New Yorker

[Buttery Jeb]

According to the recent DVD Savant posting, New YOrker has signed on as the U.S. distributor for Project X. The first release will be the U.S. debut of "Punishment Park," on November 22nd.

The actual information, as taken from DVD Savant:

Savant wrote the Canadian DVD company called Project X to find out when Punishment Park will officially be released in the United States. Project X's slate of releases is impressive enough to reprint "Oliver's" entire letter of response:

"Hi, Glenn, thanks for your interest. I've finally got a sales service deal in place for the States: with New Yorker. So I'll be putting together the releases in consultation with New Yorker and Morningstar, who'll be handling the distribution in the States and Canada respectively.

Punishment Park is the first out of the gate in the States on 22nd November. It'll be nice finally to get this out south of the border!

Mai Zetterling's Loving Couples (1964) will follow on 29th November. It's already out here in Canada but I'm making some changes for the US release. I'm about to start authoring The Gladiators (Peter Watkins, 1969). Joe Gomez (who did the Punishment Park commentary) has just recorded one for this. Then I have other Watkins titles which are set for release in the early part of next year: Edvard Munch (1974), Culloden (1964), The War Game (1965) and The Freethinker (1994).

Mixed in with those are The Girls (Mai Zetterling, 1968) and Hunger (Henning Carlsen, 1966). Most of these are at various stages of preparation. Best wishes, Oliver"

-BJ

[iangj]

About New Yorker's PLATFORM, does anyone know how the subtitles are on it ?I've got the AE disc and its very spotty in that regard.If the subs are more complete on the New Yorker I'd probably pick it up for that, along with the other bits and bobs not on the AE release (which does have a wonderful menu with some traditional Chinese music).Unless New Yorker's subs are in yellow, which I hate.

Also AE's disc was of the shorter international cut of the film, and with the 150m running time of the NY disc listed on the Slant review that looks like it's the same version.There was a Japanese dvd (without subs) I asked my usual retailer about and that was the same.Has there ever been a disc of the full length version released anywhere ?

My understanding is that, after the initial international film festival screenings, Jia himself decided on recutting it to the shorter version. This is the only version available. (I'd love to be wrong as I was bowled over when I saw the original version at a festival, and felt a bit disappointed when I got the AE disc - although the problems with the disc itself probably contributed.)

[tavernier]

According to the recent DVD Savant posting, New YOrker has signed on as the U.S. distributor for Project X. The first release will be the U.S. debut of "Punishment Park," on November 22nd.

The extras on the PUNISHMENT PARK R1 disc, from New Yorker's press release:
- 28-minute intro by Watkins
- audio commentary by Dr. Joseph A. Gomez
- "Forgotten Faces" (1961), 18-minute Watkins short
- 24-page booklet

Also coming from New Yorker on November 22:
Josee Dayan's CET AMOUR-LA with Jeanne Moreau as Marguerite Duras
Adrian Caetano's BOLIVIA

[neuro]

According to the bottom of this article, we can expect Memories of Underdevelopment on Dec. 13 from New Yorker.

[Doug Cummings]

Celine and Julie Go Boating has been added to New Yorker's upcoming release page.

[Gordon]

It is worth noting that the BFI will be releasing Celine and Julie Go Boating early next year
and I have more faith in the BFI than New Yorker.

[FilmFanSea]

It is worth noting that the BFI will be releasing Celine and Julie Go Boating early next year
and I have more faith in the BFI than New Yorker.

I have more faith in the Bush Administration than I have in New Yorker.

[Gordon]

DVD Talk review of Werner Herzog: The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner,
How Much Wood Would a Wood Chuck and La Soufriere, HERE.

I had actually forgotten about this release. Woodcarver Steiner is one of Herzog's greatest films, with beautiful music by Popol Vuh. La Soufriere is bold, questioning and has some amazing shots. How Much Wood Would a Wood Chuck is an amusing aside, but is minor Herzog. Great set, though. Many stores don't seem to be stocking it, though. I ordered mine HERE (a UK-based company).

[emcflat]

I did mention it in the "Herzog's New Doc's" thread, to no reply. I think that New Yorker trys to play hardball as far as cost goes with a lot of companies, and so many opt not to carry their stock. I personally have no qualms about burning this disc, as I had spent money on a boot of this exact set of films, so that is my justification, lousy though it may be.
All three of these are great. I might go so far as to say that "Woodchuck" is my favorite of the three. As much as it seems to meander, I appreciate what Herzog is saying in this (about the nature of capitalism,) which seems to be more valuable and applicable today than anything in La Soufrierre or Woodcarver Steiner.
I contemplated putting that worthless cover in the "Worst covers ... Ever!" thread, but seeing as "Signs of Life" is already there, what's the point?

[Gordon]

I think that New Yorker trys to play hardball as far as cost goes with a lot of companies, and so many opt not to carry their stock.

Pardon my language, but New Yorker are cunts. I hope they go out of business next year.

All three of these are great. I might go so far as to say that "Woodchuck" is my favorite of the three. As much as it seems to meander, I appreciate what Herzog is saying in this (about the nature of capitalism,) which seems to be more valuable and applicable today than anything in La Soufrierre or Woodcarver Steiner.

