Artificial Eye / Curzon: Andrei Tarkovsky Collection

[knives]

In Sculpting in Time he pretty loudly rejects it as a way of reading his films, but he doesn't reject it as a good method. He describes it as inherently literary and thus not something he's compelled to work within. Then again he describes Ashes and Diamonds as a film which is appropriate for this approach citing the ending in particular so it seems clear to me that he had a very unique perspective on psychoanalytics.

[Trees]

Jung's work outside of psychoanalysis is a much better place to look to than Freud when it comes to analyzing psychology and universal motifs used in literature and film, for example.

[Trees]

With the first couple of Tarkovskys getting released over the next couple of weeks, has there been any word on what type of restoration been done for these films? Surprisingly no reviews or details have surfaced.

Has there been any specific information about any kind of restoration work being done for this Nostalghia release? The Kino release leaves room for improvement.

[FrauBlucher]

Considering Nostalgia hasn't been detailed yet, the June 27th release date seems a we bit precarious.

[Manny Karp]

Has there been any specific information about any kind of restoration work being done for this Nostalghia release? The Kino release leaves room for improvement.

It looks a damn sight better than the Waxwork House of Horror that was their Sacrifice release. At least the Nostalghia image had some kind of grain.

[FrauBlucher]

Andre Rublev detailed with a July 11 release.
Special Features:
-Selected scene commentary with Film Psychoanalyst Mary Wild
-Making of 'Andrei Rublev'
-Interview with Yuriy Nazarov
-36-page illustrated booklet

And yet they haven't detailed Nostalghia with a June 27 release date still. Don't think so.

[Trees]

Has anyone in UK been out to see any of these films as part of the SCULPTING TIME retrospective? Has anyone seen Nostalghia?

[rapta]

And yet they haven't detailed Nostalghia with a June 27 release date still. Don't think so.

It looks like they're releasing them in order Tarkovsky made them, starting with Ivan's Childhood, and hopefully each subsequent film two weeks after the last (if all goes to plan). That should mean two more in July, August and September, and hopefully they'll have the box set sorted before the end of the year.

I wouldn't go by Amazon listings as they often get the dates wrong or forget to update them.

[kekid]

And yet they haven't detailed Nostalghia with a June 27 release date still. Don't think so.

It looks like they're releasing them in order Tarkovsky made them, starting with Ivan's Childhood, and hopefully each subsequent film two weeks after the last (if all goes to plan). That should mean two more in July, August and September, and hopefully they'll have the box set sorted before the end of the year.

I wouldn't go by Amazon listings as they often get the dates wrong or forget to update them.

Is there a reliable source for release dates? I could not find them in AE / Curzon's web-site.

[FrauBlucher]

I asked on their tweeter feed several times. Nothing.

[rapta]

And yet they haven't detailed Nostalghia with a June 27 release date still. Don't think so.

It looks like they're releasing them in order Tarkovsky made them, starting with Ivan's Childhood, and hopefully each subsequent film two weeks after the last (if all goes to plan). That should mean two more in July, August and September, and hopefully they'll have the box set sorted before the end of the year.

I wouldn't go by Amazon listings as they often get the dates wrong or forget to update them.

Is there a reliable source for release dates? I could not find them in AE / Curzon's web-site.

Blu-ray.com seem to be getting the most reliable info first-hand. They have been starting to confirm release dates and specs one-by-one, starting with Ivan's Childhood on June 27th and Andrei Rublev on July 11th.

This leads me to believe they're releasing them two weeks apart, so if all goes to plan the rest of the release calendar should now look like this:

Solaris - July 25th
Mirror - August 8th
Stalker - August 22nd
Nostalgia - September 5th
The Sacrifice - September 19th
The Andrei Tarkovsky Collection (Box Set) - TBC 2016 (October/November?)

Of course, there could be some specific issues with each of the remaining five titles which could set the date(s) back a bit, but I think it's safe to say we'll have them all by October. Hopefully the transfers are decent enough to warrant waiting for the box set to arrive, as I'd like to get it before Christmas (when I'll likely have time to watch them all!). If not, I'd probably just wait 'til early 2017 when they'd presumably drop in price (as all AE releases tend to).

[FrauBlucher]

bluray.com

Solaris will be released on Blu-ray on August 15.

It's a shame AE/Curzon are doing a poor job communicating. They should have Amazon and bluray.com pull the release dates if incorrect.

[rapta]

bluray.com

Solaris will be released on Blu-ray on August 15.

