Don't Look Now

[kinjitsu]

Don't Look Now - Special Edition:

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star in Nic Roeg's brilliantly atmospheric adaptation of the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Following the death of their daughter, John and Laura Baxter travel to Venice where he is to oversee the restoration of an old church. Here they encounter a pair of elderly sisters: one of them a blind psychic who claims to have been in communication with the couple's dead child. Whilst Laura is intrigued John resists the idea, despite the possibility that he is having his own visions that threaten to put his life in danger…. Genuinely unsettling, DON'T LOOK NOW is widely acknowledged as perhaps Roeg's finest film and one of the best British films of the decade.

[Paul Moran]

Great news. I won't mind double dipping on this one, if Optimum maintain their usual high standards on their SE releases.

But I'll wait a bit after release for the usual price drop.

[godardslave]

it might be useful if they actually told us what the special features were.
I guess they are just stupid.

[Gordon]

After Studio Canal ditched Warner as their UK distributor, many of their previous releases have appeared under Optimum, some as SEs (The Third Man; The Wicker Man, etc), so I am suppposing that Optimum are now their sole UK distributor, which is good, I suppose. I previous UK edition of Don't Look Now is pretty good, really, though a longer documentary or Roeg commentary (or any decent commentary) would prompt a double-dip. But I'd hold onto your 'old' copy until the full specs are known.

Play.com list October 23rd, which would be a more appropriate release date.

[Narshty]

If they've kept the shitty distorted soundtrack on the current R2 PAL master, then Paramount's barebones R1 edition still reigns supreme.

[Matt]

I'll definitely buy it if there's a Sutherland/Christie commentary, only maybe if there's just a Roeg commentary (if it's any good), but I'm holding onto my cheapie Paramount disc regardless because of its lovely no-PAL-speedup transfer.

[Narshty]

I'll buy it if there's a Sutherland/Christie commentary and maybe if there's a Roeg commentary (if it's any good), but I'm holding onto my cheapie Paramount disc regardless because of its lovely no-PAL-speedup transfer.

I might be misunderstanding your reasoning, but the problems with the R2 go way beyond PAL speedup - it's tinny, hollow, harsh and breaks up on the faintest volume raise. It's an atrocity and turns Pino Donaggio's glorious score (especially in the last 10 minutes) into a screeching mess. It sounds like the film is being played through a mobile phone. Paramount's version is incomparably better for that reason alone.

[Scharphedin2]

After Studio Canal ditched Warner as their UK distributor, many of their previous releases have appeared under Optimum, some as SEs (The Third Man; The Wicker Man, etc), so I am suppposing that Optimum are now their sole UK distributor, which is good, I suppose.

Gordon, I could be wrong, but I think Studio Canal actually acquired Optimum recently.

Edit: Here is the official announcement:

Optimum joins forces with StudioCanal
04.05.06
Optimum Releasing, one of the UK's leading independent film distributors has agreed a deal for StudioCanal to acquire Optimum Releasing including its theatrical and home entertainment distribution operations. StudioCanal is the film, production and sales distribution arm of French media group, Canal+.
Full Story

[tryavna]

That is so. StudioCanal has expressed its intention to make Optimum their home video distribution arm.

[Matt]

I'll buy it if there's a Sutherland/Christie commentary and maybe if there's a Roeg commentary (if it's any good), but I'm holding onto my cheapie Paramount disc regardless because of its lovely no-PAL-speedup transfer.

I might be misunderstanding your reasoning

I mean I'd buy the new SE if....

There's no reason to own the current R2, is there?

[Lino]

Well, the UK R2 edition does carry a nice featurette with it. I happily traded my french edition (France was the first country to have this film on DVD) when I heard that the UK one had some sort of DVD extras besides the trailer.

[Narshty]

It's not that great a featurette - it's by Blue Underground and is certainly a cut above the standard Laurent Bouzereau hackery, but not by much. Anthony Richmond's gobsmacking claim that the raincoat is the only red thing in the film is just laughable.

[Gordon]

Don`t Look Now - Special Edition £11.99 @ Benson's World

Optimum seem to have some great or at least interesting titles coming soon this year: Peckinpah's Convoy (Here's hoping for an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer); La Grande Illusion: Special Edition; Salute of the Jugger (Hoping for the longer version).