Hmm. I think that we are all aware what the nature of Capitalism is. But most people don't care, deep down. They will denounce it as they would denounce racism, but very few people are willing to force change on the world - or on each other in order to make the World a fairer place to live. It has been a while since I saw How Much Wood Would a Wood Chuck and my worldview has altered significantly (far more pessimistic, absurdist) in the interim, so it may play differently and have a more meaningful impact. Woodcarver Steiner haunts the memory, though; it's one of the greatest Nietzschean 'Will-to-Power' films ever made.

Always great to converse with another Herzog admirer!

[FilmFanSea]

Like my college Latin professor, the reviewers at Slant Magazine.com are notoriously tough graders, so it is doubling surprising to see that Jeremiah Kipp has awarded New Yorker's release of Punishment Park 4 STARS (out of 5). To place it in perspective, only 2 of the last 7 Criterion releases they reviewed garnered 4 stars (Ugetsu and Pickpocket).

[solaris72]

Well, New Yorker's only the distributor on Punishment Park. "Project X" produced the disc (which has been available in Canada for a while).

[Andre Jurieu]

Seriously, there was no reason for anyone in the US to wait until New Yorker put Punishment Park out on DVD. You could have had the exact same disc from Project X months ago by just ordering it off of amazon.ca. Probably could have saved yourself some money too, since I got it for about $20 Canadian, and amazon.com is now selling it for $20 American. I could understand waiting for the MoC disc, which apparently had 10 extra pages in their booklet, but otherwise they are all the exact same release.

[FilmFanSea]

Well, New Yorker's only the distributor on Punishment Park. "Project X" produced the disc (which has been available in Canada for a while).

Ah ... I had completely forgotten about that. Thanks.

[Gregory]

It's New Yorker so I wasn't planning on buying it, but what happened to How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman? Donald Brown's list says it was recently released but I have not been able to find it anywhere. I'm also wondering what the chances are that Artificial Eye will eventually release this because so many of their titles overlap with New Yorker in R1. Any information would be appreciated.

[Lino]

NYer is releasing an important brazilian Novo Cinema classic on January, 10th - Vidas Secas:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A59PNS/

[Gregory]

Yes, an extremely important Brazilian film. It's unbelievably sad that most of the best Latin American films languish in out-of-print obscurity while those that are widely distributed on DVD are handled by the likes of New Yorker or worse. Criterion may release some of Bunuel's Mexican films, marking their first release of any Latin American films in the company's 20-year history, but these Bunuels are often accorded a degree of (richly deserved) recognition by cinephiles not extended to any other films from the region, so it seems there still may be little hope that this is a sign of anything with respect to Latin American cinema.
By the way, in case anyone else cares about How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman, I received word from New Yorker that it has been delayed while they await restoration.

[justeleblanc]

I know a lot of people hate New Yorker, but I've watched their Herzogs and Godards and I found them to be pretty good releases. What am I missing?

[Kudzu]

I know a lot of people hate New Yorker, but I've watched their Herzogs and Godards and I found them to be pretty good releases. What am I missing?

The main problem seems to be the lack of progressive transfers.

[tryavna]

I know a lot of people hate New Yorker, but I've watched their Herzogs and Godards and I found them to be pretty good releases. What am I missing?

The main problem seems to be the lack of progressive transfers.

Yeah, just try throwing Signs of Life into a PC or laptap. The amount of ghosting/combing going on is unbelievable -- something you're probably not going to notice on a regular tube TV. It's a great print but a horrible transfer.

[justeleblanc]

I watched Weekend on my iMac and didn't notice anything. But then I wasn't looking for it. Maybe I shouldn't have asked, now all I'm going to see is the ghosting!

[tryavna]

I watched Weekend on my iMac and didn't notice anything. But then I wasn't looking for it. Maybe I shouldn't have asked, now all I'm going to see is the ghosting!

Yeah, I wonder if it's something you have to train yourself to see. Now I just can't help noticing it.

Of course, I don't actually have the Weekend disk, so maybe it's not as bad.

[cafeman]

So, can anybody tell me, without the techie babble, is the transfer on the MoC enough of an improvement over the New Yorker to warrant the missing extras? Which is to say that, if the transfer is marginally poorer, I`ll opt for the NY for the extras.

[FilmFanSea]

So, can anybody tell me, without the techie babble, is the transfer on the MoC enough of an improvement over the New Yorker to warrant the missing extras? Which is to say that, if the transfer is marginally poorer, I`ll opt for the NY for the extras.

If you're asking about Punishment Park (the only film I'm aware of to be released by both MoC and New Yorker---though, technically, New Yorker is only the distributor), the MoC transfer is superior, but much of the difference depends upon the quality of your viewing system and how sensitive you are to PAL-to-NTSC artifacts: DVD Beaver comparison

[cafeman]

Well, I have a yey big 16x9 tv, and if the thing in question is ghosting and/or combing, then I am extremely sensitive to those, as my picture is rather large. I already visited the Beaver comparison, but I can`t measure ghosting until I see the image in motion, so that`s why I`m asking.