the Criterion blu-ray.

They're both the same mono mix, but one has been subjected to aggressive noise reduction.

solaris72 wrote:

Yakushima wrote:Video-wise I prefer the CC over all others, but the major issue with Criterion's version is over-scrubbed soundtrack - many of the subtle noises and faint sounds which Eduard Artemyev included for the very unique soundscape of the film are gone now. The Russian fans of the film have even created a hybrid version - video taken from CC and audio from the Russian blu-ray, for the "perfect" Solaris experience.

Is that audio track in question the 5.1 from the Russian blu-ray? I haven't heard that track but I remember the Ruscico DVDs had 5.1 tracks with a lot more soundscape than the mono tracks, but as I recall (at least in the case of the DVDs) it wasn't a matter of the mono having been scrubbed but of the 5.1 having been added to, even (at least for Stalker) going so far as to add music to scenes that didn't have it.

solaris72: it struck me when I was watching CC Blu-ray of Solaris how "clean" and even sterile the sound seemed, very much unlike what I remembered from my theatrical experience with the film (admittedly, many years prior) - which was a very organic soundrack with rather subtle ambient noises. It just seemed that ambient sounds have been suppressed to some degree on CC. To call it with certainty I'll have to re-watch CC and the "Krupniy plan" Blu-rays first, but several users on this Solaris discussion board voiced the same concern:
http://vobzor.com/page.php?id=204" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And you are correct, Krupniy Plan was notorious for altering the soundracks of classic films on home video, so their version should be taken with a big grain of salt.

How do we live in a world where Artificial Eye produces better extras?

Yeah definitely disappointed at the extras...aside from the Dyer interview, it kind of sounds like everything else is taken from the old RusCiCo DVD release. This page lists some impressive documentaries about the film. Still, day 1 for sure.

On the upside, it should be a markedly superior presentation - the Artificial Eye is shockingly poor.

I love Dyer's book on the film. But part of the reason it's the best thing I've read on Tarkovsky (my being confined to English, here) is because its attitude is one of seeing, surrendering to, and accepting the film as something which is daunting and totally other.

Most English language scholarship doesn't have the privilege of taking such a rhetorical approach and usually leaves me feeling disappointed or conned, the texts invariably having more to do with confirming the writer's thesis about or attitudes to Tarkovsky's work than really illuminating their context (while also having to assume the faux-comprehensive tone of academic writing). I've been told that there's better writing on him in Russian.

As Tarkovsky has become more popular in the DVD/Bluray era, to me it feels like it's about time for there to be more of a critical examination of reactionary esotericism (?) that I catch a whiff of but cannot quite fully account for in his filmography.

I have a two-DVD set from Artificial Eye - any reason to hold on to it?

Disappointed by the extras, but honestly, if the presentation of the film is good that's enough for me to pay full price for it (although it's a July release so I won't have to_.

Are there any other specific extras that were expected or hoped for? I assumed this would be stacked, but I do not know how much material is out there on this film specifically (as opposed to Tarkovsky more generally). Looking forward to the Dyer piece, been meaning to read Zona for some time now.

Someone just pointed me to a list of Tarkovsky-related documentaries, many of which would have been appropriate here.

Mostly, I'm hoping for a stellar transfer on this one.

doesn't Criterion have One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich up on Filmstruck? Although I'm hoping that film becomes an extra for a future release of The Sacrifice...

Given that there was a fairly popular video game adaptation of this same source, I would have liked to get a feature about the source novel and its relationship to the film, which it doesn't look like they bothered with.

miless wrote:doesn't Criterion have One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich up on Filmstruck? Although I'm hoping that film becomes an extra for a future release of The Sacrifice...

Nope, with Icarus and out in a great edition.

Cronenfly wrote:I do not know how much material is out there on this film specifically (as opposed to Tarkovsky more generally).

Aside from the list of documentaries linked to above, Nostalghia.com shows there's at least a lot of writing & set photos out there.
Photos
A Unique Perspective on the Making of ‘Stalker’: The Testimony of a Mechanic...