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Raro Video

Looks like they've got a Fassbinder box coming out, and have released some Warhols as well.....

All the Fassbinder in that box are available from Wellspring apart from 'Der Bräutigam, die Komödiantin und der Zuhälter' from Jean-Marie Straub. I saw it last year at Tate Modern, well in fact I didn't, I feell asleep (because I was tired, not because it was bad).

I am interested in Vinyl, anybody can comment on it?

A reply from an inquiry of mine:

Dear Michael

Thank you for your mail message.

The title HAIL MARY (original title JE VOUS SALUE, MARIE) will be published on DVD by RaroVideo in December '05. I can give you more information on this release nearer the time.

With best regards

Suzanne Jackson
www.rarovideo.com

I've only got their "Chelsea Girls" DVD, which I'm very pleased with, so hopefully they'll keep to their standards!

Nice!

Will this likely include English subtitles?

Oedipax wrote:Nice!

Will this likely include English subtitles?

Most likely, i can't recall a rarovideo DVD without english sub's...by the way, why is this great Label not listed here?

Regards,

Dennis

Hopefully Anne-Marie Mieville's The Book of Mary will also be included on the DVD, as it was the companion piece to the Godard film when shown theatrically, and was on the VHS tape.

A John Waters commentary would be welcome as well.

Oops - there is a Raro Sticky, which I meant to put this new is but accidentally put it outside that box... sorry. If this can be moved there that would be great.

If you go to the "Catalogue" section of their webist - http://www.rarovideo.com/eng/catalogue.htm - you can see what other titles are in their pipeline.

- Mike

Hi,

Vinyl looks good, for an underground film, like with all their Warhol disks they used material from the Warhol foundation, so I think we won't see anything better in the near future.
The rest you can find here: http://www.rarovideo.com/eng/schede/cof ... velvet.htm (it's packed in a digi and the bilingual "book" is quite huge, nearly hardcover with 85 pages and b/w pictures)
The only "not so good" Warhol transfer is, in my opinion, Empire.
By the way, coming this month and looks interesting to me:

DVD Box Set Nagisa Ô-shim
Seishun zankoku monogatari and Toyo - no hakaba
Double dvd + bilingual English/Italian book
CATALOGUE CODE RVDa 40063
EUR 50,00


Seishun zankoku monogatari
(Naked Youth)
1960, Japan, 96’58”, colour
Original Japanese Version with removable Italian and English subtitles
Director: Nagisa Ô-shima
Screenplay: Nagisa Ô-shima
Cinematography: Takashi Kawamata
Editing: Keiichi Uraoka
Music: Riichiro Manabe
Producer: Tomio Ikeda
Production: Sho-chiku Co., Ltd.
Cast: Yusuke Kawazu, Miyuki Kuwano, Yoshiko Kuga, Fumio Watanabe, Shinji Tanaka, Yosuke Hayashi, Shinjiro Matsuzaki, Toshilo Kobayashi


Taiyo - no hakaba
(The Sun’s Burial)
1960, Japan, 88’14”, colour
Original Japanese Version with removable Italian and English subtitles
Director: Nagisa Ô-shima
Screenplay: Nagisa Ô-shima, Toshiro - Ishido
Cinematography: Takashi Kawamata
Editing: Keiichi Uraoka
Music: Riichiro Manabe
Producer: Tomio Ikeda
Production: Sho-chiku
Cast: Masahiko Tsugawa, Kayoko Honoo, Yusuke Kawazu, Junzaburo Ban,
Kamatari Fujiwara, Jun Hamamura, Bokuzen Hidari, Tanie Kitabayashi

:: DVD Contents ::

Original Trailers + film introduction by Adriano Aprà (Film Historian)

http://www.rarovideo.com/eng/schede/cof_oshima.htm

Regards,

Dennis

I was thinking of picking up their El Topo and Holy Mountain set (remastered). Can anyone comment on the quality of these releases.

Thanks,
G30

I just received a small package from Raro (the Herzog and Oshima sets, plus Medea), and so far they look great.

I had a quick look at some of Signs of Life, and the transfer looks stunning. Of the Herzog short films, the earliest two look like good transfers of best-available prints (a little contrasty and pale, respectively), but the transfer of Last Words is gorgeous: sharp, detailed, with a beautiful tonal range. The only oddity seems to be that the English subtitles on The Unprecedented Defence are accompanied by the Italian subs as well, and appear on the top of the screen.

A cursory scan of Medea reveals it looking better than I've ever seen it, which is fantastic, as good DVD transfers of Pasolini films seem to be ridiculously scarce.

