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Just a heads up: this looks to finally be getting an English-subbed release from Tiger Releases in the Netherlands on 11/23. Here's one English-friendly site selling it.

I was able to view the film earlier this year on a festival screener and it really is a monumental work not to be missed.

A little leery of this -- the distributor's website only lists Dutch subs...

Yes, that's true. But, as far as I know, English subtitles were announced in a press release at the beginning of November and someone from Filmfreak Distributie is said to have recently confirmed that the upcoming release will have Dutch as well as English subtitles ... via dvdbeaver listserv or something like that.

Well, let's hope that they will add not only the price (should be 40 euro) but also additional English subtitles on their website.

I emailed the distributor and one Brenda Bosma responded to me that yes the film has English subtitles - so I promptly ordered the film.

how does the Dutch DVD look? I'm considering buying it as well.

khan0890

I have the dvd but have not yet had a chance to even take a look at the general quality of it - however, I'll do so tonight and post a general impression tomorrow 1/5

that'd be wonderful. thanks so much David.

Khan -

I skipped around a bit on disc 1, which is the first part of "Rust". Haven't seen the other discs but also see no reason why the quality should be any different.

First of all, yes, there ARE English subtitles. Why English was chosen over. say, French I don't know (maybe to tap that large American market for nine hour PAL Region 2 Chinese documentaries) but count ourselves lucky, assuming you can't read Dutch or understand whatever Chinese dialect is spoken in the film.

I don't have much of a technical eye (e.g., this was shot in digital) but what I saw looked very good. I'd compare it favorably to later post b & w Frederick Wiseman on a good day - I've only seen previews for the Paris ballet film, but the Wang was comparable. (Interestingly enough, because of Wiseman's subject matter and the location, the texture of his work there seemed to me a bit too rough; while that suits Chinese workers in a coal mine in the middle of what we would consider nowhere just fine.) Detail is what I would have expected under the shooting conditions but is for me more than acceptable, and since I tend to be picky about that I'd think it would be more than acceptable to anyone with an interest in a film like this. What I would call grain (but may not be if this was shot in digital) is noticeable, but I like grain. Wang knows how to use color for emotional effect (judging from my limited, random sampling) and I found the color, where intended, to be vibrant (though I expect over the full 9 hour course of the film the color will tend to the monochrome given the setting of the entire work). Bottom line is it looks good. And from what little I saw, it promises to be one of those rare films that shows, and makes you companion to (especially given its length), a world that heretofore you had no chance of experiencing. Call it the cinema of witnessing - one of the essential characteristics of the medium. Anyway, if you've been on the fence about getting it, I'd say - get it!

Well, there already has been a good French-subbed DVD release of West of the Tracks (not sure if this is still in print), while there has not been any previous English-subbed release.

Great... thanks so much David for your in-depth analysis. I just ordered the disc from them and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Mesrine wrote:Could someone tell me whether there is an English-friendly website to order this from. I checked on the link in the original post and they seem to no longer carry it. Is the distributor the only place otherwise?

You can find it available at Trigon:
https://www.trigon-film.org/en/shop/DVD ... the_Tracks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This may not be the best forum to mention this, but I thought I should note that West of the Tracks is going to be playing in Ann Arbor this weekend. (Feb. 19) U of M's North Quad room 1175, starting at 11 AM, broken up into 3 parts with the third playing Sat. night and also Sun. afternoon for pansies like me who can't do it in one sitting.

I haven't seen it before, so I am somewhat hyped. Supposedly Wang Bing may be on hand for some Q/A via Skype as well.