It's a shame AE/Curzon are doing a poor job communicating. They should have Amazon and bluray.com pull the release dates if incorrect.

Yeah I just saw that. If Solaris is indeed released on August 15th, then that would presumably push the following 4 releases back quite significantly.

I think that was just a post about the Will Self intro though, as there aren't any specs mentioned. Pro-B likes to post his news articles in all the relevant threads, so I wouldn't take much notice of this one and just wait for a specs announcement for confirmation of the proper release date.

[midnitedave]

With the first couple of Tarkovskys getting released over the next couple of weeks, has there been any word on what type of restoration been done for these films? Surprisingly no reviews or details have surfaced.

Has there been any specific information about any kind of restoration work being done for this Nostalghia release? The Kino release leaves room for improvement.

I was also curious as to what transfer Artificial Eye were using for the Tarkovsky collection so I shot both AE & Mosfilm an email.

Artifical Eye got back to me:

Thank you for your email.
All materials for the Tarkovsky films have been provided by the sales agents. The films will be released from this summer.
Please check our website for more information on upcoming releases.

Kind regards,
Patricia Perez
[email protected]

Wasn't sure what "sales agents" entailed and asked for clarification/whether they preformed any of their own restorations but received no further response.


For Mosfilm I asked whether their restorations where being released in any form, possibly for the AE collection & they responded:

Dear Sir,
The materials of the Mosfilm restorations were provided to Criterion Collection
in the frame of the licence granted to them for the films directed by Andrey Tarkovsky.

Best regards,
Elena Orel
International Relations and Distribution Dept.
Mosfilm Cinema Concern

"In the frame of the licence granted to [Criterion]" I surmise as the transfers used for the Ivy's Childhood & Solaris blu-rays. However, their lack of mentioning Artificial Eye is curious.

[Manny Karp]

Trying to get any square info from any of the "agents" involved in the production of these discs is like living in a John le Carré novel, for fuck's sake. A straight answer from any of the parties involved would be, at this point, an act of basic human decency. And might even boost sales, if they are at all concerned -- it's hard to tell.

[MichaelB]

The agents almost certainly don't know.

I try to offer very detailed information about the provenance of the masters fuelling my own projects, but I drew a near-complete blank on Three Brothers (the lab that did the restoration is no longer in business). There's also a weird anomaly on the Taviani Brothers collection whereby I offer tons of info about Padre Padrone and Kaos but very little about The Night of the Shooting Stars - again, that's based on information supplied by what turned out to be three separate restoration houses. Unfortunately, if you're not directly involved with the restoration yourself, getting coherent info can be a bit of a minefield at times.

[FrauBlucher]

Nostalgia release date has been pushed to September 12th as per Amazon.

[FrauBlucher]

Mirror has been detailed for it's July 25th release.
Special Features:
-Andrei Tarkovsky's metaphysical dream zone: selected scene commentary by Mary Wild
-Interview with screenwriter A.Misharin
-Interview with composer Eduard Artemev
-Interview with Oleg Yankovskiy
-Music box featurette
-40-page booklet illustrated collector's booklet

[rapta]

Mirror has been detailed for it's July 25th release.
Special Features:
-Andrei Tarkovsky's metaphysical dream zone: selected scene commentary by Mary Wild
-Interview with screenwriter A.Misharin
-Interview with composer Eduard Artemev
-Interview with Oleg Yankovskiy
-Music box featurette
-40-page booklet illustrated collector's booklet

Just saw that as well. Looks like they aren't doing them strictly in order of production year then, since they've skipped Solaris for the time being - though that might be to add new extras, such as the recent Will Self intro? In which case we'd get that and Stalker in August, Nostalgia and The Sacrifice in September, and hopefully the box set in time for either my birthday (October) or Christmas.

Strange there have been no reviews of Ivan's Childhood yet - it's out next week!

[FrauBlucher]

bluray.com.....Ivan's Childhood This is very promising.

[rapta]

Yeah! I just saw that. Have to say this is the least risky of the titles, and from the clip on Amazon Video Player I could tell it was going to be the same source as Criterion. Let's wait and see about the other six...hopefully there'll be a review of Andrei Rublev next, and then Mirror.

If at least 4 of them are decent, I'll definitely get the box set.

[TMDaines]

Wow. And people wonder why Criterions at £17.99 a piece aren't flying off the shelves...

[FrauBlucher]

Ivan's Childhood. Now it's the beaver's turn.

[Finch]

Still, those covers.....!

[FrauBlucher]

Maybe there's a slight chance they look better in person.