And, perhaps the pièce de résistance: A 21-Disc Hammer Horror Boxed Set! Including, Quatermass And The Pit, Dracula, Prince Of Darkness, and The Devil Rides Out. New transfers and extras for some previously bare-bones titles will help sales.

[Floyd]

This was the best film I watched all summer. I am hoping to read some good things about the extras with Donald Sutherland hopefully on a commentary.

[Gordon]

Anthony Richmond's gobsmacking claim that the raincoat is the only red thing in the film is just laughable.

Look, I think the guy would remember his own life.

Frankly, I don't feel that Richmond was or is an imaginative, noteworthy cinematographer. Outside of his work for Roeg (which included treading the boards on Doctor Zhivago, Far from the Madding Crowd and Walkabout) he hasn't exactly excelled himself, though I haven't seen Anjelica Huston's, Bastard Out of Carolina Sean Penns's, The Indian Runner, which sounds interesting, though it generally called an "actors film". I have always had the impression that Richmond was Roeg's apprentice, who, without his master, found it difficult to find a distinctive style and place in the industry. I'm not trying to diminish his work, but the visual power of Roeg's films is mainly his doing.

[Matt]

I was under the impression that being a DP on a Roeg film is about the same as being a DP on Kubrick film, i.e. you don't actually get anywhere near the camera, you're just on the set because union rules require it.

[ellipsis7]

Even more so in that Roeg's prior job was as cinematographer himself...

He has a new film PUFFBALL made in Ireland, readying for release - gave a hot and cold masterclass here in the summer... Basically he is loathe to be pigeonholed as a 1970's/early 80's director...

[kinjitsu]

I was under the impression that being a DP on a Roeg film is about the same as being a DP on Kubrick film ...

Exactly. It's obvious Roeg must have shot (and edited) much of the film himself because its unmistakable visual style so closely resembles his two previous films, especially the baroque elements in Performance.

[ellipsis7]

Forgot to mention Roeg reunites with Donald Sutherland on PUFFBALL... Samantha Morton is in there too...

[MichaelB]

It's worth pointing out that the editing technique that we now think of as 'Roegian' was in fact entirely devised by Donald Cammell and Frank Mazzola, who edited the final cut of Performance. Roeg wasn't involved as he was shooting Walkabout, and was apparently very unhappy with what they'd done to the film when he first saw their cut - though obviously did a complete U-turn once he realised the potential.

(The first cut of Performance - the one rejected by Warner Bros and assembled before Mazzola came on board - was apparently much more linear and conventional: this must be one of the few instances in film history when the supposedly studio-bowdlerised version was much more radical and innovative!)

[ellipsis7]

And for instance with the second unit scenes Roeg shot on LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, were they perceptibly Roegian or did they blend seemlessly with Freddie Young's main unit cinematography for David Lean? The latter surely......

Have to be cautious as Roeg was essentially a cameraman for hire who turned to directing, so his every touch did not automatically make for an auteurist imprint...

[Gordon]

And for instance with the second unit scenes Roeg shot on LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, were they perceptibly Roegian or did they blend seemlessly with Freddie Young's main unit cinematography for David Lean? The latter surely.

Well, his lighting (he is credited as a "second unit photographer") had to match Young's and he understood this - as did Andre de Toth, who goes uncredited as one of six second unit directors. He talks about this in the fascinating, frank and often hilarious, De Toth on De Toth.

[Matt]

it's worth pointing out that the editing technique that we now think of as 'Roegian' was in fact entirely devised by Donald Cammell and Frank Mazzola, who edited the final cut of Performance.

Actually, if you take a look at Antony Gibbs' work on Petulia (on which, coincidentally, Roeg was DP), you may change your tune a little. Gibbs was later one of the editors on Performance and on Walkabout. In fact, you can see the first stirrings of this style in his work on Tom Jones way back in 1963.

[kinjitsu]

Actually, if you take a look at Antony Gibbs' work on Petulia (on which, coincidentally, Roeg was DP), you may change your tune a little. Gibbs was later one of the editors on Performance and on Walkabout. In fact, you can see the first stirrings of this style in his work on Tom Jones way back in 1963.

That makes perfect sense, Matt. In fact, that kinetic style is evident in his earlier work with Lester and Richardson as well, so credit where credit is due.

[Narshty]

Zeta Minor reports that:

Optimum's forthcoming Don't Look Now DVD, due on November the 13th, will feature a new commentary track by director Nic Roeg!