The slipcase edition of Chameleon Street, available exclusively through the Arbelos online store, is limited to 1,000 copies featuring an invisible ink cover design and collector’s accordion foldout poster.
Available for pre-order now and will ship August 8th.
Arbelos Black Friday Sale is live, and they announced a limited North American release of György Fehér's Twilight, coming February 7. I have the Second Run release, which I haven't watched yet. I know there have been complaints on the SR encode, but this release will be encoded by David Mackenzie. It has two short films that the SR release doesn't have. I guess I'll have to pick this up too.
LE: Twilight - Blu-ray
Limited edition slipcase
Collectable "giant" drawing as seen in the film
New 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by the National Film Institute – Hungarian Film Archive and FilmLab, supervised by Miklós Gurbán.
New video interview with cinematographer Miklós Gurbán
New video interview with editor Mária Czeilik
György Fehér's first two short films: Öregek (1969) and Tomikám (1970)
U.S. Theatrical Trailer
New English-language subtitle translation
12-page booklet with new essay by Andrea Virginás (Film Genres in Hungarian and Romanian Cinema: History, Theory, Reception)
Region Free (A/B/C)
Encoding by David Mackenzie at Fidelity in Motion
I'll gladly double dip. The only better film I've seen all year was On The Silver Globe, which I'm also going to double dip on of Mondo decides to bring home the bacon.
This is strange--if I put both Twilight and Chameleon Street in a single order, the shipping is more expensive than if I place a separate order for each one
If you like Bela Tarr's films, then you should be good. Otherwise, you might want to try rent it first. My own tolerance of grim, austere Eastern European slow burners isn't what it used to be but that's on me. Deaf Crocodile's Russian fairytales and crazy animations from Hungary are more what I'm looking for.
tenia wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 5:10 pm
The Second Run encode wasn't particularly good, so it was a given than the FiM-encoded Arbelos disc would be fixing this.
It’s funny that Tooze only recognized this after seeing the FiM encode. An acknowledgment like this (about him only noticing the issues with the Second Run after seeing the David M encode) is highly problematic. I think he shouldn’t have mentioned this at all as it blatantly exposes his incompetence. I’m sorry but there’s no better way to put this. Also, with his reviews he inspires (some) people to buy these releases, which may have been the case for the Second Run. Unfortunately this is nothing new with all reviewers but I nonetheless consider this a significant stain on his credibility.
At least he did acknowledge his mistake, which is more than you can say for some other prominent reviewers. As for Gary’s credibility as an astute reviewer, well…you can find complaints almost identical to yours going back more than 20 years.
Matt wrote: Wed Feb 21, 2024 1:16 amAt least he did acknowledge his mistake, which is more than you can say for some other prominent reviewers. As for Gary’s credibility as an astute reviewer, well…you can find complaints almost identical to yours going back more than 20 years.
In some ways, yes, at least he recognized it, but I chuckled too because I reviewed the Second Run version of Twilight, and like others, I definitely didn’t need a comparison to realize the encode wasn’t very good. Which is, actually, a big part of the issue in reviewing when it comes to encodes : way too many reviewers need this to realize what’s wrong. There’s technically no need for it, as it can perfectly be assessed on its own, but too many discs are getting passes because too many reviewers need this proof by example. Until this changes, and the majority of reviewers are able to spot this as is, it’s very likely the relevant encoders and labels won’t feel there’s something to involve.
Second Run's encoding has been noticeably terrible since they went Blu. I haven't watched a single one of their discs without being distracted by compression issues (they cause anomalies that are vastly more obvious during playback than the caps suggest). It's a huge shame considering the important films they deal in. I wish they would see how much better other labels handle some of the same titles (even Criterion of all labels are light years ahead of them) and make the necessary improvements.
I'd actually advocate that they reduce the number of titles they release and hire someone competent for the encoding. Tropical Malady is meant to be coming from them and I'm frankly prepared at this point to bypass the Second Run release to see how whoever has the film for the US will deal with the new restoration. Ditto Szindbad.
Finch wrote: Wed Feb 21, 2024 10:30 pmI'd actually advocate that they reduce the number of titles they release and hire someone competent for the encoding.
They only do 1 release per month. It's not a pacing issue. However, they've always been going through Silversun for their authorings and encodes, so it's very likely just down to them.
I meant more from a cost perspective though. If hiring someone more competent costs more and reduces the number of releases a little due to budget limitations, that'd be an acceptable trade off, to me, anyway.
Arbelos listed as the rightsholder for Robina Rose's Nightshift and Marva Nabili's The Sealed Soil, both of which are screening at the NYFF as a part of the Revivals lineup
I recently bought the Czech box set of these films on Blu-ray and was a bit let down by them, but I'm happy at the thought of them being easier to see here in the States. The Bloody Lady is worth checking out for anyone interested in feminist folk-horror.
Interesting that they are distributing Murdering the Devil since it opened with the Criterion and Janus logos when it was streaming on the Criterion Channel.
EDIT: It looks like it's been removed from the Channel. Presumably they gave up the rights to.
