Two nice looking Ken Loach packs out in the UK this weekend. But does anyone have any extra information about them?
Volume 1 & Volume 2
Is it a bunch of old DVDs bundled together or nice, glossy, perfect aspect ratio remasters? Personally I like my faded poor quality VHS of Kes - seems to add to the atmosphere.
No mention of subtitles either which a lot of folk seem to insist on for Ken Loach movies.
The Ken Loach Collection (R2)
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Sanjuro
- Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:37 am
- Location: Yokohama, Japan
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tryavna
- Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:38 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Is there more than one thread for these releases? Because it seems like I've mentioned this before.Slothrop wrote:What's up with these sets? Are the transfers good? I'd love to buy these. Can anybody help me out?
The sets are repackagings of the existing releases of all previously released films (Kes, etc.). That means both good and bad news: the R2 MGM of Kes, for example, has a relatively weak transfer, while on the other hand you do get the now-OOP BFI disc of Cathy Come Home. You can find individual reviews for several of the individual titles over at DVD Beaver.
If you like Loach and don't already own more than a couple of these titles, then this is a no-brainer. But it's a bit of a mixed bag transfer-wise. (Also, as most folks know, many of the R2s don't have subtitles, which can be a bit of problem for those of us unfamiliar with the wide range of regional accents/dialects throughout the British Isles.)
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DeprongMori
- Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 1:59 am
- Location: San Francisco
Re: The Ken Loach Collection (R2)
I was surprised there wasn’t a dedicated “Ken Loach” page in the Filmmakers subforum, so I’ll add this here as the film Land and Freedom can also be found in the Volume 2 release.
There is a South Korean all-region DVD release of Land and Freedom that can currently be had quite cheaply on eBay. Although it is in the correct 1.66:1 aspect ratio, it is a non-anamorphic disc. It contains no supplements. It does have both 2.0 and 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks. The picture quality is only okay.
I’m kind of shocked this film has never had a Blu-ray release. It’s a loose (uncredited) adaptation of George Orwell’s memoir Homage to Catalonia, and follows the story of a British volunteer in the Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
There is a South Korean all-region DVD release of Land and Freedom that can currently be had quite cheaply on eBay. Although it is in the correct 1.66:1 aspect ratio, it is a non-anamorphic disc. It contains no supplements. It does have both 2.0 and 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks. The picture quality is only okay.
I’m kind of shocked this film has never had a Blu-ray release. It’s a loose (uncredited) adaptation of George Orwell’s memoir Homage to Catalonia, and follows the story of a British volunteer in the Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
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hearthesilence
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
- Location: NYC
Re: The Ken Loach Collection (R2)
I didn't know where else to put this, but I saw Sweet Sixteen (part of volume 2 of this ancient set) at Film Forum as part of their Loach series that's going on. It's one of the films being shown in 35mm and it's a really beautiful print - perhaps some visible wear around the reel changes (it only stood out during the first reel change), but otherwise a great print with great color and deep shadows with no sign of fading. FWIW, there are white English subtitles too for those who have trouble with the Scottish accents.
I've heard conflicting things about the merits of this film and to be fair a lot of it is familiar - classic story of turning to crime as a means of upward mobility - but after a slow start, I was surprised how moving it came off over the course of the film. A few critics have described the mother-son relationship as Oedipal, but it sadly resonates for me as a reminder of family dynamics I've seen elsewhere, of parents who just aren't parents to their children and doom them to an uncertain future. The drug trade doesn't play as merely a MacGuffin either - it resonates more today given the opioid crisis (which claimed a few people I've known here in NYC since I moved here over a decade ago) and also feels all the more tragic given how the central character is contributing to a social problem that made his family's life a mess to begin with. Not a groundbreaking film, and again perhaps all of it has been done before, but what Loach usually does best is more than enough to put it over and it's the type of film that makes a much deeper impression now than it would've had if I had seen it back in 2002.
I've heard conflicting things about the merits of this film and to be fair a lot of it is familiar - classic story of turning to crime as a means of upward mobility - but after a slow start, I was surprised how moving it came off over the course of the film. A few critics have described the mother-son relationship as Oedipal, but it sadly resonates for me as a reminder of family dynamics I've seen elsewhere, of parents who just aren't parents to their children and doom them to an uncertain future. The drug trade doesn't play as merely a MacGuffin either - it resonates more today given the opioid crisis (which claimed a few people I've known here in NYC since I moved here over a decade ago) and also feels all the more tragic given how the central character is contributing to a social problem that made his family's life a mess to begin with. Not a groundbreaking film, and again perhaps all of it has been done before, but what Loach usually does best is more than enough to put it over and it's the type of film that makes a much deeper impression now than it would've had if I had seen it back in 2002.