10 Walkabout

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Tribe
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Re: 10 Walkabout

#51 Post by Tribe » Tue May 04, 2010 8:56 am

Mr Finch wrote:http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/walkabout.htm

Gary makes no mention of the edge enhancement (not a deal breaker for me; I still think this looks like a very good transfer). Still, how come that other than Chris no reviewer seems to have picked this up?
Perhaps the edge enhancement is not as apparent as some would have us believe.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#52 Post by cdnchris » Tue May 04, 2010 10:56 am

In all fairness it's not a consistently noticeable issue and shouldn't be a deal breaker for anyone, and is really only noticeable in a few sequences. I grabbed a couple of what I thought were the worst offenders. I still have to say in those few sequences I thought it was fairly obvious on my TV, a 46" LCD/LED (the first instance where I noticed it was one scene with Agutter walking across the landscape while wearing her black hat) and then in the grabs I pulled of the sequences in question. I still think it looks rather good otherwise, the only other complaint maybe being that the source materials hold it back but that's not Criterion's fault, and they at least didn't alter it/sharpen it to make it look "better" on Blu-ray.

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Finch
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Re: 10 Walkabout

#53 Post by Finch » Tue May 04, 2010 6:27 pm

Thanks for that, Chris. Still, even accounting for the fact that the EE affects only a handful of scenes, it begs the question of why no else has brought it up in their reviews. Either they have not caught it (which in the case of R Harris I'd find rather hard to believe) or they are ignorant of it. I don't mean to sound like I'm splitting hairs over this but even if the reviewer personally considers the edge enhancement not detrimental or significant enough from their perspective, it should have merited a mention since other people's mileage may vary (as evidenced by the reactions of others in this same thread). I can live with it but I'm grateful that Chris' A/V assessments are reallly thorough and more consistent than the Beev (with their thumbs up for the atrocious Gladiator BR).

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#54 Post by pro-bassoonist » Wed May 05, 2010 5:28 pm

Good afternoon,

I would like to quickly address the claims about EE as well as halos that have appeared on a few online forums.

Walkabout is a film in which natural light is of utmost importance - hence the reason why it has such an "inconsistent" look. The "edge-enhancement" that you observed during selected scenes really has very little to do with Criterion's presentation; and everything to do with how light is captured by the camera. Example: the balloon releasing scenes. The thick lining fluctuates dramatically from frame to frame.

This is the exact same reason why other enthusiasts are seeing "edge-enhancement" and strong halos on the Criterion Blu-ray release of Mr. Malick's Days of Heaven -- another film where natural light is of utmost importance, and understanding how the film camera captures it in a specific environment is crucial.

To sum it all up, Walkabout looks very convincing in high-definition.

Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist on Wed May 05, 2010 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#55 Post by cdnchris » Wed May 05, 2010 7:39 pm

Agreed on how Days of Heaven has incorrectly been accused of EE, and I wondered the same about Walkabout, whether it was the lighting. I mentioned Agutter's hat was the first instance I noticed it and in all honesty I had trouble figuring what the issue was, but I think what did it for me were a couple of shots of Gulpilil in the foreground against the sky which presented slight halos that looked artificial, not natural to the photography. The DVD has the same thing as well, if a little more prominent (though comparing a DVD and BD doesn't really mean much admittedly.) At least that's how it looked to me. I could be wrong, and I've been wrong on other things (Kagemusha's transfer is not as near-perfect as I originally thought and The Last Emperor's is far worse than I originally thought) but I was stating what I felt to be the case and I don't feel it's exactly the same thing as in Days of Heaven.

I still have to say I'm a little stunned people on this site are making a big deal about it (though I guess I shouldn't be, especially after posting M grabs that I thought looked wonderful only to find a very vocal group who thought anything but,) but I still think it looks great, and it's not like The Assassination of Jesse James... I'm more than happy with it, especially after their original DVD, which is really stunningly bad in the video department.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#56 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue May 18, 2010 12:53 am

Is this new version (or the '98 release while I'm at it) licensed by Fox?

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#57 Post by cdnchris » Tue May 18, 2010 1:05 am

It opens with the Fox logo (like the old one) but it's been licenced from Janus Films.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#58 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue May 18, 2010 10:41 am

Does the same go for Paris, Texas?

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#59 Post by cdnchris » Tue May 18, 2010 10:49 am

No. There's no Fox logo for Paris, Texas and it was licenced from HanWay Films.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#62 Post by HistoryProf » Fri May 21, 2010 8:35 pm

mine arrived today and I immediately sat down to watch it...been waiting so long! First the reported glitch: no problems whatsoever for me viewing w/ a samsung bd-p1500. I ordered from Amazon - so the issue is at least not one with EVERY disc.


