Godard on DVD and Blu-ray

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#451 Post by **domino harvey** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 3:33 am

It's Kecia Nyman

Kirkinson · #452 Post by **Kirkinson** » Sun Oct 08, 2017 4:50 am

domino harvey wrote:DVDBeaver on Le gai savoir -- the caps for both these KL releases look incredible, I can't believe these are getting such beautiful and stacked releases from KL!

It's astounding to recall that when I first rented a murky, worn-out VHS of this from Facets in Chicago I felt certain it was the only way I would ever be able to see it. I almost can't believe how good those screencaps look.

Rupert Pupkin · #453 Post by **Rupert Pupkin** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 5:34 am

I've just noticed while browsing CDJapan that StudioCanal has released in Japan on Blu-Ray : "Prénom Carmen" (aka First Name Carmen)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/DAXA-5224" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

did someone buy it ?

I need to know if the subtitles are "ngrained" (burnt-it)

There's a gorgeous transfer via iTunes StudioCanal since several years which is half the resolution of a Blu-Ray, and the subtitles are not forced but burnt-it.

(I bought a few Godard on Blu-Ray in Japan and was very pleased with "Une Femme est Infâme" and "Alphaville" - it took year before Alphaville finally came out via StudioCanal in UK and I really doubt that they will release "First Name Carmen" in France or in UK... both Japanese blu-ray have optional subtitles and both have the StudioCanal logo so I still have some hopes about "Prénom Carmen", but who knows... (they released a Godard in the US (was it Kino? and with forced-subtitles (or worst, burnt-in) - when they are just forced, I can remove it with my blu-ray player, or scroll the subtitles down- until they are "out of the screen" (that's what I did with the Cohen Chabrol box set (they tried to punish me for having bought from France "Torment" (aka "L'Enfer") - but I need to see Emmanuelle Béart without subtitles

- (and I have to say that the Ken Jones interview, especially the one with François Cluzet is one of the most fascinating interview I've seen since years. Same for the B.Jacquot box set (no forced subtitles here) - it seems that Cohen reach Criterion standard for their bonus with these 2 box set).

accatone · #454 Post by **accatone** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:38 am

I think (among others) two things stand out in 80s Godard. The "wittiness" of the storytelling and quality of "sound mixing". The former had a major influence on many mainstream films. Only recently i listened to a filmmaker panel discussion where some director explained in detail, that after seeing Détective in the mid 80s, he thought that this will be the future of cinema. One may argue that thankfully this is/was not the case but i think that many details, like the deconstruction of genre narratives, star system etcetera, had and still has a big influence on todays cinema. The sound mixing is something that seams also only be appreciated by few individuals even though there are chapters and even books written on this subject alone (Jean-Luc Godard – musicien: Die Musik in den Filmen von Jean-Luc Godard by Jürg Stenzl). So yes, technical advanced releases, not just regarding the image but the sound too, are much appreciated!

Rupert Pupkin · #455 Post by **Rupert Pupkin** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:38 am

accatone wrote:I think (among others) two things stand out in 80s Godard. The "wittiness" of the storytelling and quality of "sound mixing". The former had a major influence on many mainstream films. Only recently i listened to a filmmaker panel discussion where some director explained in detail, that after seeing Détective in the mid 80s, he thought that this will be the future of cinema. One may argue that thankfully this is/was not the case but i think that many details, like the deconstruction of genre narratives, star system etcetera, had and still has a big influence on todays cinema. The sound mixing is something that seams also only be appreciated by few individuals even though there are chapters and even books written on this subject alone (Jean-Luc Godard – musicien: Die Musik in den Filmen von Jean-Luc Godard by Jürg Stenzl). So yes, technical advanced releases, not just regarding the image but the sound too, are much appreciated!

