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franco wrote:On a more positive note, the R1 Sony edition of Caché gets an exuberant review at DVDTalk.

Anyone have info on the 3-DVD ( ) French DVD mentioned in this review?

Just some additional docs and interviews, I think. There's no subtitle whatsoever, not even in French.

Denti:

The French set is actually a 2DVD set (the 3rd DVD that comes with Cache only has promo materials for the press)....

Ciao,
Pro-B

Anyone seen this?

24 Realities per Second

Looks fascinating but the price is absurd (look at the length)...especially when this'll bound to be a DVD extra at some point in the future...

Okay, on my R1 "Cache" I received today, the opening shot runs for maybe a minute before some voiceover, then cuts to Auteil walking out into the street to see where the camera must have camped out. After he's done looking, we cut back to the original shot, then immediately the tape begins to fast-forward.

When I saw this in theatres in March, I recall that shot extending for seemingly forever to at least four or five minutes. This Sight & Sound article, in the first paragraph, says the shot lasts for five minutes unchanged.

Now there is no reason for this to be edited and indeed I am leaning towards me being paranoid, but, reader, can you please confirm the duration of this shot?

On my copy of the r1 disc the opening shot lasts 3 minutes and 5 seconds. Though the shot seemed very long in the theater, I suspect this is correct and that the Sight & Sound writer's "some five minutes later" was a guestimate.

I can live with three minutes.

I'm sure the DVD is fine (minus the undelivered Haneke doc from the backcover ). Really, all suspicions of hanky-panky should have been shot down by how implausible studio interference would have been here.

Haneke is finding other ways to get to me...

Tartan has announced their discs of The 7th Continent, Benny's Video, and 71 Fragments Of A Chronology of Chance. December 4, £39.99, not available separately.

source

Has anyone watched Michael Haneke's Seventh Continent yet? I would be curious if anyone else thought there were sutble links to Fasbinder's first color film Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? Also is it possible that Hankeke's filmmaking wears the mantle of Bresson's transcendentalism and Fassbinder's political activism, in an effort to depict the horrors of living in a post-modern techno-modern society?

Strangely enough, I saw these two films back to back recently.

The Seventh Continent is similar to Fassbinder's Herr R. on the "goodbye society" front, but Haneke's lens is more precise and holds less dramaturgy than Fassy. The fly-on-the-wall ethos of Herr R. is as vital as Fassbinder could ever seem in his portrayal of a man at odds with his place in the world; I can't think of another one of his films which I've seen that is so assaulting and restless with its concern for actuality (whatever that even means at this point, as his films more or less are borne from a dramatist's point of view) & realism.

Haneke does pay homage to a particular shot in l'argent, which, to my eyes, was transcendent. In his film, the family is complicit in their contempt and refusal to submit to the wills of society's constraints, even if, by its conclusion, they become exactly what they sought to flee and triumph over. Through his concentration on the precise rituals of daily life, Haneke's film is even more terrifying than Herr R., though not to the point of obliterating sympathy for his characters. I should probably stop talking, as my gushing is starting to seem almost pornographic. I am just too freaking biased.

I watched Benny's Video this evening. This film disturbed me more than the Seventh Continent or Cache. There is a coldness and sense of alienation that pervades all the images throughout the film, even in the scenes when he films their trip to Egypt. While the murder should be the most reprehensible act in the film, it is not. It is the business like precision that Benny's parents undertake to protect themselves and their interests.
In addition this film seems to have connections to Bresson with the images of everyday actions such as making pizza, or pouring a glass of milk. As I have said before Haneke is a transcendental filmmaker, but his philosophies regarding transdendentalism seem to be invested in examining the way that individuals in a techno-modern society repress their emotions, which further alienates them from a sense of humanity and reality.

I bought my copy of Caché the day it came out and have slowly been working my way to watching it... and it seems different from the theatrical version that I saw twice in the theatre...
I remember the first scene being much longer and going directly into fast-forward without cutting to the characters looking at where the camera could have been... I may be wrong, but someone else thought the same thing. maybe it's just how the opening is rememberred (or maybe Haneke did an alternate cut or something)

I just recently watched Funny Games. This film is horrifyingly cold in its mise-en-scene, and in its portrayal of violence. Even more frightening is the matter of fact way that Haneke' uses the reverese sequence with the remote control to comment on the way that film distorts reality for those spectators who are unable to comprehend that "film" is not life. Perhaps Haneke is saying that the problem with the gluttony of violence in film is that it manisfests a culture which cannot understand the difference between performative violence and the violence that is splashed across the papers, and television screens daily.
Arno Frisch's performance as Paul is terrifying in the calm, methodical way in which he deals with the family and his acts of violence. There seems to be an undertext of Greek tragedy that infuses this film. Furthermore, Haneke's exploration of the real "horrors" of the human psyche calls to mind the way Hitchcock used the camera to explore what it is that really frightens people.

it is interesting how many people compare Haneke to Hitchcock. Haneke's films are very suspensful but in a way completely different from Hitchcock. Haneke creates an environment, or atmosphere, in which anything can happen... you know something is coming, but you don't know what or when, it is suspense through surprise. completely foreign to the (now traditional) tactics perfected (some might say invented) by Hitchcock.