As for the film, seeing it again after a few years on blu ray was a revelation, and it remains solidly among my ten favorite films of all time. Every frame is striking - and even while the odd asides don't fully "work" in a narrative sense, the imagery and elegiac tone of it all is just mesmerizing. And it has one of the single most astonishing endings i've ever seen. It doesn't just make me cry, it punches me in the face first. Pow, right in the kisser.

I rewatched the final 25 minutes with the commentary and I'm now going to be sure to listen to the entire thing - both Roeg and Augutter offer tremendous insights, especially regarding the climactic scene. I've always felt a couple of ways about it, so it was nice to get input from David Gulpilil himself (via Jenny anyway). I will sit down with the Gulpilil Documentary later too.

And, just for the record, I looked specifically for halos or ee and didn't notice anything on a 42" panny LCD. That was also a relief...there simply were no technical issues at all with this one, and the palette is astonishing in hi-def. Their best re-release so far imo (though I've yet to see M)

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#63 Post by HistoryProf » Sun May 23, 2010 4:28 am

broadwayrock wrote:I have not seen Walkabout in 15 years, but is it the film where aboriginal boy teaches the children to scoop from the bottom of pool of water in order to get cooler water or am i thinking of a completely different film?
when they first encounter one another, the brother and sister are sitting at a dried up water hole and Gulpilil does indeed show them how to drink from underground water by using reeds stuck into the sand like straws.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#64 Post by Matango » Sun May 23, 2010 10:28 am

...but not to 'scoop from the bottom of the pool' to get cooler water, as you mention. Must have been another film.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#66 Post by dad1153 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:23 am

Watched my "Walkabout" Blu-ray last night on a 60GB PS3 and it played fine, no problem at the 51 min. mark. PS3 hasn't been updated since the middle of last year though (for whatever that's worth).

This movie is the first one I clearly recall watching on TV one afternoon when I was four or five years old back in the late 70's. The opening scenes with the father doing what he did were unforgettable but I pretty much forgot what the rest of the movie was about (clearly there was no nudity in the TV version so no Agutter memories :roll: ). My reaction seeing "Walkabout" again on BD (first time in about three years) was similar to HistoryProf's: the ending just bitch-slapped me with a wave of sadness and emotion (punctuated by that gorgeous John Barry score swelling up during the credits) I wasn't prepared for even though I'd already seen it. As I mature and grow older (37 now) movies that didn't affect me before now take on greater significance because of whatever life experiences (which include watching/learning about new movies/filmmakers I wasn't familiar with before) I've acquired. I just recently became an Uncle for the first time and just spent Memorial Day (an American holiday) with my six-day old niece and her parents. Holding that fragile and innocent little baby in my hands knowing I'll be (or at least try to) a part of her life has made me a more reflective person than I was before. Seeing "Walkabout" capture the loss of innocence for all three characters (and not as plot points but as facts of life) framed within such a pleasing backdrop (which means beauty shots as well as the hardships of outback survival) all came to a head in those final few minutes. It still boggles my mind that this was rated 'GP' (per the movie's trailer) upon it's theatrical release back in '71.

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Re:

#67 Post by Vampyr » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:56 am

David Gulpilil isn't just "that guy," he's a great Australian actor, and his amazing work in Walkabout is just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm a big Roeg fan, but this is by far my favourite of his films. Even though some of the 'asides' seem misjudged, while we're focussed on the three main characters I find it a completely magical experience (on a big screen it's doubly stunning), and it has one of the most emotionally shattering climaxes of any film I know: it's not just sad, it's seriously distressing.
Liked the movie, didn't love it. But I do have a question about the ending.
SpoilerShow
Did the Aborigine boy kill himself because he witnessed the slaughter of the animals by the white men and to see such destruction of nature was too much for him to bear? Or was it something completely different?
Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:The whole attempt of the father to kill the kids seemed like such a plot contrivance to me when I saw the movie. I need to see it again because it seemed so stupid. I probably missed something.
Agreed, Jean-Luc. I didn't think Roeg clearly showed (or even implied, really) why the father felt the need to take the lives of his kids and himself. I speculated the usual things: domestic strife, job loss, etc; but that is only my interpretation. (Unless that is what Roeg was going for)

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Re: Re:

#68 Post by Napoleon » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:50 am

Vampyr wrote:
SpoilerShow
Did the Aborigine boy kill himself because he witnessed the slaughter of the animals by the white men and to see such destruction of nature was too much for him to bear? Or was it something completely different?
Pretty sure that it was because of what he saw as rejection by the girl. His values and upbringing meant that he couldn't cope with or comprehend it.
Vampyr wrote:I didn't think Roeg clearly showed (or even implied, really) why the father felt the need to take the lives of his kids and himself. I speculated the usual things: domestic strife, job loss, etc; but that is only my interpretation. (Unless that is what Roeg was going for)
It's pretty open but the most likely explanation is depression. The film unfolds as a clash of cultures and seems to make a case for modern living = bad, living humbly off the land = good. I read it that the depression was brought on by modern life being unrewarding and hollow. But that's possibly just me projecting.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#69 Post by dad1153 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:53 am