The transfer of Cruel Story of Youth is good - nice blacks, nice colours, nice contrast - but it seems a little old: there's some jagged stair-stepping on straight lines and jazzing on patterns. Nevertheless, it's great to finally see this film.

All of the releases come with excellent, extensive, bilingual booklets, and everything on the discs seems to be (well) subtitled in English.

zedz wrote:The transfer of Cruel Story of Youth is good - nice blacks, nice colours, nice contrast - but it seems a little old: there's some jagged stair-stepping on straight lines and jazzing on patterns. Nevertheless, it's great to finally see this film.

Unfortunately, The Sun's Burial is similar but worse: soft, with poor blacks and faded colours. It's great to have both films available, but the real Oshima action was still to come. Who's going to be brave enough to issue the radical mid- to late-sixties masterpieces?

The transfer of Medea, however, is as eye-poppingly gorgeous as the film itself. Anybody with a passing interest in Pasolini should order this disc without delay (and order more than one title from the Raro Video website and you'll get a healthy discount).

Have any brave souls out there taken the plunge and picked up these Derek Jarman collections. So far, I've found no reviews on the Web about these DVDs so hopefully someone here might have the knowledge.

Thanks

Looks like a nice package. Brush up on your Latin!:

[quote]SEBASTIANE
DEREK JARMAN
Double DVD Free Code PAL + bilingual English/Italian book
Digitally restored

Sebastiane
DVD + Book
FREE CODE PAL
1976, UK, 82'09â€

Gavin Smith, in the most recent issue of Film Comment, states, "Raro Video is Italy's answer to Criterion. Their discs are all subtitled in English, the packaging and 80 page booklets are bilingual, and the transfers are top notch."

In spite of the ill-advised comparisons regarding subtitles and booklets, it is the third point, the top-notch transfers, that attracted my attention.

I bought the Raro Video box set of Shinya Tsukamoto films for The Adventure of Denchu Kozo, a film otherwise unavailable except in an expensive Japanese box set. Unfortunately, it looked like a transfer of a VHS tape.

The disc of Tetsuo: The Iron Man was better than the only existing DVD at the time of the Raro Video release, but the recently released Tartan issue has slightly superior clarity.

My largest quarrel, however, was with Tetsuo II. This is a 4:3 film that has been cropped to what appears to be about 1.85. It also, at least to my eyes, appears to have had the colors enhanced to look more vibrant.

Raro Video has put out several sets I would like to have, but I am afraid to gamble on another one. As it is, I will buy the Japanese R2 set and attempt to sell the Raro Video set.

2 more Oshima, Nagisa classics are forthcoming from Raro:

Nihon no Yoru to Kiri / Night and Fog in Japan
available this month
single dvd.original Japanese version with removable English and Italian subtitles

Hakuchû no Tôrima / Violence at Noon
scheduled for January/February 06
single dvd.original Japanese version with removable English and Italian subtitles

Let's hope, that they add new subs, and that the transfers are decent.

barring the fact that unfortunately the Japanese editions are digitally censored whereas the Raro ones's are not.

The Raro DVD of Holy Mountain is also censored, and the El Topo is full screen..

I only have their Warhol releases and am very pleased with them.

Anyone get the Detective disc? Trying to decide whether to get it, too, when Helas pour moi is released, supposedly this month.

Finally, more Warhol: Nude Restaurant

Regards,

Dennis

When are they going to do Fuck (aka the Blue Movie)?

denti alligator wrote:When are they going to do Fuck (aka the Blue Movie)?

I wouldn't hold my breath, so far Rarovido only released Warhol Film they already had out on vhs. So only Lonesome Cowboys is somewhat sure to be released.

Regards,

Dennis

Looks like they're releasing a couple Carmelo Bene films - great news, except that their credit card payment system doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

http://www.rarovideo.com/eng/schede/carmelo_bene.html

stephan73 wrote:The Raro DVD of Holy Mountain is also censored, and the El Topo is full screen..

From what I understand the original aspect ratio of El Topo is full frame.

IMDB shows the aspect ratio as 1.85:1, so there must be a widescreen version around somewhere!

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0067866/technical

Keaton wrote:... so far Rarovido only released Warhol Film they already had out on vhs. So only Lonesome Cowboys is somewhat sure to be released.

And, on cue, the February Warhol release is Lonesome Cowboys.

This film is mostly-hilarious Warhol camp - a nice antidote to Brokeback Mountain - with in-camera editing of its gay cowboys' antics. And only 16 euros! [But plus, probably, another 16 in shipping.]

I recently blind-bought Nude Restaurant after having enjoyed Raro's Chelsea Girls. It too was mesmerizing, though not quite the formal success of the latter film.