Radiance wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:55 pm
No plans for The Conformist, Arrow have it under licence for a few more years, what they do beyond that is anyone's guess.
Roma ore 11 is great, but RAI don't know who has international rights, they only control Italy and I can't find it elsewhere.
Personally, I think that Before the Revolution is an interesting but not great film and Bertolucci not a great seller outside of a couple of titles. I would say even The Conformist underperformed.
That said, I would love to do The Spider's Stratagem and have been trying for years but there are rights complications no one can seem to resolve.
The Before The Revolution BFI disc is still in print and quite affordable from BFI! Which sure seems to indicate it wasn't a great seller. And given the poor color on the new Conformist restoration, I also think the Arrow disc is sufficient.
Since Fran or Bruno are around, I'd like to suggest A Gentle Breeze in the Village for 2028. It'd make a nice change from the samurai and Yakuza films and the arthouse titles that make up your Japanese output so far (this is not meant as a complaint, just a statement of fact). Unless you guys think Gentle Breeze is too slight for your label and a better fit for Gkids or Third Window Films or Kani.
I like Before the Revolution quite a bit and would put it among my favorite Bertolucci films. I'd get a new 4K restoration, but I have to admit the BFI Blu-ray does look pretty good as-is.
I hope that the release of Luca Guadagnino’s new documentary gets the ball rolling in terms of Bertolucci re-releases, if only in Italy if that’s a possibility. I’m a big fan of his films and always hope for more releases and upgrades, so it’s a real shame to hear that they’re not selling well. I have the German Filmjuwelen BD of Spider’s Stratagem, which I doubt was legally cleared as there’s no copyright info whatsoever on the packaging and the film itself. It’s also sourced from a mediocre master and they couldn’t even be arsed to add German subtitles for the Italian audio. Here’s hoping that at least The Sheltering Sky will be restored one day.
