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foggy eyes wrote:Yes, this is pretty depressing! I was surprised that nobody picked up The World for theatrical distribution here, yet in the same year Denis's considerably more unorthodox and fragmented L'Intrus did the rounds.

I was going to ask about that when I saw the discussion. I was hoping Artificial Eye would have picked up The World for DVD considering they released Unknown Pleasures, Xiao Wu and Platform. Did they also not consider that a good enough film? Or perhaps they had a falling out with the director (or his distribution company)?

Or perhaps they feel they 'gave Jia Zhang-Ke a chance' with their previous DVD releases and didn't make enough out of him to continue? (After all, wasn't it Artificial Eye that said they'd only release Satantango depending on sales of Werckmeister Harmonies?)

Would you recommend buying the set for this film alone?

Basically, it's hard to say... The AE 'Nostalghia' comes with two documentaries. If you're not interested in the Sokurov or the Marker and the prices are similar it would make sense to buy the 'Nostalghia' DVD. I remember 'Tempo di Viaggio' being very good indeed (although I must confess it's been years since I've seen it). Tonino Guerra is very talkative (which struck me as unusual...) and I remember Tarkovskij being as brilliant, as insightful and as portentious as ever. I also remember the doc 'Andrey Tarkovsky in Nostalghia' being good.

You can find more accurate info than my vague ramblings on www.nostalghia.com:

Tempo di viaggio: Available on Disk 2 of the above mentioned Artificial Eye Nostalgia two-disk set (R2/PAL); acceptable transfer but subtitles have numerous flaws. As of October 2004, also available in R1/NTSC from Facets Video under the title Voyage in Time; unacceptable transfer, and subtitles have flaws identical to those of the AE release (see our October 24, 2004 news update for full details).
We recommend: (Updated March 2005) Wait. To be re-released early summer 2005 by Artificial Eye in R2/PAL, on their Andrei Tarkovsky Companion DVD (see March 10, 2005 newsbrief).

Thanks,Don Lope. I read the words on nostalghia.com before, and they convinced me to abstain from the AE "Nostalghia" at any cost. The more I think about it, I guess I have to see "Tempo di Viaggio", though, and so I will probably go for the AE Tarkovsky Companion. The fact that they release "Tempo" again gives me a vague hope that they will let their "Nostalghia" disc go out-of-print in order the to re-release it in an acceptable transfer. But perhaps I'm only daydreaming....

I have to ask: How is the Vigo set from this company? Worth buying?

malcolm1980 wrote:I have to ask: How is the Vigo set from this company? Worth buying?

Absolutely, yes. Hard to imagine it being much better.

(It's a port of the outstanding Gaumont special edition, with added English subtitles)

The Complete Jean Vigo is very good - it really is what it says, his 4 films on one disc (A Propos de Nice/Taris/Zero de Conduite/l'Atalante) , and has a second disc full of decent extras including a feature length Cineastes de Notre Temps on Vigo from 1964...

Apparently, Artificial Eye is releasing three volumes of an Aki Kaurismaki Collection. I imagine each volume will contain three or more films...perhaps it is identical to the Kaurismaki collections seen on Amazon?

The other "volume 1" listed contains Hamlet Goes Business, I Hired a Contract Killer, Bohemian Life, and Juha.

What A Disgrace wrote:Apparently, Artificial Eye is releasing three volumes of an Aki Kaurismaki Collection. I imagine each volume will contain three or more films...perhaps it is identical to the Kaurismaki collections seen on Amazon?

The other "volume 1" listed contains Hamlet Goes Business, I Hired a Contract Killer, Bohemian Life, and Juha.

I suspect it's a clone of the Swedish box sets that I picked up a couple of years ago. No extras, but decent transfers, and the only glitch I can recall was a subtitling problem at the very end of Ariel.

Are they releasing that one? It might be worth alerting them in case they're using the same master and haven't spotted it! (If I remember rightly, the subtitles start going out of sync at the very end)

Anyone checked out The Chess Players yet? Worth replacing the Kino?

Whoa, with extras like that (or at all) I'm surprised I didn't put this up for pre-order.

I'll just wait till it goes down in price. Wish listed, sho nuff.

Port of Gaumont's Les Vampires with English subs and, I assume, at a lower price is finally coming this fall. At this rate we'll have Judex in 2009; Tih Minh in 2012; Barrabas in 2015.

been waiting for their Les Vampires, can't wait to see a solid date

denti alligator wrote:Port of Gaumont's Les Vampires

This is good news.

denti alligator wrote:At this rate we'll have Judex in 2009; Tih Minh in 2012; Barrabas in 2015.

Problem is there's only about two people in their office.

FSimeoni wrote:Problem is there's only about two people in their office.

I can vouch for that, I emailed AE over a week ago and have yet to get any kind of response.

Edit: I take it back, I've got one now and the guy was very helpful.

Well...mastersofcinema.org lists AE's Kaurismaki box as containing Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. Lucky for me...these are the three Kaurismaki films I've been most keen to see.

Also, on the same day, AE is releasing Kaurismaki's latest film. Play.com lists a trailer and an interview with Kaurismaki as supplements.

But now, Volume 1 was delayed until September 10 according to Amazon and Play. Amazon also says Volume 2 will arrive two weeks later.

DVD Outsider review of Mother and Son. The extra feature sounds very interesting - the film A Humble Life.

DVD Times review for Blue.

foggy eyes wrote:DVD Times review for Blue.

Will there be a DVD Beaver comparison?

Surely the only comparison worth making is with the soundtrack? And didn't Gary once say that was his major blind spot (or deaf spot, to be absolutely literal)?

I watched the Artificial Eye DVD via headphones, and it sounded absolutely fine - in fact, a marked improvement on the (notoriously poor) sound system in the cinema I saw it in when it first came out.

MichaelB wrote:Surely the only comparison worth making is with the soundtrack?

You'd think so, but the other R2 edition managed to botch the video.

Whoa...Glitterbug is on the new AE disc? That's the clincher for me.

AE's Dersu Uzala must be in contention for worst DVD of the year. Appalling transfer, barely watchable, and erroneous info on the back cover on everything from subtitles to running time to sound format. Anyone else as disappointed as I am?