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Can someone here confirm the aspect ratio and supplements on the 2-disc MK2 release? Also, do the supplements use English subtitles/audio? Thanks.

From the MK2 website an educated guess would be that the 'making of' and interview with GVS are in english with french subtitles and the 4' intro and 26' doc would be in french with no subtitles. Also there are two versions one with a booklet in french and the other with 6 photos from the set.

Dvdrama has a review of the MK2 dvd with screencaps here. (the review is in french but the link is bablefished to English)

There are screencaps of the dvd in 1.33, but having not seen the film i cant be exactly sure which caps are from the extras and which are from the main feature (some of the interviews seem to be in 1.78)

Ratio is 1.33, sound is 3.1 or PCM (but I had some kind of bad echo on the PCM track). I'm not sure if the french subtitles can easily be removed or not, the option is English with French subs or French track.

Are the French subs on the main feature forced? That would be devastating, and would completely rule out purchase.

Also, for a film so rich in sound design, the 3.1 mix seems a bit strange. Was it the filmmaker's original intent? (The Tartan release has both DTS and DD 5.1).

Yes subs are forced. The back of the packaging states DD 3.1 and Stereo PCM. The MK2 website says DD5.1. The DD track sounded fine. The Tartan UK disc is so much cheaper on Amazon UK, with the Euro at all time high, you may as well go for that one.

How disappointing - I've just ordered a copy as well. I guess our next hope is with IFC - someone noted in the other thread that the film is being screened on pay-per-view in 1.33, so they might come up trumps with the DVD.

I'm glad I resisted the urge to buy (stared at the final shipping page of Amazon.fr for two minutes last night, then decided against it; pending clearing up of the forced subs confusion). Thanks for the update, Arn777.

We're all counting on IFC not to fuck up.

a.khan wrote:Are the French subs on the main feature forced? That would be devastating, and would completely rule out purchase.

Also, for a film so rich in sound design, the 3.1 mix seems a bit strange. Was it the filmmaker's original intent? (The Tartan release has both DTS and DD 5.1).

MK2 has traditionally been quite responsive to questions posted in their forum, even in English. It seems like it'd be worth asking, since it could very well be a genuine mistake.

Really the DD track was fine and the picture quality is excellent, the supplements interesting (but not essential), the only problem might be the forced subs. I haven't checked if they can easily be removed.

Hopefully, this will please some of you. I purchased the mk2 French 2 disk Paranoid Park, and while there is no subtitle option on the menu screen, I could remove the subs with my remote. When I pressed "subtitle," there were two options: "none" and "French." If you don't want French subs, choose "none."

Problem solved. The subs are not forced. We have once again defeated the powers of darkness.

Arn777 wrote:Ratio is 1.33

The Tartan UK blu-ray, though region-free, is, stupidly, 16x9. Jeez. Did anyone get the French blu-ray? Ratio?

The French Blu-ray's been canceled.

Jay wrote:Hopefully, this will please some of you. I purchased the mk2 French 2 disk Paranoid Park, and while there is no subtitle option on the menu screen, I could remove the subs with my remote. When I pressed "subtitle," there were two options: "none" and "French." If you don't want French subs, choose "none."

That's excellent; thanks for letting us know.

By the way, could you please quickly comment on the DVD packaging?

The packaging is pretty solid. I'm not up on the specific "lingo" for packaging, but its cardboard (no slip case) and opens up to reveal two disks (the film and the disk of extras), as well as a bunch of adverts and such for other Tartan titles. I guess I'd compare the packaging to the two disk The Wind Will Carry Us in terms of structure/quality.

Two of the extras (the shortest docs) are in French only (no subs), but the making of and interview with Gus Van Sant are in English w/ French subs. I have not tried to remove the French subs on the extras, so I don't know if it is possible. My guess is no. It really doesn't matter too much, as all you miss on the Gus Van Sant interviews are his shins (he's just sitting in a chair). The "making of" is sadly not all that informative. The young blond girl does a lot of gabbing on and on about how they went to classes in a special trailer and did a lot of homework, and the young boys mumble about skateboarding and myspace.

Sold! I'm not holding my breath for the IFC release. Thanks, Jay.

Today I received my copy of the MK2 two-disc set from Amazon France. The aspect ratio of the feature is 1.33 and the extras are in 1.78

I can also confirm that the French subtitles are *removable* (using the subtitle button on your remote) from both the feature as well as the English language extras on Disc 2. And, as Jay mentioned above, the French language doc and intro by Luc Lagier does not have English subtitles.

It's an excellent set. Highly recommended.