criterionforum.org

Don't Look Now



Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie mesmerize as a married couple on an extended trip to Venice following a family tragedy. While in that elegantly decaying city, they have a series of inexplicable, terrifying, and increasingly dangerous experiences. A masterpiece from Nicolas Roeg, Don't Look Now, adapted from a story by Daphne du Maurier, is a brilliantly disturbing tale of the supernatural, as renowned for its innovative editing and haunting cinematography as its explicit eroticism and unforgettable denouement, one of the great endings in horror history.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED EDITION:

• New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Nicolas Roeg, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New conversation between the film's editor, Graeme Clifford, and film writer Bobbie O'Steen
• "Don't Look Now," Looking Back, a short 2002 documentary featuring Roeg, Clifford, and cinematographer Anthony Richmond
• Death in Venice, a 2006 interview with composer Pino Donaggio
• Something Interesting, a new documentary on the writing and making of the film, featuring interviews with Richmond, actors Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, and coscreenwriter Allan Scott
• Nicolas Roeg: The Enigma of Film, a new documentary on Roeg's style, featuring interviews with filmmakers Danny Boyle and Steven Soderbergh
• Q&A with Roeg at London's Ciné Lumière from 2003
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film critic David Thompson

Here's hoping they can fix the audio which has been a problem on most releases of the film to date.

Curious to return to this, I remember being massively underwhelmed when I first saw it.

Shame that many of the UK extras are not ported over. Most of the Criterion extras seem to be new interviews, so probably overlaps in content with the UK set, but the very good Nic Roeg commentary is not ported over.
I have the UK blu-ray which was controversial for the picture quality, which I felt was not as bad as people were making it out to be (since I think I was comparing it to the more obviously waxy "Peeping Tom" blu-ray), but I don't remember problems with the audio track.

Magic Hate Ball wrote:Curious to return to this, I remember being massively underwhelmed when I first saw it.

I had a similar feeling the first time I saw it. After the second time it became a favorite film.

Spoiler

I think you have to see it twice. Once to get duped, from the characters' perspectives, and then again to understand the bitter joke and beauty of the build up.

manicsounds wrote:Shame that many of the UK extras are not ported over. Most of the Criterion extras seem to be new interviews, so probably overlaps in content with the UK set, but the very good Nic Roeg commentary is not ported over.
I have the UK blu-ray which was controversial for the picture quality, which I felt was not as bad as people were making it out to be (since I think I was comparing it to the more obviously waxy "Peeping Tom" blu-ray), but I don't remember problems with the audio track.

Yep, I never upgraded, but I'm glad I held onto my UK DVD for the extras

Criterion wrote:unforgettable denouement, one of the great endings in horror history

Spoiler

I even had the ending to this spoiled by that great 100 Scariest Moments special that used to air all the time on Bravo and the ending still made me sick to my stomach from the tension of its horrific realization of menace

This is also, of course, required viewing for the forthcoming Religion and Faith List Project

Seems like a pretty good package, but I'm most excited for the transfer. One of my favorite films, definitely Roeg's finest. I haven't watched it in a few years now, and have been having the urge to recently; not sure I can wait three months...

Excited beyond belief about this entering the collection. I first became aware of Don't Look Now while watching Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments many years ago (I believe I was only about nine or ten years old). I had a strange fascination with horror films at this age, always trying to find the perfect movie that could really scare me, though unfortunately everything left me nonplussed. Though watching the ending play out during the Bravo special, while up late at night, in my grandparents' house (the sort of house that creaks with every step you take), I was genuinely terrified. I think I immediately shut off the television after the clip played and went to bed.

Naturally, I knew I had to see the entire film, which I remember renting from the library and then watching with my parents (they made me leave the room during the film's infamous sex scene). Knowing the ending in advance and how much it terrified me only heightened the intensity and made me on edge even during the film's most mild moments. By the time the climax came about, I don't even think I could force myself to watch it.

To this day, Don't Look Now still remains the film that has frightened me the most. Though watching it again about two years ago, I was able to recognize the film as being much more than just a horror film, while also picking up on Nicolas Roeg's unique directing style. This, to me, remains his best film. Cannot wait to own this.

