Cohen Film Collection

[tenia]

That may be the most piss-colored resto I’ve seen yet

Not sure if Ritrovata (the yellow white balance looks like their LUT) or Eclair (the white clothes looking blue are usually their signature), but in any case, yup, that's another LUT-homogenised restoration.

[jsteffe]

Not sure if Ritrovata (the yellow white balance looks like their LUT) or Eclair (the white clothes looking blue are usually their signature), but in any case, yup, that's another LUT-homogenised restoration.

Maybe it's the new Ritrovata-Eclair super-LUT that combines the best of both worlds?

[tenia]

Joke aside, I've seen movies graded by Ritrovata that looked Eclair-teal, and Eclair stuff looking Ritrovata-yellow. Not sure why or how, but I guess that within the thousands possible LUTs, they somehow ended up using extremely close ones.

[the__projectionist]

Mark Cousins’ 14-hour epic documentary Women Make Film will be getting a DVD/Blu-ray release on May 5.

[therewillbeblus]

Mark Cousins’ 14-hour epic documentary Women Make Film will be getting a DVD/Blu-ray release on May 5.

Good for Cohen releasing such a long film on disc, though this kind of news just reminds me that the (even shorter) La flor isn't getting one stateside at this point, and putting it next to a Mark Cousins film isn't going to make anyone optimistic about the justice behind what gets released vs. what doesn't

[A Tempted Christ]

Mark Cousins’ 14-hour epic documentary Women Make Film will be getting a DVD/Blu-ray release on May 5.

Bold move. I hope The Story of Film is next. Though a new narration is impossible.

[dwk]

The Blu-ray of the 4K restoration of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is coming out on April 21. The Living Idol is included as a bonus on the 2nd disc

[Luke M]

Happy I can offload my old copy.

[bearcuborg]

The Blu-ray of the 4K restoration of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is coming out on April 21. The Living Idol is included as a bonus on the 2nd disc

Thanks. That’s an easy double dip for me...I’ve been dying to see The Living Idol despite Susan Felleman telling me it’s better if I don’t.

[dwk]

If you don't want to wait, The Living Idol is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.

[kekid]

Amazon Prime has two versions of Tavernier's documentary on French cinema. One is called "My Journey through French Cinema", which is 192 minutes long. The other is called "Journeys through French Cinema", which is the longer version in 8 parts. Of these, Cohen has issued the first as a Blu Ray disc. Does anyone know if they intend to issue the longer version in the physical format?

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Mr Cohen has proved to be a not very welcome 'American in Paris'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... n-cut-down

[whaleallright]

Cohen also furloughed most of his cinema employees even though he makes more than enough money to pay their salaries for decades. Billionaires are pieces of shit, even cinephilic billionaires.

[Florinaldo]

Amazon Prime has two versions of Tavernier's documentary on French cinema. One is called "My Journey through French Cinema", which is 192 minutes long. The other is called "Journeys through French Cinema", which is the longer version in 8 parts. Of these, Cohen has issued the first as a Blu Ray disc. Does anyone know if they intend to issue the longer version in the physical format?

Those are actually two different works, with similar titles as if deliberately designed to confuse.

BT first made a 3-hour documentary, Voyage à travers le cinéma français, released in theaters and then issued on video with a lot of bonus content. He then did a follow-up TV show in 8 one hour episodes, called Voyages à travers le cinéma français, la Série, with all new material and which allowed him to discuss directors and titles he had to set aside or gloss over too quickly in the first outing (like Guitry, Ophuls, Tati, Litvak, etc.) for lack of time. It's also available on video (I have both). From the English titles you mention I conclude that these are the two works on Netflix.

[kekid]

They are both available on Amazon Prime, but only the shorter version is available to buy as a DVD/Blu Ray. For some reason Cohen has chosen not to sell the longer version on DVD/Blu Ray

[Florinaldo]

They were both issued on video in France by Gaumont and these are the editions I have. I just took my copies out and the packaging actually adds to the confusion since both bear nearly identical titles except for a plural mark (Voyage(s) à travers le cinéma français), but the difference is noted only in the description, printed in smaller characters: one says "un film", the other one "une série documentaire". The color scheme is also different: for the film Tavernier's giant scarf with film titles is red against a blue background, while it's the reverse for the second one (and the selection of titles is different).

If a customer is not very attentive he might think these are just variant covers for the same work, whereas as I noted they are made from completely different material and voice-overs from BT, shot at different times; the film is not a "shorter version". I will have to check Amazon Prime (not Netflix as I mistakenly wrote) out of curiosity.

