35 / BD 27 Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Discuss releases by Second Run and the films on them.
Message
Author
Rich Malloy
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:29 pm
Location: Boston MA

#51 Post by Rich Malloy » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:43 pm

MichaelB wrote:Beaver - a comparison with the Facets and Redemption, though there was never any serious contest!
I think there's a serious contest here. The Redemption transfer looks a good bit better to me, and Second Run's is definitely clipping whites and crushing blacks.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#52 Post by MichaelB » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:12 pm

Rich Malloy wrote:I think there's a serious contest here. The Redemption transfer looks a good bit better to me, and Second Run's is definitely clipping whites and crushing blacks.
Are you talking about the discs or the frame grabs?

I only ask because I've seen both in motion, and the print damage of the Redemption (including so many splices that it occasionally looks like a deliberate editing strategy) frankly rules it out of serious contention.

Rich Malloy
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:29 pm
Location: Boston MA

#53 Post by Rich Malloy » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:00 pm

MichaelB wrote:Are you talking about the discs or the frame grabs?

I only ask because I've seen both in motion, and the print damage of the Redemption (including so many splices that it occasionally looks like a deliberate editing strategy) frankly rules it out of serious contention.
Only the frame grabs. And thanks for the additional info on the Redemption transfer.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#54 Post by MichaelB » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:11 pm

Rich Malloy wrote:Only the frame grabs. And thanks for the additional info on the Redemption transfer.
It's not really "additional info" that the print is lousy, though - the Beaver review says that:
The Region 2 disc is much sharper and has better color, but suffers more print damage, especially early on in the film. There's an ungodly amount tramlines and scratches that don't show up on the Facets DVD
In a nutshell: the Facets has a decent source print but a dreadful transfer, and the Redemption has an OK transfer but possibly the worst source print I've seen of a 35mm feature shot within my lifetime. The Japanese disc is apparently terrible too - as DVDFreak says:
This was probably converted from a PAL VHS release, and the print occasionally displays severe damage. I deinterlaced the video using tritical's TDeint, but I tried to pick screenshots with no or very little movement in order to minimise quality loss.

User avatar
Person
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 3:00 pm

#55 Post by Person » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:34 pm

The splicey print used for the Redemption transfer made the film seem downright incompetent at times, whereas, it is one of the the most delicately crafted pieces of oneiric ever to enter the eye.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#56 Post by MichaelB » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:41 pm

Person wrote:The splicey print used for the Redemption transfer made the film seem downright incompetent at times, whereas, it is one of the the most delicately crafted pieces of oneiric Cinema ever created.
There was a recent debate on the film's IMDB discussion board regarding whether or not it was shot in 35mm or 16mm.

The first post confidently states:
who posted the info that this (formidable!) movie was made on 35? i'm in the middle of watching it, and judging from the colors, the contrasts, the dop-characteristics, and the square aspect ratio (it does not seem to be a pan&scan transfer of a 35 print since it has narrow black bars to the left and right), i'd def guess it was filmed on 16.
...and the second post is even more emphatic!
I agree with you, the information is probably incorrect.

This is certainly a 16mm film.
I suspect what fooled these two and others is the fact that the older DVDs are so lousy and that the film is in 4:3 - which was normal for a late-1960s Czech film, but obviously non-standard by then in the West, so might hint at a 16mm source to the ill-informed. But there's no way a major studio production from that period would have been in anything other than 35mm.

Rich Malloy
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:29 pm
Location: Boston MA

#57 Post by Rich Malloy » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:17 pm

MichaelB wrote:It's not really "additional info" that the print is lousy, though - the Beaver review says that
Indeed, it does. "Overlooked information" is perhaps more apt!

rs98762001
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:04 pm

#58 Post by rs98762001 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:08 pm

Just watched this. Great film. The disc is pretty good for the most part (although a touch soft at times and there are occasional contrast issues), the audio quality is fantastic, and overall this seems to me like a near-definitive release. Highly recommended.

And congrats to Michael B! Thought you did a great job on the introduction.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#59 Post by MichaelB » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:14 am

A pleasant surprise in today's Metro newspaper...

User avatar
luridedith
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:34 pm

#60 Post by luridedith » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:29 am

My copy finally arrived in the mail and it completely exceeded my already high expectations. The colours and textures in the transfer are so incredibly beautiful, even better than the relatively pristine print I saw in theatres (in a Czech film festival here about a year or so ago).

Truly essential, everyone go out and get a copy!

User avatar
thirtyframesasecond
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:48 pm

#61 Post by thirtyframesasecond » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:42 am

MichaelB wrote:A pleasant surprise in today's Metro newspaper
The arts coverage in the Metro puts a lot of broadsheets and specialist magazines to shame.

zone_resident
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm

#62 Post by zone_resident » Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:36 am


User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#63 Post by MichaelB » Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:05 am

DVD Freak comparison - confirming my suspicion that the Second Run is slightly better than the Czech Bonton release when it comes to fine detail.

Since they're from the same Digibeta master, the Second Run disc's higher bitrate at the encoding stage is almost certainly responsible.

User avatar
thirtyframesasecond
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:48 pm

#64 Post by thirtyframesasecond » Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:56 pm

My copy finally arrived. Whilst I liked it, I thought it was remarkably slight for a film only 75 minutes or so long. I don't know anything about the original text, so I don't now whether it was edited substantially for the film. Or maybe the original text is one of those unfilmable texts where it's impossible to commit it to film exactly as it reads.