^^^ Roeg hints in the commentary track about what drove the father to do the things he did but doesn't state it emphatically. He's basically asking us, the audience, to 'buy' the premise and not dwell too much on it since it's just the starting point that sets the children lose in the Australian Outback which is the whole point of the movie. By the time we revisit the burned-out car and remains of the father it's a moot point (we're already into the trio's 'adventure') and frankly I've never cared why the father did it. Madness and self-destructive behavior happens at the start of "Walkabout" just like it has happened (and will happen) many times in places where someone just loses it and shoots up his/her workplace. We know the real reason is probably something practical (Roeg not having the budget or desire to stage the novel's airplane-crash setting in the movie) but "Walkabout" is a philosophical-enough movie for me to file the father's actions under the 'because it had to start somehow' file.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#70 Post by Vampyr » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:54 am

Thanks, Nappy, I agree with both of your assessments. That actually helped me appreciate the film a little more, because I will admit his suicide at the end left me a little puzzled.

Hey...it just struck me,
SpoilerShow
both the dad and the Aborigine committed suicide as a result of their inability to cope with the onslaught of progress?

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#71 Post by dad1153 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:12 pm

^^^ And the girl survived by embracing progress (and theoretically thrived in the things her culture values) but the cost was losing quite early that precious thing she would have lost eventually (like we all do) but which was accelerated and brought upon quicker by her father's actions. The children's mother isn't in the picture much (a few seconds in the apartment kitchen) but it's no coincidence that the girl is seen in her post-"Walkabout" life doing the exact things her mother was before 'the trip.'

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Re: Re:

#72 Post by HistoryProf » Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:05 pm

Vampyr wrote: Liked the movie, didn't love it. But I do have a question about the ending.
SpoilerShow
Did the Aborigine boy kill himself because he witnessed the slaughter of the animals by the white men and to see such destruction of nature was too much for him to bear? Or was it something completely different?
rewatch the scene from where he begins the dance to the end with the commentary on - both Roeg and Augutter explain it well....i'd butcher it from memory at this point, but can say they give some significant insights - Jenny in particular repeating things Gulpilil told her.

Also, Gulpilil himself revisits it in the documentary on the disc about his amazing career and life. It's a fascinating doc and I strongly recommend everyone watch it at some point. He mentions something to the effect that in the film, the character is unhappy with her reaction to the dance, but this is just one plane/life, so he decides to go to the next one in the Dreamtime. The way he explains it makes it all seem quite logical. And he has to be one of the single most interesting "movie stars" in history....he can go from Cannes back to the Bush with his large traditional family cooking snake and roo on an open fire just like that - and seems to prefer the latter.


oh, and "crocodile dundee is bullshit" :lol:

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Re: Re:

#73 Post by Vampyr » Thu Jun 03, 2010 9:06 am

HistoryProf wrote:
Vampyr wrote:Liked the movie, didn't love it. But I do have a question about the ending.
SpoilerShow
Did the Aborigine boy kill himself because he witnessed the slaughter of the animals by the white men and to see such destruction of nature was too much for him to bear? Or was it something completely different?
rewatch the scene from where he begins the dance to the end with the commentary on - both Roeg and Augutter explain it well....i'd butcher it from memory at this point, but can say they give some significant insights - Jenny in particular repeating things Gulpilil told her.

Also, Gulpilil himself revisits it in the documentary on the disc about his amazing career and life. It's a fascinating doc and I strongly recommend everyone watch it at some point. He mentions something to the effect that in the film, the character is unhappy with her reaction to the dance, but this is just one plane/life, so he decides to go to the next one in the Dreamtime. The way he explains it makes it all seem quite logical. And he has to be one of the single most interesting "movie stars" in history....he can go from Cannes back to the Bush with his large traditional family cooking snake and roo on an open fire just like that - and seems to prefer the latter.


oh, and "crocodile dundee is bullshit" :lol:
Thanks, HP! This is exactly why I decided to join this forum, to help expand my enjoyment of Criterion's offerings through insights from fellow film fans. I will definitely check out the commentary and the doc!

I'll add my two-cents on the BD issue and say that my copy of WALKABOUT played just fine in my LG Blu-ray player.

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Re: 10 Walkabout

#75 Post by SSF » Wed Jun 09, 2010 11:26 pm

Cinephrenic wrote:Anyone had problems on with this on PS3?
I just watched mine today and it played just fine.

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