Recommendations for Second Run

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#501 Post by senseabove » Tue Nov 24, 2020 12:40 am

It's been suggested a few times before, including by me earlier this year after seeing it at Noir City. MichaelB said they'd love to but it's not possible until it gets restored. It also led to an interesting discussion about its production history in another thread.

Here's hoping its appearance in the online Noir City last week boosted its reputation yet more and somebody'll get around to restoring it.

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Franz Propp
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#502 Post by Franz Propp » Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:52 am

These two late '60s Czechoslovak titles are, I think, long overdue for an English-friendly release: Antonín Máša's "Hotel pro cizince" (1967) and Zbyněk Brynych's "Já, spravedlnost" (1968).

Stefan Andersson
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#503 Post by Stefan Andersson » Wed Feb 10, 2021 2:35 pm

Here are two film suggestions for Second Run, both directed by Tunisian filmmaker Moufida Tlatli (from 2011, she served as Tunisia´s Minister of Culture):

Silences of the Palace (1994) - A woman returns to an abandoned royal residence; I remember it as a haunting study of gender and memory, but refrain from longer comment since it was so long since I saw it.

The Season of Men (2000), a story of an island community where the men are away, working elsewhere, for 11 out of 12 months (haven´t seen It myself so I can´t comment on it).

Neither have I seen her last film "Nadia et Sarra" (2004), a mother-daughter drama starring Hiam Abbass (Freysa in Blade Runner 2049).

Sight & Sound interview from 1995:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/ ... a-feminism

Recent obituary for Moufida Tlatli:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/f ... -film-dies
("This article was amended on 9 February to correct the assertion that Tlatli was the first female Arab film-maker to direct a feature film.")

borisgodunov
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#504 Post by borisgodunov » Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 pm

I'm not sure whether Second Run is the right label for it (maybe rather Arrow Academy), but I would love to see a well-curated Michael Cacoyannis box set (five films: Stella, Electra, Zorba the Greek, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia). They are so hard to get, not to mention in good quality.

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#505 Post by Aunt Peg » Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:44 am

borisgodunov wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 pm
I'm not sure whether Second Run is the right label for it (maybe rather Arrow Academy), but I would love to see a well-curated Michael Cacoyannis box set (five films: Stella, Electra, Zorba the Greek, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia). They are so hard to get, not to mention in good quality.
Zorba the Greek is with Fox (now Disney) so that titles would be very unlikely at present. Fox did release a nice Blu Ray back in 2012 and copies can still be purchased obn eBay at least.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#506 Post by What A Disgrace » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:09 pm

The latest newsletter mentions upcoming releases for films by Pere Portabella, Márta Mészáros, Peter Solan, Juraj Herz, Paulo Rocha, and others.

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#507 Post by beamish14 » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:10 pm

Aunt Peg wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:44 am
borisgodunov wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 pm
I'm not sure whether Second Run is the right label for it (maybe rather Arrow Academy), but I would love to see a well-curated Michael Cacoyannis box set (five films: Stella, Electra, Zorba the Greek, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia). They are so hard to get, not to mention in good quality.
Zorba the Greek is with Fox (now Disney) so that titles would be very unlikely at present. Fox did release a nice Blu Ray back in 2012 and copies can still be purchased obn eBay at least.

Iphigenia and Electra were MGM in North America. Does it still hold them in that territory and/or internationally? He's been incredibly neglected on Blu-Ray.

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#508 Post by L.A. » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:11 pm

Curious what from Herz and Solan are in the works.

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swo17
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#509 Post by swo17 » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:29 pm

I'd have to dig up the link but I recently saw a site mention that the Solan is Before Tonight Is Over

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L.A.
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#510 Post by L.A. » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:35 pm

swo17 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:29 pm
I'd have to dig up the link but I recently saw a site mention that the Solan is Before Tonight Is Over
Sounds great. 🤗

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What A Disgrace
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#511 Post by What A Disgrace » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:45 pm

I'm hoping the Herz release will be his adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. It looks fantastic.

And I'm guessing the Paulo Rocha films will be the two that Grasshopper in the USA will be releasing.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#512 Post by Calvin » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:54 pm

I seem to remember some hint of Beauty and the Beast around the time of Herz' passing, so I imagine that it'll be that. Which would be wonderful but I'd also be very keen to see The Night Overtake Me / Zastihla mě noc.

