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I'm very happy to confirm that Sicilia! and Une Visite au Louvre not only have optional English subtitles but extremely thorough and conscientious ones - at one point in the latter film, when a painting is presented very low in the frame, the subtitles are repositioned so that they appear above it, obscuring only a blank strip of wall.

No issues with the transfers either: Sicilia! looked particularly good.

Great stuff I look forward to receiving the discs! They seem to be on to a really good thing, eager to find out what else they have up their sleeves.

Is there any reason this set isn't up for pre-order at Amazon?

What A Disgrace wrote:Is there any reason this set isn't up for pre-order at Amazon?

It's there for £14.99.

Oops! Thank you.

That'll teach me to search for The Chronicles of Anna Magdalena Bach.

MichaelB wrote:I'm very happy to confirm that Sicilia! and Une Visite au Louvre not only have optional English subtitles but extremely thorough and conscientious ones - at one point in the latter film, when a painting is presented very low in the frame, the subtitles are repositioned so that they appear above it, obscuring only a blank strip of wall.

No issues with the transfers either: Sicilia! looked particularly good.

MichaelB, do you know whether the transfer of Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach has the soundtrack at the correct pitch? For me at least, that's an important point because of the role music plays in the film. Not to mention the fact that it's one of the greatest films ever made...

jsteffe wrote:MichaelB, do you know whether the transfer of Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach has the soundtrack at the correct pitch? For me at least, that's an important point because of the role music plays in the film. Not to mention the fact that it's one of the greatest films ever made...

For some reason I was only sent disc two of the set - I'm not sure whether it's an oversight or whether the fact that I'd already seen the film made it redundant. I'm only writing it up for the MovieMail catalogue, so actually watching this specific release was never essential.

MichaelB wrote:For some reason I was only sent disc two of the set - I'm not sure whether it's an oversight or whether the fact that I'd already seen the film made it redundant. I'm only writing it up for the MovieMail catalogue, so actually watching this specific release was never essential.

perhaps you were only sent disc 2 because disc 1 is complete balls; I was quite shocked, actually. We're given Chronicles of Anna... in a blurry, interlaced, single-layer, extremely picture-boxed transfer (it must be 25% of the frame). It looks like a direct port of the disc that was reviewed on DVD Beaver, and makes me regret the entire purchase.

That's disappointing to say the least, not so much as I want the film, but because New Wave have been great so far. I was very pleased with the Quiet Chaos release.

Forget the Studio Canal-Criterion kerfuffle. This is the DVD tragedy of the year.

I may well cancel my plans to get this disc.

Fierias wrote:We're given Chronicles of Anna... in a blurry, interlaced, single-layer, extremely picture-boxed transfer (it must be 25% of the frame).

It is highly picture-boxed but no way is it just 25% of the frame, that's preposterous. BUT to add to the catalogue of woes the DIALOGUE track is extremely sibilant and borders on distortion at times. Having never seen this projected I don't know if this is a flaw in the transfer or is inherent.

I mean that the border is 25% of the frame, not the image. In estimation, it's at least twice the size of Criterion's picturebox border, probably more. And the image quality is sub-par to begin with, even without zooming in. I would have been disappointed with it even if it wasn't pictureboxed.

That's a real shame, order cancelled. Strictly one to rent I think. Shame NWF dropped the ball on this one, it looked like a lovely package before we heard this news. Let's hope their future releases maintain their higher quality from previous releases.

New Wave seems to be teetering between two extremes; the reviews I read for 35 Rhums indicated that the disc was superb, but the copy of Helen I ordered seems to have suffered the same fate as this new Straub/Huillet set. It's a pixelated mess, probably the worst disc I own. Here's to hoping their next release is treated with the same care as their early discs.

Anna Magdalena Bach is a disappointment, I'd agree - but I watched Une Visite au Louvre last night. It's fascinating, the picture quality is fine, and the subtitles seem to be conscientious and comprehensive. I haven't got to Sicilia! It would be shame if the state of the Bach disc puts people off exploring the other films.

Hmm. Glad I have the New Yorker of 'Bach', then, but I'm hoping to hear more positive stuff about the other two films and their transfers. I like the New Wave releases so far and was planning on buying this next payday; now I'm delaying until the reviews come in. If the other two are in good shape, I'll still pick it up, but hesitating.

The picture quality on the other two films is fine, maybe even 'pretty good'. Since Chronicles... was my main reason for purchase, though, this is pretty disappointing.

Hirokazu Kore-Eda's Still Walking and Atom Egoyan's Adoration both pick up a May DVD release date in the Uk.

Unless you really can't wait or are DVD only, I'd hold off until CC have confirmed specs for their 2010 release of Still Walking - since it is a new film I'd be very surprised not to mention deeply disappointed if this wasn't also released on Blu.

For those who just cant wait, the Japanese DVD of "Still Walking" (which is subbed, except for extras) is quite decent.

(BTW, I think the title should be something more like "Keep On Walking".

Jia's 24 City is coming out from New Wave Films on September 27th. Specs, according to Play.com, appear to be the same as the MK2 licensed Cinema Guild release (sans the Jonathan Rosenbaum essay):

* Trailer
* Interview with Jia Zheng Ke
* Short Film 'Cry Me A River'

Can anyone confirm if New Wave Films did indeed use 1.78.1 for their release of Headless Woman as the amazon page displays.

Edit: Hm nevermind, checked the trailer at the site and seems to be 2.35.1.

What I would really love to know about Drakes Avenue's DVD of The Headless Woman is if it is dual-layered. Anyone know?

Well disc was just released recently so we'll just have to wait for reviews. So just keep a heads up for anyone to post it or any info~. I've been checking homcinema but still no review.

hangman wrote:Can anyone confirm if New Wave Films did indeed use 1.78.1 for their release of Headless Woman as the amazon page displays.

The real question is why use that hideous cover when there's already the gorgeous R1 and R4 covers using the poster?