30-32 The End of Civilization: Three Films by Piotr Szulkin

[What A Disgrace]

Rarewaves is selling this for $24 US.

https://www.rarewaves.com/collections/f ... tr-szulkin

[AxeYou]

Thanks. What a deal!

[rapta]

Must've been a mis-price, but I locked it in at £17.99...anyone know if Rarewaves are known for cancelling mis-prices lately? I have got a few bargain pre-orders from them in the past, from memory, but not for a while.

(It's since up to £44.94 now btw, closer to the true RRP)

[DeprongMori]

At 45:25 in War of the Worlds: Next Century (on the VS set) watch for a quick cameo of Piotr Szulkin and his cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk as inmates of the Night Residence.

[MichaelB]

Oh, bollocks - I should have flagged that up in my VS commentary! Especially since, if I remember rightly, I was actually talking about Samosiuk at the time.

(See also my lamentable failure to highlight the Taviani Brothers' two daughters - one per brother - in The Night of the Shooting Stars, which was particularly unforgivable since I was aware it was them and intended to mention it.)

[DeprongMori]

Do you know offhand whether the two men themselves are in that shot, or just their names? (Szulkin’s is Anglicized to “Peter Shulkin” with his birth year of 1950, in keeping with the film’s location conceit.) There is someone in the background who looks vaguely like photos I’ve seen of Szulkin, but appears to be in his 50s or older, whereas Szulkin would have been about 30 when this was shot.

[MichaelB]

There's a similar in-joke in Krzysztof Kieślowski's pretty much exactly contemporaneous Blind Chance, only this time it's his regular cinematographer Sławomir Idziak who gets namechecked. (I can't believe it's a coincidence, even though Idziak didn't shoot this particular film.)

[MichaelB]

The specs of the Piotr Szulkin box have been updated. I've bolded the new additions.

• 2K restorations of each film supervised by Piotr Szulkin, DoP Witold Sobocinski, and sound engineer Nikodem Wolk-Laniewski with additional restoration work by Radiance Films, presented on three discs, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• New and improved English subtitles for each film by Dobrotka Więckiewicz
• Programme of complementary grotesque and absurdist short films
• Newly designed artwork based on artworks by celebrated artist Andrzej Pagowski
• Limited edition 80-page booklet featuring new writing by Michal Oleszczyk, Olga Drenda, Ela Bittencourt, Piotr Kletowski and Daniel Bird
• Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

WAR OF THE WORLDS: NEXT CENTURY

• Samosiuk. The Independent Film Republic - a documentary on War of the Worlds cinematographer Zygmunt Samosiuk and his work, featuring interviews with Szulkin and Andrzej Wajda among others (Adam Lewandowski, 2012, 29 mins)
• PRL - Polish People's Republic Post-Apocalyptic Parables - a new video essay by Dobrotka Więckiewicz exploring Szulkin's rejection of the science-fiction label (2023)
• Labyrinth (Jan Lenica, 1963, 15 mins)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

O-BI, O-BA: THE END OF CIVILIZATION

• Audio commentary by Michael Brooke (2023)
• Retrofuturism - Interview featurette with production designer Andrzej Kowalczyk on creating the world of O-Bi, O-Ba (2023)
• Cages (Miroslaw Kijowicz, 1967, 8 mins)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

GA-GA: GLORY TO THE HEROES

• Audio commentary by Daniel Bird (2023)
• Sunday with Piotr Szulkin - An archival interview with Szulkin and writer Tadeusz Sobolewski in which the pair discuss the director’s films (2009, 21 mins)
• Banquet (Zofia Oraczewska, 1977, 8 mins)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

All content subject to change

[ikms]

• Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

• Audio commentary by Michael Brooke (2023)

Wonder how they got that guy? I can't think of any other examples of a commentator doing complimentary work for same-year sets on different continents... talk about driving the completist mad (do you have an updated list of your commentaries somewhere? Wonder what others I am missing)

Also see they bumped the run to 3000, both Szulkin and Messiah of Evil numbers had me perplexed at initial announcement (I predicted MoE would have sold 5000 by end-of-year conservatively), but it seems clear the pre-emptive VS release was the factor limiting it to 2000. Have to think Fran is second guessing demand after the Messiah of Evil own goal and whatever pre-order numbers are already in for the Szulkin.

Very excited for this one, sure it will make my top 5 list.

[ryannichols7]

oh wow I just realized the commentary isn't for the same movie.....and I was excited to not have to buy the region A release. I hope you get a good penny from the proceedings Michael!

this seems to be the most substantial extras wise of Radiance's boxes yet now, looking forward to it

[Maltic]

Indeed, with the addition of 15k+ spoken words from MichaelB, Radiance has taken the lead in the extras arms race.

And now that there's 3000 LE's, I may have to spend on that cardboard and plastic, wouldn't want to wait for too long.

[MichaelB]

(do you have an updated list of your commentaries somewhere? Wonder what others I am missing)

The list is here, drawn up in response to the last time I answered that question, and it's been updated ever since, most recently yesterday.