[tenia]

1 thing though : the TV version was a Fnac exclusive.

[kekid]

Florinaldo, does the 8-part series have English subtitles?
Amazon.fr says it does, but they would not ship to UsA.
Amazon.UK would ship it to USA but says it has only French subtitles.
Could you please clarify the subtitle situation?
Thank you.

[fdm]

On Prime you can watch it "with a free 30-day Cohen Media Channel trial" it says. ($4.99/mo after trial)

[Florinaldo]

1 thing though : the TV version was a Fnac exclusive.

Florinaldo, does the 8-part series have English subtitles?
Amazon.fr says it does, but they would not ship to UsA.
Amazon.UK would ship it to USA but says it has only French subtitles.
Could you please clarify the subtitle situation?
Thank you.

I do not know how long that FNAC exclusivity may have lasted. I bought my copy from Amazon.fr back in October 2018, long before shipping restrictions started being applied to some items because of that damned virus. I note that Amazon.fr does not ship it to Canada either at this time.

I am assuming that the edition you viewed on Amazon.co.uk is the one bearing the same ASIN reference, B07G2CTJ76. The back cover does indicate "Anglais" for subtitles, a fact reflected in the picture in the listing which you can enlarge by clicking on it. But since info on DVD covers is sometimes incorrect or incomplete, I tested the first 2 episodes on disc 1 and there are indeed English subtitles. I forgot to check if they are also present on the interview bettween BT and a film historian included as a supplement. The Gaumont discs for this and the earlier film of the same title are Region-free.

As much as I like listening to BT discoursing with intelligence and conviction, even when I disagree with his opinions, I must say that the prices asked for that title by vendors on Amazon UK are rather steep.

[kekid]

Thank you very much Florinaldo.

[ethel]

Both the superb Tavernier VOYAGE(S) films are fully subtitled in English except for the special features, irritatingly enough. (Tavernier spends a lot of time discussing his choices and which films aren’t currently available for viewing in any form.)

French labels’ reluctance to subtitle their films in English (and sometimes even in French!) is an ongoing annoyance, especially as the chances of the films being sub-licensed in US, UK, Australia, NZ or Canada is probably diminishing by the day, and the probable audience for old Danielle Darrieux pictures is dying off by the minute. An insane business decision, possibly aggravated by restrictive contracts, but one which distributors show no sign of wanting to overcome.

That being said, the 11-odd hours of Tavernier’s survey are a must for devotees of French cinema. There is no overlap whatever between the feature and the series, and Tavernier gives the briefest attention to the best known directors, so don’t feel you’ll be going over well-trodden ground with Renoir, Carne’, Gremillion et al. They’re there, but not always in the form (or at the length) you expect. What’s really eye-opening is the number of directors and films quite unfamiliar to the average anglophone cineaste, with 99% of the HOURS of excerpts presented in fine restorations.

I didn’t want to wait for this to appear (if ever) outside France, but took the plunge immediately and I’m glad I did. It’s worth whatever you pay for it IMHO. Essential viewing for anyone interested in the field.

[tenia]

I do not know how long that FNAC exclusivity may have lasted. I bought my copy from Amazon.fr back in October 2018, long before shipping restrictions started being applied to some items because of that damned virus. I note that Amazon.fr does not ship it to Canada either at this time.

I was slightly misremembering : it wasn't the longer version that was a FNAC exclusive but both BD versions.

[Florinaldo]

After another quick view, I can confirm that not only are the bonus interviews on the DVDs not subtitled in English, they also are not in French.

I fully agree with @ethel's positive comments about the two works. Although BT does not pretend to give an exhaustive or encyclopaedic history of French cinema from his youth up to to the early 60s, he does cover a lot of ground. His choices are subjective and may surprise (he devotes more time to Litvak than to Cocteau for example). But even someone well-versed in French cinema will make tantalising discoveries or rediscover near-forgotten titles or authors.

[whaleallright]

I was extremely impressed with the series, and am working through the obscenely long list of titles I wrote down while watching it. It's probably the best of this sort of thing I've seen, with the possible exception of Scorsese's series on Italian cinema.

I had mixed feelings about the episode on female directors. It shone a revelatory light on some neglected filmmakers (a measure of how neglected is the crummy quality dupes of the excerpts of some of the films; Tavernier even apologizes for this), still had a tokenist feeling since it raced through so many directors and films in the same number of minutes spent on entire films by (male) directors by Duvivier, Clouzot, etc.