Hard to Be a God (Aleksei German, 2014)

[Yakushima]

Michael, this possibility, however remote, of releasing other Alexey German's films is unbelievably exciting and makes me think this would be a perfect case for another Kickstarter down the line. I believe the interest in German's work is great around the world and will only grow with time as more viewers become aware of his art.
Speaking of the new resto of "My friend Ivan Lapshin", I wonder if was the monochrome version similar to what "Krupniy Plan" put on DVD some years ago, or the true restoration of the original tinted version? I was fortunate to have a chance to see the tinted (director's preferred) version of this masterpiece at Anthology Film Archives this year. It was a revelation.

[zedz]

No connection, except by blood, but I'd be very keen to see German Jr's films released as well. The Last Train, Paper Soldier and Under Electric Clouds are all fantastic, expansive, artistically ambitious films, even if they have little in common with his father's work stylistically.

[Yakushima]

Zedz, I second that!

[Calvin]

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.

Is this the 44 min documentary that will be on the Kino Blu-Ray? IMDB lists it as 66mins but it's frequently incorrect. There's apparently behind the scenes footage in Guerman: From the Other Side of the Camera as well and it would be strange if there were three different documentaries made at around the same time.

I'm looking forward to the Arrow release immensely and I have my fingers crossed that I'll get to see it on the big screen beforehand. Hopefully it sells well enough for Arrow to consider taking on his previous films.

[Yakushima]

Calvin, this appears to be a different film, directed by another filmmaker (ALEXANDER POZDNYAKOV). There have been at least five different documentaries about Alexei German on Russian TV in the last 20 years (in other words since the beginning of his work on "Hard to be a god"), including an excellent recent documentary series (in five episodes) "German, the son of German", which included a lot of behind the scene footage from the making of "Hard to be a god".
Cattin's documentary "Playback" was shown only once at a film festival and then the director announced he was not quite happy with it and will continue his work on it.

[jmj713]

As I noted in its own thread, I would love a proper restoration of Kin-Dza-Dza! Though not really related to Hard to Be a God, it's one of the few Russian sci-fi films, along with Solaris, that I feel can reach a wide audience, if given the chance.

[Yakushima]

jmj713, I can't agree more, and there is already a fine HD transfer of the film available, it's been released on a Blu-ray in Russia two years ago. This is a prime time to do it, while the director, an amazing Georgiy Daneliya, is still around (he is 84 now) and can provide a fascinating insight into the film's production.

[Yakushima]

Got my hands on the Kino Lorber's Blu-ray of "Hard to be a god" and was pleasantly surprised! Video quality of the feature seems on par with the Russia Blu-ray issued last year, but sound-wise Kino bested the Russian version, the dialog is easier to follow. The film comes with a small but thoughtfully made booklet with some excellent photographs from the set. It includes Director's statement (which appears to be a tiny excerpt from German's interview to Anton Dolin), an essay by German's son, himself a filmmaker Alexey German, Jr., and a very nice short overview of German's body of work written by Aliza Ma, a film curator at Museum of the Moving Image (where the first North American screening of the film took place).
There is one factual error in the article. It states that the film had a "higly anticipated premiere at Cannes in May of 2013". In fact German vowed not to send his film to Cannes due to the extremely negative and unfair reception his "Khrustalev, my car!" has previously received there and by which the director felt deeply thraumatized. The premiere of "Hard to be a god" took place in Festival internazionale del film di Roma in 2013.
The bonus features include trailer of the film and, most importantly, an extremely valuable behind-the-scene TV documentary by Pyotr Shepotinnik “У Германа сегодня 122 на 85 “/”Today German’s blood pressure is 122/85”. The film includes conversations with Alexei German filmed on the Lenfilm’s set of “Hard to be a god” during the production, the director’s interactions with Leonid Yarmolnik (Rumata) and Svetlana Karmalita (director's wife, assistant and scriptwriter), and offers a glimpse of what the film would look like if it was shot in color. The documentary also includes many excerpts from German's other films, even fragments of the rarely seen in Russia tinted version of "Ivan Lapshin". This is a tiny taste of the great thngs that might one day become available, if we don't skimp on this current offering!

