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Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 8:06 pm
by zedz
I really don't think this is a YouTube movie.
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:28 am
by Numero Trois
No, not anymore it isn't.
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:32 pm
by rockysds
Getting a theatrical run at
Anthology Film Archives January 30 - February 8 courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Three other Guermans showing alongside it.
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:44 pm
by Yakushima
Fantastic news! Thank you for the heads-up!
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:47 am
by inlieubeaulieu
Kino has picked up distribution!
http://www.indiewire.com/article/kino-l ... d-20141216" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 10:55 am
by MichaelB
It's also been picked up for the UK, but I don't have any concrete details yet.
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:02 pm
by GaryC
MichaelB wrote:It's also been picked up for the UK, but I don't have any concrete details yet.
I'm due to email a big fan of the Strugatsky Brothers and Russian literature in general, so I'll be sure to pass this news on to her!
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2014 3:13 am
by Yakushima
Fingers crossed it's Arrow, at least for UK!!! [-o<
Re: Hard to be a God (Aleksei German, 2013)
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2014 1:14 am
by Kris
Kris wrote:
If the film should end up in Berlin's cinemas, I'll most definitely be there.
So I did, there was a special screening with German's widow Mrs. Carmelita present. I was utterly exhausted when leaving the screening room, although I roughly knew what would await me.
The closest resemblance that comes to mind is Béla Tarr's Turin Horse: Both films are bleak, apocalyptic visions in black & white, set in an archaic, anti-modern world. But where Tarr employs static images and monotonous repetition, German features chaos, disorientation, the ever moving camera very much like a character in itself. There'd be a lot to say about these two (Tarr's and German's) Eastern European cinematic testaments, being the final movies of both directors.
Luckily the German label Bildstörung has already announced a release for theaters and Blu-ray (the latter have never been English-friendly though).
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 8:51 pm
by Yakushima
I attended screening of "Hard to Be a God" yesterday at the Museum of Moving Image in NY, part of the museum's "First Look" program.
It was a special treat indeed to watch this masterpiece on a big screen! For me it was 6th viewing, but I still managed to find new things in the film missed the first 5 times!
The film opened with KINO LORBER logo and it was announced that KINO provided a copy for the screening.
On a big screen this picture is even more engaging, but also more disorienting and devastating. The impact was much stronger to be sure. I was glad and proud that majority of the audience has stuck with the film to the end, and followed the unfolding story emotionally. The humorous moments played well with the audience. In the end there was a long round of enthusiastic applause and some folks yelled "A masterpiece!".
Unfortunately, the English translation was a hit and miss for most part, with roughly 30% of audible dialog not been translated in English at all, and many things mistranslated quite badly (for example, how anyone could translate "durak" ("a fool" in Russian") as "Monster" is beyond me).
The PQ of the digital projection seemed to be on par with Russian Blu-Ray. The sound quality was much better though, which allowed me for the first time to make out some of the dialog. To be sure, it was German's intention to make some of the dialog nearly inaudible or incomprehensive, but it was nice to finally understand some of the lines that were meant to be heard.
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 7:24 pm
by Ashirg
Kino Lorber is releasing it on DVD and blu on June 30
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:02 pm
by solaris72
Saw this on the big screen. I'd say it's the best non-documentary film I've seen in several years. A movie about shit, spit, mud, blood, bile, viscera, and Star Trek's Prime Directive. I wish I didn't have to wait to see it again...
Re: Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)
Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 9:50 pm
by Werewolf by Night
Now available to rent/buy on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and Google Play.
Hard to Be a God
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 4:32 pm
by MichaelB
Announced for release on the Arrow Academy line:
HARD TO BE A GOD
Release Date: 7th September 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Gali Abaydulov, Yuriy Ashikhmin, Remigijus Bilinskas
Directed by: Aleksei German
Pre-order
here.
A group of scientists visits the distant planet Arkanar, and discovers a society still trapped in its own medieval era. Unable to interfere with the course of its history, they can only watch in mounting horror as all sparks of intelligent and independent thought are mercilessly snuffed out by Arkanar’s cruel rulers. Will they remain enmired in their squalid existence for ever, or can the visitors subtly nudge the more open-minded in the right direction? Truly, it’s hard to be a god.
Legendary Russian sci-fi authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (whose
Roadside Picnic was filmed as
Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky) wrote the source novel, and adapting it was director Aleksei German’s dream project for decades. It would take six years of shooting, a further six of post-production and a posthumous premiere before his masterpiece was finally unveiled.
But masterpiece it is: a visually astonishing, almost tactile recreation of an unnervingly recognisable alternative universe, drenched in blood, mud and the tears of the oppressed.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• High Definition (1080p) presentation
• Original Russian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles
• Exclusive interview with Aleksei German Jr, who completed his father’s film after his death
• Interview with co-screenwriter Svetlana Karmalita, the director’s widow
• The History of the Arkanar Massacre, an appreciation of the film by Daniel Bird
• The Unknown Genius: Michael Brooke looks at Aleksei German’s creatively dazzling but politically hobbled career
• Imagery gallery
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Andrzej Klimowski (to be revealed)
DETAILS:
Region: Free
Rating: TBC
Cat No: FCD1145
Duration: 170 mins
Language: Russian
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Discs: 1
B&W
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:23 pm
by Yakushima
MichaelB, I cannot express how excited I am to see this masterpiece getting Arrows full treatment!!!
Are the extras locked in already?
Any chance of adding deleted scene (rumored to be numerous) or additional making-of documentaries? In particular, I'm dying to get a chance to watch "Playback" by Antoine Cattin, who had personal permission from German to film the work on the set.
If there is any interest in additional materials, I'll be glad to share the once I know of.
Thank you, Arrow!!!
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:55 pm
by Aunt Peg
Best new of the day. I was about to pre-order for the US edition. More than happy to wait a little longer for Arrows Region B.
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:57 pm
by swo17
Region free actually.
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 12:22 am
by rapta
First title to be announced today and I was pleasantly surprised! Didn't think we'd get a contemporary title joining Arrow's ranks...very clever, and means you're now firmly in the same game as Eureka and Criterion. So happy this was picked up for UK distribution, as I didn't think I'd get to see it otherwise (same goes for AE picking up Jodorowsky's The Dance of Reality).
Pre-order already up on Amazon UK if anyone's interested:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-God-Blu-ra ... B00ZDJDUPU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 9:55 pm
by Paul Moran
It was only £15.99 when I pre-ordered it from
Arrow Films this morning. (I actually used Reward points instead of cash.)
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:14 am
by Stefan Andersson
Thank you Arrow for releasing Hard to be a God!
Great news!
Please consider releasing German´s other films also.
I haven´t seen any films by Aleksei German Jr. but they seem to be quite interesting.
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:54 am
by MichaelB
Daniel Bird and I will be doing all we can to stimulate interest in German's back catalogue in the extras on Hard to Be a God - but I don't believe there are currently any HD masters for any of it, so it would unavoidably be an expensive undertaking.
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:27 am
by Stefan Andersson
Thank you for replying so swiftly, MichaelB!
A restored My Friend Ivan Lapshin was shown in the 2013 Venice Film Festival. From Screendaily: "restoration: Gosfilmofond, Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation, Open World Fund"
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:38 am
by MichaelB
Thanks for that - this is very useful indeed.
(No promises, obviously!)
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:04 pm
by perkypat
Trial on the Roads was shown at Leeds FF in 2013. According to the catalogue it was on DVD. Unfortunately I didn't see it so cant comment on the quality.
Re: Hard to Be a God
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:15 pm
by MichaelB
Most likely the same letterboxed Russian DVD that I have - or at least the same source.