Kino

[What A Disgrace]

Carmen will include a commentary by Anthony Slide.

[domino harvey]

L’appartement coming to Blu in August with an Adrian Martin commentary. Here’s my write up

Wicker Park (Paul McGuigan 2004) Josh Hartnett loses and maybe finds his one true love, and picks up a stalker who confusingly bears the name of the missing girl and lives in her apartment in the meantime. I haven’t seen the French original of this, but I doubt the implausibility here could survive any other film all that much better than here. The film has some too-slick visuals that are at least imaginative (and never more so than when Rose Byrne drops trou), and I liked how a stalking scene was set to a múm song of all things, but this is ultimately a film too enamored with its ostensible antagonist to let them do anything even remotely dramatic when cornered. How could a film with a premise this silly not at least take the narrative to its logical extreme and ruin everyone’s life?

Having now seen L'appartement, it's interesting that my main criticism of the remake (which, marginally, turns out to be the better movie!), namely that it didn't fuck everyone's life up in the end, is addressed fully and yet it makes for an even worse ending. Granted, L'appartement was already bad before that (for fuck's sake, someone should have told the director that they aren't late 60s-era Visconti, quit fucking zooming) but what is the purpose of being so willfully unfulfilling on a narrative level like this? Did we need three narratively unsatisfying threads to end so frayed? Also, huge MDRs @ the original's solution to helping the audience keep time periods apart: let's give the characters some of the worst, most disparate wigs imaginable! The only saving grace here is the bobbed Monica Bellucci in the early narrative thread looking every bit as beautiful as a human being can look (who knew she could even withstand and thrive being dressed in street casual wear?)

[domino harvey]

Monsieur Vincent is coming in October

[dwk]

Kino is releasing Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice on UHD on February 4th, 2025
Extras
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
Audio Commentary by Layla Alexander-Garrett, Tarkovsky’s translator on the set of The Sacrifice

DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (1988, a documentary on the making of The Sacrifice)
Interview with Michal Leszczylowski (editor of The Sacrifice and director of Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky)
Trailers

[ryannichols7]

their edition of Nostalghia was beyond incredible, so I have high hopes for this too. shame these are the only two Tarkovsky UHDs we will get for the indefinite future, but very glad Kino is making this one happen

[rrenault]

I'm guessing Mubi could also release The Sacrifice on UHD in the UK potentially. Also, didn't Andrei Rublev have a 4K restoration done in the west under the supervision of Tarkovsky's son, so perhaps that could come to UHD at some point?

[MichaelB]

I'm guessing Mubi could also release The Sacrifice on UHD in the UK potentially. Also, didn't Andrei Rublev have a 4K restoration done in the west under the supervision of Tarkovsky's son, so perhaps that could come to UHD at some point?

Mosfilm owns it worldwide, so no - or at least not right now.

[andyli]

As far as Andrei Rublev is concerned, there are two different 4K restorations now, one done by his son as mentioned above, the other newly created by Mosfilm for the 205 min. cut and probably won’t be shown in the West any time soon (but are currently premiering in China).

[ianthemovie]

Blu-ray edition of the films of Oscar Micheaux is coming in February. Somewhat annoyingly the 2021 documentary Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking is being sold separately.

Some details here about the contents of the set, though it says it includes 17 films and information is only given for 14 titles. I'm hoping that somehow The Betrayal has been rediscovered and is one of the remaining three titles but I'm not holding my breath.

[dwk]

Raro (by way of Kino) is releasing Swept Away on UHD on April 29th.

4K (DISC 1) AND BLU-RAY (DISC 2) SPECIAL FEATURES
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
• Archival Audio Commentary by filmmaker Valerio Ruiz, director of the Lina Wertmüller documentary Behind the White Glasses

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EXCLUSIVES (DISC 2)
• Interview with director Amy Heckerling (Clueless)
• Trailers

[TMDaines]

Raro (by way of Kino) is releasing Swept Away on UHD on April 29th.

4K (DISC 1) AND BLU-RAY (DISC 2) SPECIAL FEATURES
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan
• Archival Audio Commentary by filmmaker Valerio Ruiz, director of the Lina Wertmüller documentary Behind the White Glasses

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EXCLUSIVES (DISC 2)
• Interview with director Amy Heckerling (Clueless)
• Trailers

The 1974 one for anyone who needed to check.