Now I can’t wait to see what Arrow comes up with for their much anticipated Blu-ray edition to top the Kino!

[MichaelB]

Little White Lies has just offered an exclusive look at both the UK trailer and Andrzej Klimowski's newly-commissioned poster, which will also be on the front of the Blu-ray sleeve.

[MichaelB]

Hard to Be a God has just been given an 18 certificate for "strong gore, violence, nudity".

I've tactfully hidden the BBFC's more elaborate Insight description behind spoiler tags, although this isn't the sort of film where spoilers really matter.

SpoilerShow

HARD TO BE A GOD is a Russian sci-fi drama, filmed in black and white, about a scientist who has been sent to live with a small community on a distant planet which resembles medieval Europe.

VIOLENCE
Strong gory images include a body being disembowelled while the heart can still be seen beating. Elsewhere, blood spurts out of a man who has been stabbed in the back, and from an arrow in the back of a woman's neck. There is also sight of dead bodies hanging from nooses, as well as sight of severed heads.

Strong violence includes very bloody stabbings, a restrained man's exposed buttocks being poked at with a large metal tool - implying torture, and a scene implying a man's eyes are being gouged out.

NUDITY
There is frequent male and female full frontal nudity, occasionally in a sexual context, including sight of a woman's labia as she lies face down on a bed, and a man touching his flaccid penis as he mumbles to himself.

The film also includes characters vomiting, urinating and smearing snot, blood, mud or excrement on themselves.

There is sight of a donkey's erect penis, and a wood carving depicting a couple having sex, including a carving of an erect penis.

There is occasional use of strong language ('f**k').

[Drucker]

Hard to Be a God has just been given an 18 certificate for "strong gore, violence, nudity".

I've tactfully hidden the BBFC's more elaborate Insight description behind spoiler tags, although this isn't the sort of film where spoilers really matter.

SpoilerShow

There is occasional use of strong language ('f**k').

Canceling my pre-order.

[RossyG]

Pre-ordering, so balance is restored.

Oh, hang on... A hard donkey cock...

*Cancelled*

[MichaelB]

It's not too late to tone down the language in the subtitles. In fact, we could have a go at bleeping out the Russian equivalents too. I mean, if it helps us get one more sale...

[domino harvey]

Change the title to Hard to Be a Lord to open yourself back up to the lucrative Orthodox market

[Dr Amicus]

Change the title to Hard to Be a Lord to open yourself back up to the lucrative Orthodox market

To Be a Hard Donkey for an entirely different market...

[RossyG]

I'm going to file this film next to Clerks 2 in my collection.

I imagine Arrow will try to play down the donkey dong aspect. I mean if they were going for a perverted clientele with this, then they'd have the donkey scene at the very beginning of a chapter break for ease of access.

But I'm sure they'd never do that.

[perkizitore]

I am sure that the Beaver review will provide at least a screenshot of this specific scene

[swo17]

People going strictly off of those descriptions are bound to be disappointed by the film, as you can hardly make any of it out what with all of the birds flying about everywhere all of the time. Then again, if ever a film were to receive an 18 rating for excessive use of birds, this would be the one.

[matrixschmatrix]

John Woo's filmography would be banned forever

[jindianajonz]

if ever a film were to receive an 18 rating for excessive use of birds, this would be the one.

If you really want to sell this, Michael, just throw that quote on the box. Maybe include a tagline "It's the film the Audubon Society doesn't want you to see!"

[domino harvey]

I'm sure many a film sold well in Britain by advertising how many comely birds were in it

[MichaelB]

I love the way that Pete Walker's opus I Like Birds can be more or less precisely dated to 1968 from just the title.

[domino harvey]

Michael, it's not too late to just print this entire page of replies in the Arrow booklet

[RossyG]

I love the way that Pete Walker's opus I Like Birds can be more or less precisely dated to 1968 from just the title.

Not forgetting The Smashing Bird I Used To Know from 1969.

[domino harvey]

I love the way that Pete Walker's opus I Like Birds can be more or less precisely dated to 1968 from just the title.

Not forgetting The Smashing Bird I Used To Know from 1969.

That one's about one of those poor animals in the Windex commercials