I agree, like Bresson or Tarkovski but I wanted to say that it was already right from the start although he enhanced the mixdown through the years...: "Une Femme est Infâme" already plays with sounds, etc... It's 50%-50% image and sounds like Bresson or Tarkoski. And I was happy that with "Prénom Carmen" Godard was back with Raoul Coutard and with a new style... if I remember he got a price for the audio-editing of Prénom Carmen.

accatone · #456 Post by **accatone** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:29 am

Yes, naturally it was right from the start. What i am trying to say is that compared to the 60s (nouvelle vague+ years) and the 90-2000s (Histoire(s) & ECM years) the 80s are kind of neglected in this regard. As far as i can tell the 80s work is a lot more embedded into mainstream (euro-) cinema than the later work. And i think because of this, certain aspects are neclected. For the "histoire(s)" academic audience the 80s work might be too mainstream, for the nouvelle vague, pop culture fans allready too cryptic.

goodguy · #457 Post by **goodguy** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:04 am

Rupert Pupkin wrote:I've just noticed while browsing CDJapan that StudioCanal has released in Japan on Blu-Ray : "Prénom Carmen" (aka First Name Carmen)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/DAXA-5224" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

did someone buy it ?

I need to know if the subtitles are "ngrained" (burnt-it)

There's a gorgeous transfer via iTunes StudioCanal since several years which is half the resolution of a Blu-Ray, and the subtitles are not forced but burnt-it.

I haven't bought it, but I looked at a rip of the Japanese Blu floating around. Based on that, the subs are not burnt-in, the color palette is slightly different then the iTunes version, and the image looks very flat due to heavy DNR. The latter could theoretically be a fault of the rip, but I don't think that's the case.

Petty Bourgeoisie · Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:33 am

Tonight I'm going to watch Eloge de L'amour in chronological order. I hope my New Yorker copy has chapter selections that make this easily doable.

Rupert Pupkin · #459 Post by **Rupert Pupkin** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:15 am

goodguy wrote:
Rupert Pupkin wrote:I've just noticed while browsing CDJapan that StudioCanal has released in Japan on Blu-Ray : "Prénom Carmen" (aka First Name Carmen)

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/DAXA-5224" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

did someone buy it ?

I need to know if the subtitles are "ngrained" (burnt-it)

There's a gorgeous transfer via iTunes StudioCanal since several years which is half the resolution of a Blu-Ray, and the subtitles are not forced but burnt-it.
I haven't bought it, but I looked at a rip of the Japanese Blu floating around. Based on that, the subs are not burnt-in, the color palette is slightly different then the iTunes version, and the image looks very flat due to heavy DNR. The latter could theoretically be a fault of the rip, but I don't think that's the case.

thanks. Too bad I haven't find a big-long-trailer of this movie like you...

the iTunes 720p looks like a real improvement (in terms of details, texture) in comparison to the DVD (which was already excellent for a DVD)
- now we passed the first barrier : the forced/burnt-it subtitles : you confirm : that's now - and that subtitles are optional - good!
- optical/blurry censorship (aka in French "foufoune floutage") : I didn't dare to ask, but I suppose that since it's from StudioCanal it's uncensored
- now it could have been sooooo easy to make a 1080 (I even didn't ask a 1080p24!) transfer of the HD master of StudioCanal : why do they have to ruin it... ](*,) (it's like a curse as if they knew I wanted badly to see Maruschka Detmers.. (and Jacques Villeret œuf course)
(now, it's perhaps a local disaster, but I'm not totally sure : look for instance "Belle de Jour" StudioCanal x4 new transfer (you have Georges Marshall saying "soleil noir, soleil d'automne" but the sky is perfect blue), you said that the color palette is slightly different to the iTunes version (which looks totally accurate to me), thus I'm not sure that it's an "initiative" of this local label in Japan or if StudioCanal would one day release in England or France "First Name Carmen" we could perhaps have the same transfer...)
(I'm a bit surprised because the Japanese blu-ray who got the StudioCanal logo transfer I had bought were free of DNR and excellent (Une Femme est Infâme, Alphaville)

apparently this Japanese label also put out another Godard title on blu-ray "One + One" (I bought a while ago the French Blu-Ray which was damned good)

Calvin · #460 Post by **Calvin** » Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:27 pm

ABKCO have restored Sympathy for the Devil in 4K, with a Blu-Ray coming on October 5th.

Extras include "the entirety of One Plus One (Godard’s director’s cut) as well as Voices, a 1968 documentary on the making of Sympathy For The Devil, along with a 2018 documentary featuring interviews with Tony Richmond and Mim Scala, one of the film’s producers. Additional extras include a full-length commentary track by Godard authority David Sterritt, former Chairman of the National Society of Film Critics, and the physical package showcases an essay by author Danny Goldberg."