Can anyone point me to a direct visual comparison between the R1 and the R2 recent editions of Funny Games? From reviews, the R1 suffers from bad Pal-NTSC ghosting but the R2 doesn't seem to be that much better. Any thoughts?

Lino wrote:Can anyone point me to a direct visual comparison between the R1 and the R2 recent editions of Funny Games? From reviews, the R1 suffers from bad Pal-NTSC ghosting but the R2 doesn't seem to be that much better. Any thoughts?

Well, anyone? Meanwhile, if you want to save some money, there's a Michael Haneke Collection coming out in the UK in October.

I watched the KINO Funny Games and the only point where it is truley a problem is in the opening sequence, particularly the shot where they're driving through the trees... other than that it looked pretty good

Lino wrote:Can anyone point me to a direct visual comparison between the R1 and the R2 recent editions of Funny Games? From reviews, the R1 suffers from bad Pal-NTSC ghosting but the R2 doesn't seem to be that much better. Any thoughts?

I've been hoping for the same. I've seen the film several times, so I'm in no great hurry, but I also thought that by now we'd have seen a direct comparison.

Firstly, huge fan of Haneke. Certainly one of few contemporary masters.

Second, have you guys checked out the R4 Haneke releases? They are excellent. All film > PAL transfers, all correct aspect ratio, all anamorphic widescreen, all Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, all featuring an excellent collection of special features, all with removable English subs and all with the best cover designs out there.

They are part of Madman's Director's Suite label. Piano Teacher and Time of the Wolf have already been released, Hidden is coming out shortly and it's rumoured in the Madman forums that Funny Games is on its way.

davidhare wrote:Add to that Code Inconnu also Madman.

I think Code Unknown is from Accent?

DVDTimes reviews the recently released Michael Haneke Collection.

The Michael Haneke Collection boxset collecting these four films is released in the UK by Artificial Eye. The films are each presented on a dual-layer disc in PAL format and encoded for Region 2. The content and the quality of the discs is identical to previously released DVD editions, but they are repackaged here with new covers in slimline cases and held within a slipcase.

Nice.

soma wrote:

davidhare wrote:Add to that Code Inconnu also Madman.

I think Code Unknown is from Accent?

That's correct. I have it and its a wonderful transfer.

soma wrote:Second, have you guys checked out the R4 Haneke releases? They are excellent. All film > PAL transfers, all correct aspect ratio, all anamorphic widescreen, all Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, all featuring an excellent collection of special features, all with removable English subs and all with the best cover designs out there.

They are part of Madman's Director's Suite label. The Piano Teacher and Time of The Wolf have already been released, Cache is coming out shortly ...

Madman's Directors' Suite of "CACHE" is a two-disc set that includes "24 Realities Per Second: A film about Michael Haneke" by Nina Kusturica & Eva Testor. Is this the reason for the second disc? And would anyone recommend a purchase for this extra feature alone?

Given that I have the Sony R1 and will be purchasing the AE R2 Haneke Collection, I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to buy this film a third time. But I'll do it if it's worth it. (For USD$8 during the Madman sale anyway.)

Does anyone know how the quality of the Artificial Eye box of Haneke Trilogy compares with the releases on Kino?

kekid wrote:Does anyone know how the quality of the Artificial Eye box of Haneke Trilogy compares with the releases on Kino?

You may have two different releases confused. Artificial Eye released "The Michael Haneke Collection", a box of four of Haneke's more recent films: Caché, Time of the Wolf, The Piano Teacher, and Code Unknown. Tartan has just released a box called "The Michael Haneke Trilogy" which contains The Seventh Continent, Benny's Video, and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. Either way, you're probably better off with the UK versions of each. The Tartan can be had for under $60, while the Kino discs of the same films will cost you about the same but will be PAL>NTSC transfers. The Kino discs of The Piano Teacher and Code Unknown are also PAL>NTSC transfers and not even half-decent ones at that. The Artificial Eye set can also be had for under $60.