It looks beautiful and there's lots of striking and strange imagery. Seems strange to think that anything like this might be made now. Much of it seems a bit disturbing but that's accounted for, I guess, by the explosion of imagination that goes with adulthood/sexual awareness. I wish I remembered the film Innocence a bit more than I do because I wanted to draw parallels between them - I wonder whether Lucille Hadzihalilovic had seen it. I think Michael said in the intro that Angela Carter was inspired by it. Speaking of which.....the intro was very informative and puts the film in context well. Cheers.

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#65 Post by MichaelB » Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:51 am

Michael Atkinson's full-page Sight & Sound review has just been added to the Second Run site.

User avatar
Bikey
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am

#66 Post by Bikey » Sun Sep 28, 2008 6:09 am

VALERIE will be shown as part of a very special Second Run screening event atr this year's Bath Film Festival an October 31.
More details to follow...

User avatar
LQ
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:51 am
Contact:

#67 Post by LQ » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:26 am

What would I do without this forum to steer me toward films I would've otherwise never even heard of? I saw the creepy, mysteriously coy cover art for this sometime last month on a casual browse-through and the image of it had been lingering with me, so I got it from netflix just to give it a whirl. Wow. I had never seen a Czech film before in my life and I started out bemused and confused, the subtitle synch issue was throwing me off. But I decided to leave the subtitles by the wayside for the most part and be enveloped by the powerful visual storytelling and imagery. Jaroslava Schallerova has one of the most enchanting faces I've ever seen and it was a mesmerizing journey, following her through the brillant cauchemardesque world of this film. the visual composition of Valerie reminded me of a kind of scary-ethereal blend of Auguste Renoir and Jodorowsky. It was hypnotizing. I can't say for sure what actually happened in this movie, which is why (among many reasons) I have to immediately order the SR version. I couldn't have asked for a better first step into Czech cinema.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

#68 Post by domino harvey » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:04 pm

Czech cinema, particularly the films considered part of the Czech New Wave, is one of the most rewarding world cinemas around, very fast and loose and made under tremendous political pressures. Time to watch Daisies, the Party and the Guests, Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness and Loves of a Blonde!

User avatar
Skritek
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:59 am
Location: Switzerland

#69 Post by Skritek » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:23 pm

Even as a Czech, I urge people not to forget Slovak cinema. It is equally great as Czech, even if possibly at little less in numbers. But most (or even all) of the directors were educated at FAMU.
What I'm not sure about though, is why some Slovaks (Herz, Jires...) made "Czech" films, while others (Jakubisko, Uher, Hanak...the majority) went back to Slovakia. The "New Wave" did start at a similar time, and by lying more decentrally in Bratislava (that is the Koliba studios, some films were shot elsewhere) in probably was even easier to make an "own" film.

Anyways...it pleases me to read nice comments like these. :)

User avatar
LQ
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:51 am
Contact:

#70 Post by LQ » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:29 pm

domino harvey wrote:Czech cinema, particularly the films considered part of the Czech New Wave, is one of the most rewarding world cinemas around, very fast and loose and made under tremendous political pressures. Time to watch Daisies, the Party and the Guests, Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness and Loves of a Blonde!
Well, Valerie was one of the more rewarding film experiences I've had in a while, so I can't wait to see what else Czech (and slovak!) cinema has to offer. Thanks for the recs, Daisies is hovering at the top of my queue now

rs98762001
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 6:04 pm

#71 Post by rs98762001 » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:20 pm

domino harvey wrote:Czech cinema, particularly the films considered part of the Czech New Wave, is one of the most rewarding world cinemas around, very fast and loose and made under tremendous political pressures. Time to watch Daisies, the Party and the Guests, Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness and Loves of a Blonde!
I've written this here a number of times before, but please, please, please do not forget Ivan Passer's Intimate Lighting. Perhaps the best of a brilliant lot (and one of Kieslowski's ten favorite films to boot!). Second Run's disc also has a very illuminating interview with Passer, which details some of the conditions under which the Czech New Wave filmmakers had to operate. It gives you a good idea of how such creativity can flourish within restrictive circumstances.

While I'm on the subject of Passer, does anyone else find it astonishing that a filmmaker with two stunning classics on his resume (Intimate Lighting and Cutter's Way) can continue to languish in such obscurity?

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#72 Post by MichaelB » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:34 pm

This is an utterly shameless plug (as I produced the DVDs), but if you want a total overdose of Czech Surrealism you could do a lot worse than this.

(There's a US edition too, but - with all due modesty - it's not a patch on the BFI one, either in terms of quantity of films or quality of presentation)

User avatar
Skritek
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:59 am
Location: Switzerland

#73 Post by Skritek » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:46 pm

Don't forget Passer's short "A Boring Afternoon", it's also very great. One of the best "pearls of the deep", unfortunately unavailable with English subtitles.

Here one can buy Slovak DVDs, with English navigation
.
Here are the Slovak DVDs (soon to be) released

User avatar
MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
Contact:

#74 Post by MichaelB » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:49 pm

Skritek wrote:Don't forget Passer's short "A Boring Afternoon", it's also very great. One of the best "pearls of the deep", unfortunately unavailable with English subtitles.
...though there's a set of subtitles for A Boring Afternoon available online, as I found to my stunned surprise when I Googled. Matching them up to the video took a fair bit of work, but the end result was surprisingly effective.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

#75 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:08 pm

Just letting everyone know that if you know where to look... there is a custom DVD of this floating around that uses the Czech DVD, custom English subtitles, and also has a custom audio track featuring, yes, The Valerie Project.

Post Reply