#461 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:35 pm

Look like great extras but this is the same company that released the DVD in widescreen so I have the sinking feeling we are about to see a lot of effort for a cropped release

#462 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:38 pm

Yep, Amazon and Blu-ray.com both list it as widescreen, making the US copy still the only home media release worldwide to insist on this

dda1996a · #463 Post by **dda1996a** » Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:00 pm

I'm usually nitpicky about this, but never having seen the film, is this the best available option right now?

#464 Post by **domino harvey** » Tue Sep 11, 2018 7:24 pm

The French Blu-ray is the best release as far as the feature goes. All in English, so no subs needed

Calvin · #465 Post by **Calvin** » Tue Sep 11, 2018 8:22 pm

It may well turn out to be the case, but I wouldn’t trust Amazon or Blu-Ray.com when it comes to aspect ratios. The latter is user edited and was probably just copied off of Amazon in the first place.

The restoration is playing at MoMA from Thursday, so hopefully we’ll hear more reliable details then.

Scott Nye · #466 Post by **Scott Nye** » Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:06 pm

I caught the restoration at the Egyptian in Los Angeles last Friday, and while you've all got me doubting it now, I'm fairly certain it was 1.66:1

bergelson · #467 Post by **bergelson** » Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:49 am

"Le petit soldat" has just been released in Spain by Studiocanal.

https://www.amazon.es/soldadito-VOSE-Bl ... rds=godard

#468 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Nov 02, 2018 7:34 pm

The ABKCO Blu-ray is indeed in 1.66, but given the hard matting in some scenes in the Academy version, it probably can be considered a valid choice. They didn't bother to transfer Voices properly, so it uses a PAL source with ghosting and the aspect ratio looks squished to closer to 1.25. The Sterritt commentary is a great primer, as per usual with Sterritt's other Godard commentaries. It plays over the Sympathy version, not One Plus One. I didn't realize Sterritt taught Film Studies at MICA til he mentioned it in his track! Def worth picking up for Sterritt's track if you have an interest in the film, he condenses a lot of info and takes time to talk about each of the Stones portions in detail, which most Godard scholars elide when discussing the film.

Also, for some reason ABKCO put this in a DVD sized digipak case and the thin booklet is glued to the interior

#469 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:06 pm

KL is releasing 3/4 of the Lionsgate Godard box on Blu-ray in June: Detective, Prenom: Carmen, Helas pour moi

Glowingwabbit · #470 Post by **Glowingwabbit** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:44 pm

domino harvey wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:06 pm KL is releasing 3/4 of the Lionsgate Godard box on Blu-ray in June: Detective, Prenom: Carmen, Helas pour moi

Nice!! Hopefully Criterion or someone will do Passion and include Scénario du Film Passion

#471 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 8:47 pm

I’m very nervous that KL will fuck up the aspect ratios, which are unambiguously Academy. The LionsGate DVDs respected this, hopefully these do too

whaleallright · #472 Post by **whaleallright** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:36 pm

There's so much stuff out there about how Godard prefers the Academy ratio that Kino would have to work hard to fuck it up, not that stranger things haven't happened. If these discs are being drawn from the same masters as other regions' BD releases, we should be OK.

IIRC the Lionsgate DVDs respected the aspect ratio but managed to include only mono soundtracks? Which is its own sort of disaster.

Calvin · #473 Post by **Calvin** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:05 am

R. Emmet Sweeney will be producing those and I'd trust him to get it right.

#474 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:24 am

What previous Godard releases has Sweeney produced? I'll be more than happy to have faith restored if indeed the disc producer knows what they're doing!

Calvin · #475 Post by **Calvin** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:36 am

I'm unsure if he has previously produced any Godard releases (but he is also in charge of the upcoming The Image Book), but I know that he has previously written on Histoire(s) du cinema as a critic. My main point is that he has produced some of Kino's banner releases over the past few years - Lost Lost Lost & Walden: Two Diary Films by Jonas Mekas, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, among others - so I'd certainly have more faith in him than any other producer that Kino works with.

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