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L.A.
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#513 Post by L.A. » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:02 pm

Plus hopefully someday an upgrade of Dragon’s Return will happen. [-o<

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swo17
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#514 Post by swo17 » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:07 pm

The Herz could also simply be a Morgiana upgrade
swo17 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:29 pm
I'd have to dig up the link but I recently saw a site mention that the Solan is Before Tonight Is Over
The link, actually a few years old, and the Solan is the only title mentioned that hasn't yet come to fruition

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brundlefly
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#515 Post by brundlefly » Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:22 pm

Calvin wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:54 pm
I seem to remember some hint of Beauty and the Beast around the time of Herz' passing, so I imagine that it'll be that. Which would be wonderful but I'd also be very keen to see The Night Overtake Me / Zastihla mě noc.
A German blu did come out back then and had advertised English subtitles but then apparently had to remove them.

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#516 Post by Aunt Peg » Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:12 am

beamish14 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:10 pm
Aunt Peg wrote:
Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:44 am
borisgodunov wrote:
Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:55 pm
I'm not sure whether Second Run is the right label for it (maybe rather Arrow Academy), but I would love to see a well-curated Michael Cacoyannis box set (five films: Stella, Electra, Zorba the Greek, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia). They are so hard to get, not to mention in good quality.
Zorba the Greek is with Fox (now Disney) so that titles would be very unlikely at present. Fox did release a nice Blu Ray back in 2012 and copies can still be purchased obn eBay at least.

Iphigenia and Electra were MGM in North America. Does it still hold them in that territory and/or internationally? He's been incredibly neglected on Blu-Ray.
No idea. Olive did release Iphigenia back in 2016 (Region A locked) though I don't know who they acquired the rights from.

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MichaelB
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#517 Post by MichaelB » Tue Mar 16, 2021 10:48 am

I have no inside info on this, but two other strong Peter Solan candidates in terms of easy availability of excellent HD restorations must surely be The Boxer and Death (1962) or The Barnabáš Kos Case (1964), either of which would make a superb Second Run release.

The first is based on the true story of a death camp prisoner whose boxing skills offer him a literal lifeline when his German captors want someone to practice with, and the second is a deliciously funny satire about what happens when a man is appointed to a prestigious position for Machiavellian reasons that have nothing to do with talent or ability. (Apparently it took several years for the project to be greenlit because assorted Slovak film industry apparatchiks thought that it was a personal attack on them, although in fact its message is so universal - a British viewer will find it hard not to recall the career of the hapless former Cabinet minister Chris Grayling - that you barely even notice that it's in Slovak.)

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TMDaines
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#518 Post by TMDaines » Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:21 am

I hope Second Run continues to release other films not already available on English-friendly Blus.

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L.A.
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:33 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#519 Post by L.A. » Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:31 pm

Fixafilm posted this on Facebook:
Today marks 15 years since Stanislaw Lem passed away. And the 100th anniversary of his birth is in September, so 2021 in Poland was declared the Year of Stanisław Lem (Rok Lema). The author of Solaris, The Futurological Congress, The Cyberiad, The Invincible and many more is the most frequently translated into foreign languages among Polish writers.

One of many adaptations of his works is "Inquest of Pilot Pirx" made by Marek Piestrak in 1978, and restored at our studio.
Test pilota Pirxa would be an excellent addition to your catalogue.

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MichaelB
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#520 Post by MichaelB » Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:55 pm

I'm sure they'd love to release it, and literally dozens of other Polish films that have been restored in recent years.

But there's a reason why the number of Polish BDs in Second Run's catalogue amounts to a big round zero (whereas their Czech titles alone are fast approaching twenty), and sadly that particular ball is firmly in the relevant rightsholders' court.

borisgodunov
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 5:54 pm

Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#521 Post by borisgodunov » Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:58 pm

Wow, I just came across the newly restored and re-released films by Fredi M. Murer, possibly one of the greatest Swiss directors of all time. I suspect he is completely unknown to most international viewers, but his works are certainly the kind whose reappearance makes you question presupposed notions of film history, particularly regarding the peaks of 1970s political cinema.