I believe I was first exposed to the film via a talking heads count down as well, presumably this one, where it placed at number 20 and also spoiled the ending. I watched it not too long after and loved it, though haven't seen it since and large parts of it are gone from my memory, so the Criterion will be a welcome treat (as I have full confidence the transfer will completely destroy the StudioCanal Blu-ray; apparently it is from a new OCN scan done this year).

Well, at least we know that the transfer can't be as bad as the UK BluRay. The old DVD is actually more tolerable than that calamity - and it's sort of hilarious that Criterion's cover actually resembles that botched transfer.

What's so awful about the UK blu transfer? Just from looking at the stills on Beaver, it seems decent, if overly bright. I guess it's a bit too shiny/not grainy enough?

Their edition only included the controversial watercolor version of the film.

It's a shame that its tag as a horror film seems to downplay so many of its virtues. Has another film played so intricately with the elements of coincidence, foretelling, dread, colour & surprise? With its wonderful imaginatively visualisation of an off season Venice & the unsettlingly sinister use of sound, there are many truly remarkable moments throughout. The scene where Sutherland walks through a dark alley to the sound of crashing shutters, extinguished light and a distant scream delightfully exhibits all these qualities together.

Anyone impatient for this release should definitely pick up BFI’s Film Classics edition which examines this marvellous movie in forensic depth.

Do Criterion still owns the right for "Bad Timing" ??? I'm still crossing the fingers for a blu-ray upgrade of this great movie.
I know that it will be released on Blu-Ray in the UK pretty soon..

domino harvey wrote:

Criterion wrote:unforgettable denouement, one of the great endings in horror history

Spoiler

I even had the ending to this spoiled by that great 100 Scariest Moments special that used to air all the time on Bravo and the ending still made me sick to my stomach from the tension of its horrific realization of menace

This is also, of course, required viewing for the forthcoming Religion and Faith List Project

I'm curious what you mean by this. I love, love, love the film, but have never really seen it in terms that would apply to a religious interaction. Always it has seemed to me as a story of guilt, denial, and lost opportunities rather than anything specifically religious.

swo17 wrote:Their edition only included the controversial watercolor version of the film.

That's an accurate description.

Yeah, the transfer on the UK Blu is pretty shocking. I bought it blind because the film is such a favourite and within seconds regretted selling the DVD to make way for it. The caps don't look quite as bad so I guess this is one case where the opposite of Gary's 'it looks better in motion' catchphrase applies. I vaguely remember that Beaver wasn't the only site to review it really well though.

I can't speak for domino but while I agree it is about guilt, denial and lost opportunities it is also, especially in the scenes with the two psychic sisters and Julie Christie, about a grab for or retreat into spiritualism as a kind of consolation for a loss, or a way of searching for some sort of meaning. It is almost a blind faith versus sceptic plot, pointing out the deep flaws of both stances if adhered to too rigidly. Which resonates horribly ironically with the ending of yet more lost opportunities and severed connections.

I first saw this film when I was eleven or twelve (edited for broadcast television two or three years after its theatrical release, so the sex scene was completely eliminated, but not much else) and it impressed upon me that this is what a modern horror film should be. That so few horror films lived up to this in the subsequent years was somewhat disappointing. Roeg's finest for me as well and I'm quite happy it joins my other two favorites (WALKABOUT, INSIGNIFICANCE) on Criterion Blu-ray. It'd be nice to have BAD TIMING on Blu, and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH back on Blu, but this is the one I most wanted done right.

Just got to see this again on a 35mm print a couple of days ago actually, and i am so happy to see it's going to be joining the collection now.

In terms of other Roeg on Blu, wasn't Bad Timing on a list of stuff Criterion was working on for upcoming Blu-ray releases a few years back ? I remember there being a photo of a long list of stuff, some of which has come out since then.

Oh no! They forgot to pass it all through the 'tourist watercolour' filter! It's actually watchable! What were they thinking?

They were thinking we'll still have to keep that disc if we want the commentary.

warren oates wrote:They were thinking we'll still have to keep that disc if we want the commentary.

](*,)
This is what I get for not paying attention to specs.