519 Close-up

Discuss releases by Criterion and the films on them. Threads may contain spoilers!
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swo17
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Re: 519 Close-up

#51 Post by swo17 » Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:49 pm

denti alligator wrote:[Friend's Home, Life Goes On, and Olive Trees] would make a killer box set.
Throw in a re-release of Taste of Cherry, call the whole box Kiarostami's Koker Kwadrilogy, slap a wacky C sticker of zedz saying "I approve of the title of this boxset" on it, and we're talking automatic release of the year!

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domino harvey
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Re: 519 Close-up

#52 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:07 pm

Criterion's announcement of this title was definitely Press Release of the Year for me

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zedz
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Re: 519 Close-up

#53 Post by zedz » Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:32 pm

swo17 wrote:
denti alligator wrote:[Friend's Home, Life Goes On, and Olive Trees] would make a killer box set.
Throw in a re-release of Taste of Cherry, call the whole box Kiarostami's Koker Kwadrilogy, slap a wacky C sticker of zedz saying "I approve of the title of this boxset" on it, and we're talking automatic release of the year!
Though the initials of that release would have Nothing setting a new land speed record for Hitler analogies.

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agnamaracs
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Re: 519 Close-up

#54 Post by agnamaracs » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:44 pm

Tried watching the Facets disc last night. Big mistake (couldn't make it 20 minutes in), but it did get me interested.

I wonder if Criterion is going to save anything else from Facets? *coughdekalogcough*

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reno dakota
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Re: 519 Close-up

#55 Post by reno dakota » Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:49 pm


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AquaNarc
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Re: 519 Close-up

#56 Post by AquaNarc » Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:04 pm

Release of the year. Those screen caps make me feel like I've never seen the movie before.

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Cash Flagg
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Re: 519 Close-up

#57 Post by Cash Flagg » Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:53 pm

Criterion Blu-ray vs. Facets DVD is like Tyson vs. McNeely. Incidentally, why are there no Traveler screen-caps?

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Oedipax
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Re: 519 Close-up

#58 Post by Oedipax » Sun Jun 06, 2010 3:12 am

Cash Flagg wrote:Incidentally, why are there no Traveler screen-caps?
I was wondering the same thing! Maybe they're coming later. Regardless, just looking at the main feature alone tells us this is a monumental event. Huge kudos to Criterion.

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ellipsis7
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Re: 519 Close-up

#59 Post by ellipsis7 » Sun Jun 06, 2010 6:50 am

Cash Flagg wrote:Criterion Blu-ray vs. Facets DVD is like Tyson vs. McNeely. Incidentally, why are there no Traveler screen-caps?
It's actually a pretty pointless comparison, the CC Blu looks great, but the Facets was dire by even DVD standards, a fairer comparison would be with the excellent R2 UK Soda Pictures DVD version, which was light years better than the awful Facets...

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Re: 519 Close-up

#60 Post by cdnchris » Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:56 pm


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ellipsis7
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Re: 519 Close-up

#61 Post by ellipsis7 » Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:07 pm

Great review.... I was with AK on the boat to the Aran Islands, he had been to dinner in my house the night before, then we did the 3-4hr masterclass the next day after the island trip, me asking the questions JA translating, then AK went to Kilcolgan with cameraman Donal Gilligan, and JA filmed this fascinating piece, A WALK WITH KIAROSTAMI ...

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Cash Flagg
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Re: 519 Close-up

#62 Post by Cash Flagg » Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:52 am


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denti alligator
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Re: 519 Close-up

#63 Post by denti alligator » Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:51 pm

So The Traveler is 1080i. Any reason why?

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swo17
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Re: 519 Close-up

#64 Post by swo17 » Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:01 pm

No idea, but between this, Bucking Broadway, and the English-language version of The Leopard, Criterion seem to be setting a precedent of only presenting the main feature in 1080p.

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denti alligator
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Re: 519 Close-up

#65 Post by denti alligator » Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:36 pm

I'm assuming Bucking Broadway had to do with the frame rate.
The English version of The Leopard doesn't really matter (who actually watches this?).

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Matt
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Re: 519 Close-up

#66 Post by Matt » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:51 pm

denti alligator wrote:So The Traveler is 1080i. Any reason why?
Is it possible that they could only get an SD master and they just upscaled it? I'm just guessing. Or maybe they didn't think the 16mm material justified the disc space a full 1080p transfer would take up.