[rockysds]

Kino is releasing a collection of canine-starring silent films in May: Wonder Dogs

While Rin Tin Tin may be credited as Hollywood’s first animal superstar, there was in fact a whole pack of canine performers bounding onto the screen before and after his debut. This special two-disc collection, presented in cooperation with the Library of Congress, celebrates cinema’s lesser-known dog stars with their most memorable features, shorts, and newsreel appearances (1898-1928). Wonder Dogs demonstrate their comedy chops opposite slapstick legends Charley Chase (Dog Shy), Roscoe Arbuckle (Fatty’s Faithful Fido), Mabel Normand (A Little Hero), and the notorious “Dippy-Doo-Dads” (The Watchdog). But it was in rugged outdoor adventures that dog stars were truly born: Fearless (The SIlent Trailer, directed by Francis Ford), Peter the Great (The Sign of the Claw), Klondike (The Law’s Lash), Champion (The Sky Rider), and Duke (alongside Tom Mix in the tense modern Western Teeth). Films dated as early as 1898 offer satisfying simple glimpses of dogs at play, anticipating the adorable animal videos that would become social media phenomena more than a century later.

[Mr. Deltoid]

Kino is releasing a collection of canine-starring silent films in May: Wonder Dogs

While Rin Tin Tin may be credited as Hollywood’s first animal superstar, there was in fact a whole pack of canine performers bounding onto the screen before and after his debut. This special two-disc collection, presented in cooperation with the Library of Congress, celebrates cinema’s lesser-known dog stars with their most memorable features, shorts, and newsreel appearances (1898-1928). Wonder Dogs demonstrate their comedy chops opposite slapstick legends Charley Chase (Dog Shy), Roscoe Arbuckle (Fatty’s Faithful Fido), Mabel Normand (A Little Hero), and the notorious “Dippy-Doo-Dads” (The Watchdog). But it was in rugged outdoor adventures that dog stars were truly born: Fearless (The SIlent Trailer, directed by Francis Ford), Peter the Great (The Sign of the Claw), Klondike (The Law’s Lash), Champion (The Sky Rider), and Duke (alongside Tom Mix in the tense modern Western Teeth). Films dated as early as 1898 offer satisfying simple glimpses of dogs at play, anticipating the adorable animal videos that would become social media phenomena more than a century later.

I think Kino may be barking up the wrong tree with this release! Still, I hope the PQ won't be too ruff, etc.

[pistolwink]

This release seems custom-designed for me.

[dwk]

I'm not sure where the right place to stick this is, but since Kino distributes their discs, I guess this as good a place as any. Metrograph Pausing Theatrical Releases As Pictures Head David Laub Moves To Neon

[JSC]

Autumn sale starts today.

[brundlefly]

Milestone's recent release of Charles Burnett's The Annihilation of Fish is $11.99.

[hearthesilence]

Zeitgeist's BD of the new 4K restoration of Guy Maddin's Archangel is $7.99, a huge reduction from the list price of $29.95. (It looks great too.)

[Murdoch]

The Shirley Clarke set seems to fluctuate in price amongst these sales. It was $19.99 a few sales ago, but this one has it at $49.99.

[domino harvey]

The Shirley Clarke set seems to fluctuate in price amongst these sales. It was $19.99 a few sales ago, but this one has it at $49.99.

Titles alternate every other quarter. Anything on sale now will not be on sale next time and vice versa (minus a few outliers)

[Murdoch]

Yes that's true, I was mainly referencing that the Clarke set has been included in past sales at an even steeper discount than the 50% off for the present sale so those on the fence may want to hold off to see what it's marked down to the next time it comes up in a sale. There are a few present sale titles that are also not as steeply discounted as they were only a few months ago, like the Joaquim Pedro de Andrade set which has periodically appeared as $9.99 but for this sale is $29.99.

[domino harvey]

DeMille’s the Godless Girl coming in January

[andyli]

With the release of Howards End, it seems Kino is handling Cohen's 4K release now. This gives me an idea: Will there be an opportunity where the Cohen and Lobster restorations of the same Keaton film are united in one edition? For example The General 4K UHD with the UHD hosting the native 4K transfer from Cohen and a second disc supplying the Lobster version on Blu-ray? This hypothetical hybrid mode of release obviously has benefits, but I guess there are hurdles to overcome; namely rights holders need to be inclusive and agree to co-exist in the same edition. Have no idea whether this has been done before or is possible at all.

[MichaelB]

It's perfectly possible; it just requires the rightsholders to agree to an appropriate revenue split.

Which may be the sticking point!

[andyli]

A page for The Thief of Bagdad (1924) has shown up for pre-order. Apparently it's a 4K restoration from Photoplay, running 154 min (though it could be the same 148-minute film plus the 6-minute musical prelude, which is listed as an extra). Among the extras is an Orson Welles introduction.