Satantango (Artificial Eye & Facets)

[tavernier]

No, never from Facets.....how dare you accuse them like that!

[MichaelB]

Well, I suppose Tarr could have shot it in NTSC, but it would have been a bit mad given that it was made for Hungarian TV and (at the time) had next to zero export prospects.

[Zazou dans le Metro]

4 DVD set. Fully Restored, Director-Approved Edition. Letterboxed. Includes Macbeth (1982, 64 mins.), Tarr's rarely seen interpretation of Shakespeare's tragedy famously captured in two shots; Journey on the Plain (1995, 34 mins.), in which actor-composer Mihaly Vig revisits the Satantango locations; Prologue (2004, 5 mins.), the director's stunning contribution to the omnibus Visions of Europe; About the Restoration (5 mins.); and a Facets Cine-Notes booklet with essays by prominent film critics.

From Facets site

[John Cope]

Holy shit. Well, I guess that's a must buy then.

[foggy eyes]

Yeah, I'm stunned - Facets have really excelled themselves. Macbeth and Journey on the Plain on home video? They'd better not delay this any longer!

[miless]

I'm betting that the quality of Sátántangó's transfer will be quite good (given the delay and their involvement with Tarr).

I'm really excited about all those extras. that Prologue may well be the best short film I've ever seen (with amazing cinematography from Robby Müller... perhaps now we'll know if it was actually shot on HD), and I've been wanting to check out Macbeth and Journey on the Plain (is it a doc?). I'm wondering what the quality of Macbeth will be.

oh, and I hope they change that terrible cover that's up on Amazon and whatnot.

edit: I noticed that they list all widescreen releases as "letterboxed", regardless of whether they're anamorphic or not... I sure hope this is Anamorphic (with the proper 1.66:1 ratio, as well)

[pro-bassoonist]

I noticed that they list all widescreen releases as "letterboxed", regardless of whether they're anamorphic or not... I sure hope this is Anamorphic (with the proper 1.66:1 ratio, as well)

If it is, it would be a set impossible to ignore.

Pro-B

[miless]

the release date is no longer listed on Facets' site... hopefully just an error and not another set-back.

update: it seems it was just an error on their site. The date is back up again. The new artwork is up on amazon (despite no release date)



it has the added banner on top

and I have never realized it until now, but that little girl looks a hell of a lot like Tilda Swinton.

[cgray]

I've been waiting for this thread to be bumped since May 7, as I'm (unreasonably) hopeful that this release is going to be great. Waiting with trepidation for the eventual announcement that the project was delayed or cancelled, I wrote Facets this morning. I thought other forum members would be interested in the release date confirmation.

MY EMAIL:

"Is Bela Tarr’s Satantango (DVD-DV86935) still on track for a 7/22/08 release? I’m very excited for it , but dismayed that it is not yet available for preorder at any of the major online DVD vendors.

Thanks for any information."

EMAIL RESPONSE FROM FACETS:

"Chris,

The release date is indeed still this coming July 22. You can pre-order your dvd with us right now, if you wish, either online or via fax (773-929-5437) or phone (800-331-6197)."

[markhax]

I bought a new copy of the region 2 release from Artificial Eye a couple of months ago from a seller on Amazon.com for $30. Why wait? And save yourself $40 while you're at it. It doesn't have the extras, however.

[Barmy]

If the transfer is good, I don't see the point of choosing AE over Facets. I might get this for Macbeth, as it stars Jancso regular Gyorgy Czerhalmi.

[HerrSchreck]

I held the Facets Satantango in my hands today-- $63 at Kims St Marks place. But I grabbed Fox' The Big Trail and Kino's Hands of Orlac instead as those were long overdue for me... and also because I still am yet to see caps of the transfer vs the AEye.

But the (tentatively) good news is-- it's out.

[miless]

I wonder if the beev will get to this one... if Facets is as proud as they say, they should send out samplers till the cows come home.

[Michael]

I held the Facets Satantango in my hands today-- $63 at Kims St Marks place. But I grabbed Fox' The Big Trail and Kino's Hands of Orlac instead as those were long overdue for me... and also because I still am yet to see caps of the transfer vs the AEye.

Glad you brought up Hands of Orlac. I meant to ask around if it's worth checking out, if it's as good as Dr. Cabinet. Have you seen The Man Who Laughs? I've been thinking about picking it up also.

[HerrSchreck]

Orlac & the Paul Leni are both wonderful-- do NOT miss The Man Who Laughs.

[Via Salvatore]

I agree. The Man Who Laughs is a dark jewel. Even better than the more acclaimed Dr. Caligari.

[jbeall]

I'm crossing my fingers that Facets does this one right. Still, count me among those waiting for screencaps/comparison, if for no other reason than to see if the subtitles are:
1) removable
2) an appealing font
3) timed correctly, and
4) typo-free

because after image quality, this is another area in which Facets has been deplorable. I love East-Central European cinema, and nobody in R1 has committed to the region like Facets has, so I want to support them by buying their releases, but they've gotta step their work up consistently. Hopefully Satantango will sell enough copies and generate enough goodwill that Facets will get in the habit of doing quality work.

[Michael]

Can "director-approved" be a guarantee enough for a fully satisfying release?

[tavernier]

Not really--supposedly the earlier Facets Tarr releases were also "director-approved"....but which director approved them they would not say.

[jbeall]

Depends how on much of this transfer the director "approved." I'm sure he was aware of the image transfer and the soundtrack, but who knows how much attention he paid to the subs, or even if they had been done during Tarr's direct involvement with the project?

[Hopscotch]

I'm crossing my fingers that Facets does this one right. Still, count me among those waiting for screencaps/comparison, if for no other reason than to see if the subtitles are:
1) removable
2) an appealing font
3) timed correctly, and
4) typo-free

Don't get your hopes up on that last one. I've never seen a facets disc that didn't have some sizable number of really stupid spelling errors in the subtitles. They're very consistent about that.

[MichaelB]

Can "director-approved" be a guarantee enough for a fully satisfying release?

Well, Second Run's The Round-Up is "director-approved", but no-one would pretend that it's state of the art. In this case it translates as "Miklós Jancsó recognises that the label has genuinely tried to wring the best possible picture out of poor source materials over which it had no control".

[Michael]

Can "director-approved" be a guarantee enough for a fully satisfying release?

Answering to myself. Just came in my mind. Look at what happened to the supposedly "director approved" Mala Noche but CC messed up the first release.

[Gary Tooze]

I don't see the point of choosing AE over Facets

How about if the transfer is sh$t.
I'm doing caps right now.
The Facets is non-anamorphic, interlaced and looks to be a PAL ->NTSC transfer.
History repeats itself.
Thanks Facets.
Cheers,
G

[sidehacker]

Sort of hilarious in a really weird and sad way.