[onedimension]

If anyone's ordered this I'd love to hear first impressions on the visual quality. From the handful of screencaps, the Radiance has more detail - and they advertise Szulkin's restoration - which VS doesn't afaik.

[domino harvey]

(do you have an updated list of your commentaries somewhere? Wonder what others I am missing)

The list is here, drawn up in response to the last time I answered that question, and it's been updated ever since, most recently yesterday.

I think the unannounced Imprint Swedish film has been announced, no?

[MichaelB]

It has - I've just updated it.

Bergman and the Tavianis were a welcome relief after Szulkin and especially Skolimowski! Actually, Szulkin wasn't that hard conceptually; there was just a lot of upfront research and fact-checking needed because these films are pretty much undocumented in English to any useful extent - it was Skolimowski who was the really tough nut to crack.

(I have no intention of ever tackling Godard, but I suspect the challenge would be similar, and indeed Godard and Skolimowski were mutual fans in the mid-1960s. Come to think of it, I can easily see a double bill of Barrier and Pierrot le fou working very well indeed.)

[kuzine]

Rarewaves is selling this for $24 US.

https://www.rarewaves.com/collections/f ... tr-szulkin

So did anyone who ordered then receive this? I checked my order this week and only now noticed it was purportedly sent out back in August in a package with the rest of my order at the time. That package did arrive but of course didn't contain this pre release date. E-mailed them and was issued a refund since they no longer have stock.

[AxeYou]

Sorry to hear that. I got lucky and did receive it last week in the US.

[DeprongMori]

Rarewaves is selling this for $24 US.

https://www.rarewaves.com/collections/f ... tr-szulkin

So did anyone who ordered then receive this? I checked my order this week and only now noticed it was purportedly sent out back in August in a package with the rest of my order at the time. That package did arrive but of course didn't contain this pre release date. E-mailed them and was issued a refund since they no longer have stock.

I had ordered The End of Civilization a while back along form Rarewaves with some other items. Due to the nature of how Rarewaves packing lists frequently do not match their shipments, it’s sometimes hard to tell whether an item was forgotten or just shipping separately. In this case I received the Szulkin set on Wednesday, about a 7-10 days later than the other items.

This happens pretty frequently with them, and only sometimes do things actually go astray.

[kuzine]

I had ordered The End of Civilization a while back along form Rarewaves with some other items. Due to the nature of how Rarewaves packing lists frequently do not match their shipments, it’s sometimes hard to tell whether an item was forgotten or just shipping separately. In this case I received the Szulkin set on Wednesday, about a 7-10 days later than the other items.

This happens pretty frequently with them, and only sometimes do things actually go astray.

Karma, as it was waiting on my doorstep when I got home. So as you say, the packing lists def do not match the shipments...

[MichaelB]

Apparently I've already seen a couple of Szulkin's shorts, The Singing Lesson (co-directed with Lindsay Anderson when Szulkin was only 17 )

The film that Szulkin made in 1972 as a Łódź film-school exercise is a totally different film from the documentary that Lindsay Anderson made for WFDiF in Poland in 1967 - the only thing they have in common is the title Raz, dwa, trzy, which translates as One, Two, Three.

[therewillbeblus]

The War of the Worlds: Next Century is reminiscent of many a fascist-dystopian Man-Under-Microscope on-the-run flick, but it's remarkably transparent about its criticisms of Polish govt, even for a politically-provocative work! I didn't love this more pointed entry nearly as much as something as committedly-gonzo as Golem, in part because this film doesn't really differentiate itself all that much from 1984, Brazil, Naked Lunch/Videodrome, The Trial, etc. - each film as a relatively novel sense of atmosphere, and this one certainly lends effort to that, but the actual 'world-building' beyond detail doesn't ascend well-trodden material. Still, I had a good time - and Szulkin's little random inclusions (e.g. the boys engaging in roughhouse play with heightened power-imbalance games of masochism, kicking off the vibe of the film!) are always amusing, and give the film a sense of life that's unique

[therewillbeblus]

Having finished this set, all three films are fine-not-great, but Golem (absent here) is the clear standout amongst Szulkin's tetralogy in terms of inventiveness, ellipses, fun, and brooding commentary. Hopefully Second Run gets to it sooner rather than later.

[swo17]

Agreed. Did you also watch the bonus shorts? I'm especially fond of Banquet

[therewillbeblus]

I had already seen that on your rec for the 70s project. It's definitely the best of the bunch, but sadly none of the shorts did much for me

I did like Michael B's commentary on the Radiance box, though I look forward to hearing his thoughts on the best film of the three once I crack open my VS tetralogy

[MichaelB]

You'll have to wait for the Second Run release for that - my commentary in the VS set is on War of the Worlds: Next Century.

(Although that has a commentary on Golem as well, by Samm Deighan - I deliberately haven't listened to it because I don't want it to influence my own commentary in any way, but her stuff's usually excellent so don't let that put you off.)