Olive Films

[colinr0380]

I've finally gotten to Hal Hartley's Meanwhile and really loved the film. I liked the sense of optimism on display throughout in the portrait of the world of the film and the way that, while there is a little bit of a schematic structure with the tension over what happened to the girl on the bridge, everything else is just a packed day of mundane problems being dealt with in an elegant manner by the main character. (I think it is going to be the film I'll turn to whenever I need something that will inspire me to work up the energy to do some multi-tasking of my own!)

There are lots of problems and snags that everyone is facing and the film beautifully straddles the line between knowing that chances of success are slim and the stresses of daily life and the sense of optimism that you can be the person who makes someone else's day easier by a considerate or helpful act, or that one of your various jobs could possibly pay off (Or more than one! Or all! One of the best things about the film is that all of the various jobs from the book finally getting read to the drumming audition to the window scheme are suggested to be duly about to pay off, justifying all of that effort, but the final result is left pleasingly ambiguous so as to leave the film on a note of maximum hope), or simply the satisfaction of having achieved a lot of little tasks in one day.

Strangely, considering the films are tonally completely the opposite from each other, I kept thinking of the main character here with his finger in many different pies as contrasting well to Richard Widmark's desperate entrepreneur Harry Fabian in Night and the City! I think the main difference isn't just in the desperateness of one character compared to the capability and helpfulness of the other but also in the way that the wider world of the city is portrayed (both feature characters who seem to travel across the entire length and breadth of their respective cities during the course of their films). In Night and the City the city itself and the people Harry Fabian meets are exasperated by his stupid schemes, driving Harry into even angrier fits of mania, screaming that he'll "show you all!". In Meanwhile Joe might be occasionally berated by ex-wives or models that haven't been paid, but even they can be reasoned with and helped out, and Joe even has his brother who is frustrated with his own corporate job speak admiringly of Joe's lifestyle. Joe might have money troubles of his own (like Harry) but is able to make it through without the city and the people around him grinding him up mercillessley and hounding him to his death, even if we do get suggestions of a darker post 9/11 era New York in the security announcements being played on the subway.

[EddieLarkin]

Coming in 2013 and 2014 from Olive Films

Betty Boop Volume 3 - Betty Boop Volume 4 - The Pawnbroker - The Bells of St. Mary - Stranger on the Prowl - Sleep My Love - Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid - That's My Man - I've Always Loved You - Magnificent Doll - Forever Female - Up the Junction - Home of the Brave - Johnny Come Lately - Flying Tigers - The North Star and the alternate shorter version Armored Attack - Operation Petticoat - Distant Drums - Good Sam - High School Confidential - Love Happy - Sands of Iwo Jima - South of St. Louis - Try and Get Me (aka The Sound of Fury) - So This is New York - Arch of Triumph - Caught - The Lost Moment - Men in War - The Other Love - Cauldron of Blood - Beware, My Lovely - Outrage - Dr. Terror's House of Horrors - Man on the Roof - The Adalen Riots - Elvira Madigan - Raven's End - Fedora - The Stationmaster's Wife (Uncut Version) - Dead Heat on Beethoven Street (Uncut never-before-seen version) - J'Accuse (1938) - Ophelia (Chabrol) - The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers - Guilty of Romance - Himizu - and more Blu-ray releases of the previously released DVDs

More Upcoming Titles - To Be Announced...

[Michael Kerpan]

The only Himizu I find in IMDB is the recent film by Shion Sono, would Olive be releasing a current film of this sort?

[Mathew2468]

Is it Dead Heat or Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street?

[med]

The only Himizu I find in IMDB is the recent film by Shion Sono, would Olive be releasing a current film of this sort?

They've previously released his Love Exposure, so yes, they would.

[swo17]

The only Himizu I find in IMDB is the recent film by Shion Sono, would Olive be releasing a current film of this sort?

Note that they're also releasing his Guilty of Romance.

[Finch]

Does Outrage refer to the Takeshi Kitano film possibly? I also notice they've got Terry Zwigoff's High School Confidential.

[swo17]

Does Outrage refer to the Takeshi Kitano film possibly?

It's already out from Magnolia.

[Askew]

Outrage refers to the Ida Lupino film and High School Confidential is the Jack Arnold one.

[Mathew2468]

Terry Zwigoff made Art School Confidential. It must be Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street.