One of the most impressive documentaries I've ever seen is his film "We Who Dwell in the Mountains Cannot Be Blamed for Being There" (1974), an ethnological and cultural-critical study of the lives of people in remote mountain valleys in Switzerland. On the one hand, this documentary gets to the bottom of the original accumulation of once free nature in the Swiss Alps in an explicitly political way – with an analysis of certain legal paragraphs regulating ownership and leasing – but on the other hand develops a great poetic power, approaching everyday life and agriculture, folk legends and rituals with utterly beautiful slowness and quiet humour. (Restoration Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSKgKLG3x4)

After seeing his feature film "Zones"/"Grauzone" (1979), I was finally convinced that Murer is one of the very great directors who have ever made films in the German language. The film is set on a single weekend when a mysterious announcement in a magazine unsettles the country: an epidemic has broken out, those affected suddenly feel a great clarity, get out of time and space and want to change their lives. In stylish black-and-white images of extreme beauty, the film documents the few hours of freedom that a weekend can offer a young couple in anonymous apartment blocks. What may sound tedious develops against the backdrop of the peculiar epidemic into a surprisingly gripping thriller that revolves around the question: Is utopia possible, can one break out of the mechanics of everyday life? Again, Murer is very humorous when he casually runs through a few negative examples, such as a taxi driver who has declared his flat an autonomous republic. But can there be an individual revolution, and can it achieve anything at all? On the Monday after this weekend, the young couple goes back to work, but now everything is different… Murer's vision remarkably radiates both coldness and a cheerful lightness; in the end, the film definitely does not need to hide behind Fassbinder or Godard and is perhaps even a little more entertaining in comparison. (Restoration Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czdpGrsUkUI)

"Alpine Fire"/"Höhenfeuer" (1985) may be the director's most-well known work, as it won the Golden Leopard at the 1985 Locarno International Film Festival and for some reason has gathered a cult following in Japan. A small drama on the scale of an ancient tragedy, a precise ethnographic study of life in the isolation of an alpine farm, combining the realistic with the mystical, which is always close if you are surrounded by mountains so big that it is difficult for the mind to truly comprehend the distance needed to traverse and climb them. Never have I experienced such dread and horror with equal measures of contentment and intimacy in a film until this one. It places in perfect perspective what is probably the gravest social taboo and makes a case for it. One of those films that reminds you how beautiful cinema can be in the hands of a master. (Restoration Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yXb_cgQF_E)

These films are absolute masterpieces – politically aware but not agitational, mystic, deeply moving and yet rigorous on a formal level. They urgently demand to be seen by an international audience – and I couldn't think of a better label for them than Second Run. By the way, the director's website indicates that English subtitles have already been made for at least two of these films.

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L.A.
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#522 Post by L.A. » Mon Mar 29, 2021 3:32 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:55 pm
I'm sure they'd love to release it, and literally dozens of other Polish films that have been restored in recent years.

But there's a reason why the number of Polish BDs in Second Run's catalogue amounts to a big round zero (whereas their Czech titles alone are fast approaching twenty), and sadly that particular ball is firmly in the relevant rightsholders' court.
Okay, I thought maybe this would be easier to license than say Andrzej Żuławski’s The Polish Trilogy.

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DDillaman
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#523 Post by DDillaman » Mon May 03, 2021 10:08 pm

Apologies if anyone's mentioned this upthread, but I'm very curious about the films of Péter Bacsó. I saw his film THE WITNESS at 2019 Cannes Classics, so I know that's been restored, but doesn't seem to have been released on Blu anywhere, and his remaining filmography seems even more underseen in the west. Anyway, I think THE WITNESS is a perfect fit for Second Run at very least, and if anyone has seen any of his other films on the Internet and speaks English, chances are decent they're on this thread ...

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Reifferschizzle
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#524 Post by Reifferschizzle » Mon May 17, 2021 6:28 am

Since Second Run has released Portuguese works by Pedro Costa and Miguel Gomes as well as interesting offbeat science fiction, how about tackling the works of António de Macedo?

Originally a part of the Novo Cinema Português, making films critical of the dictatorship and influenced by the French New Wave and Italian neo-realism like any respectable mid 20th century auteur, his career eventually took a hard turn into science fiction, which gave him fleeting commercial success but also guaranteed his work wouldn't be canonised. 1983's Os Abismos Da Meia Noite is the most impressive work of his I've seen; a metaphysical sci-fi film reminiscent of 70's French comics and Zardoz that is also a supernatural murder mystery and a pretty compelling drama with very 80's concerns about divorce. There's a lot of Portuguese cinephiles that would go crazy if this guy's work got some sort of physical release (currently it's all illegal youtube uploads and backchannel situations).

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ianthemovie
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Re: Recommendations for Second Run

#525 Post by ianthemovie » Tue Oct 12, 2021 4:35 pm

Is there any chance that Second Run would consider putting out the films of Viktor Kubal? They would seem to be a good fit for this label. I'm toying with the idea of ordering the box set from the Slovak Film Institute but it's prohibitively expensive.

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