[colinr0380]

The only Himizu I find in IMDB is the recent film by Shion Sono, would Olive be releasing a current film of this sort?

Note that they're also releasing his Guilty of Romance.

It might be worth keeping an eye on whether Guilty of Romance turns out to be the 112 minute 'international' version (the one released on DVD and Blu by Eureka! in the UK), or whether it could possibly be the 144 minute version as mentioned on imdb.

[doc mccoy]

The only Himizu I find in IMDB is the recent film by Shion Sono, would Olive be releasing a current film of this sort?

Note that they're also releasing his Guilty of Romance.

It might be worth keeping an eye on whether Guilty of Romance turns out to be the 112 minute 'international' version (the one released on DVD and Blu by Eureka! in the UK), or whether it could possibly be the 144 minute version as mentioned on imdb.

Even if they do release the longer cut, I'm not sure how much difference it will make - the international version is not exactly a masterpiece.

[boywonder]

If Olive has Ophüls' "Caught", who has the more interesting "The Reckless Moment"?

[Zot!]

37. Man on the Roof (Bo Widerberg, 1976)
38. Adalen 31 a.k.a The Adalen Riots (Bo Widerberg, 1969)
39. Elvira Madigan (Bo Widerberg, 1967)
40. Raven's End (Bo Widerberg, 1963)

A real wealth of Bo Widerbergs coming down the pike. I've always wanted to see Adalen 31.

[Matt]

If Olive has Ophüls' "Caught", who has the more interesting "The Reckless Moment"?

It's always been a Columbia (Sony) picture in the US.

[BillWatkins]

37. Man on the Roof (Bo Widerberg, 1976)
38. Adalen 31 a.k.a The Adalen Riots (Bo Widerberg, 1969)
39. Elvira Madigan (Bo Widerberg, 1967)
40. Raven's End (Bo Widerberg, 1963)

A real wealth of Bo Widerbergs coming down the pike. I've always wanted to see Adalen 31.

I'm excited too. Noticeably absent is JOE HILL (1971), which belongs to Paramount, so I'm curious as to why it's not included.

[repeat]

Glad to see the Widerbergs are still slated - as well as the Fuller, Fassbinder and Chabrol's wonderful Ophelia... I hope some of these at least will be Blu-rays, especially the Widerbergs.

So - did anyone catch The Man on the Roof and The Man from Mallorca at AFI, or is there no one from the DC area here? Wondering if they were restored prints and how they might have looked.

[RobertB]

37. Man on the Roof (Bo Widerberg, 1976)
38. Adalen 31 a.k.a The Adalen Riots (Bo Widerberg, 1969)
39. Elvira Madigan (Bo Widerberg, 1967)
40. Raven's End (Bo Widerberg, 1963)

A real wealth of Bo Widerbergs coming down the pike. I've always wanted to see Adalen 31.

I'm excited too. Noticeably absent is JOE HILL (1971), which belongs to Paramount, so I'm curious as to why it's not included.

These are four out of seven films from a DVD-box released in Sweden last year. The box claims they are restored, but I haven't bought the box as it is DVD only, so I don't know how good they all look. Joe Hill was not part of the box, so it might not have any good restoration available. I emailed Olive Films a couple of months ago asking if they would do Widerberg with removable subs, but they never replied. If these are blu ray and have removable subs I'm sure I won't be the only person in Sweden buying them.

Also in the Swedish box are Barnvagnen (1963), Mannen från Mallorca (1984) and The Serpent's Way (1986).

[repeat]

Also note that at least according to this review, they've managed to botch the transfer of Man on the Roof in that box somehow. Mallorca is still available separately, and Pram is out from Malavida, so even in Sweden that box is soon only good for Serpent's Way, especially if most of these have removable subs. I do hope that Olive will manage port at least some of the contextualizing extras for Man on the Roof. I asked them about these too a while ago but never got a reply.

[Zot!]

If these are blu ray and have removable subs I'm sure I won't be the only person in Sweden buying them.

My understanding is that these are all BDs. No idea about subs, I don't own any Olives, is this a problem with them?

[swo17]

Most Olive releases of foreign films have burned-in subs. 1900 is an exception.

[repeat]

Ouch... Like seriously burned-in, not merely forced? That's just outrageously inexcusable.

[swo17]

Yes, burned in.

[Orlac]

Are the subtitles part of the film source used?

[knives]

No.