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Re: 519 Close-up

#67 Post by ShowsOn » Tue Jun 22, 2010 6:40 am

Matt wrote:
denti alligator wrote:So The Traveler is 1080i. Any reason why?
Is it possible that they could only get an SD master and they just upscaled it? I'm just guessing. Or maybe they didn't think the 16mm material justified the disc space a full 1080p transfer would take up.
1080i and 1080p would take up the same space. Infact, progressive content can be compressed more effectively than interlaced content.

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denti alligator
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Re: 519 Close-up

#68 Post by denti alligator » Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:48 am

I'm a little peeved that no reviews have posted caps of this, which as far as I'm concerned is NOT an extra feature. Chris, can you tell us what the quality is like? (I'll know myself Thursday - mine just shipped from amazon 2-day)

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Re: 519 Close-up

#69 Post by cdnchris » Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:19 am

I think it looks pretty good all things considered. There are artifacts from the interlacing (jaggies, shimmering, trailing, etc.) but it looks to have been restored decently enough. It also looks to have been boosted a bit, unfortunately. I'm not 100% sure if it's an upscaled transfer, though. If it is then it's a very good one. If not then it looks fairly average. It's bitrate remains in the teens (and this is from checking it from time to time while watching.)

My process for taking grabs is a pain in the ass so I didn't bother, but I'll run it today and take a few.

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denti alligator
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Re: 519 Close-up

#70 Post by denti alligator » Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:57 pm

Got my copy today (trial amazon prime is impressive - next day delivery!), and have sampled about 20 minutes of The Traveler. It doesn't look as good as the print I saw at MoMA a few years back, but it look pretty good. I don't see jaggies or other digital problems. I'm quite please to have this.

The source is some company in Tehran. I wonder if that means Criterion could license all of Kiarostami's early films from them. Eclipse box (please!).

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Re: 519 Close-up

#71 Post by cdnchris » Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:23 pm

The jaggies were most noticeable on brick walls and some shirt patterns for me, plus some quick movements presented trailing. I found that aspect disappointing but the condition of the print was far better than I would have thought.

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ellipsis7
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Re: 519 Close-up

#72 Post by ellipsis7 » Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:22 am

THE TRAVELLER will have come ultimately from the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents/Young Adults in Tehran, where Kiarostami did all his early work, so they would be source too for most of his shorts... The Films du Paradoxe DVD of LE PASSAGER/THE TRAVELLER is perfectly fine, has none of the problems mentioned, and they also recently released a double bill of medium length early AK pieces THE WEDDING DRESS & EXPERIENCE.... Might some of the problems on the CC disc, be with them upscaling and downscaling material from the masters (whether SD or HD) between their Blu & DVD releases, and maybe excessive manipulation along the way (might explain those lapses in transfer quality noted by Chris in his RED DESERT DVD review)?...

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: 519 Close-up

#73 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:45 am

ellipsis7 wrote:The Films du Paradoxe DVD of LE PASSAGER/THE TRAVELLER is perfectly fine, has none of the problems mentioned, and they also recently released a double bill of medium length early AK pieces THE WEDDING DRESS & EXPERIENCE
English subtitles on these? Or not?

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ellipsis7
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Re: 519 Close-up

#74 Post by ellipsis7 » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:20 am

No, only French subs, Michael, but serves for me anyway...

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domino harvey
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Re: 519 Close-up

#75 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:14 am

I hope the A/V Squad will excuse me if I interject a few thoughts about the film here.

One of the more obvious but nevertheless fascinating aspects of the film, even (if not especially) in its recreations, is what it has to say about the false "reality" of not just documentaries, as the impostor is clearly performing for the cameras at all times-- even the judge calls him out on it! The level of acting is so consistent and effective that it becomes the accepted reality within the depicted reality. But a film revealing the falsity of depicted reality is not so novel an idea, which is why what the film does with that material is so crucial. Kiarostami is not just interested in the situation but the mechanisms inherent in the players that got them involved, the very nature of cinematic art and our relationship to that art, be it as spectators or creative participants. How great is that somewhat pathetic final sequence, with the impostor taking direction from the man he longed to be, and becoming as subservient as the family he fooled? That it took the real director to bring about the happy ending isn't as interesting as that the players all reverted back to the subservience to art that got them all into the situation to begin with. What's the difference if it's real when both fiction and actuality produced indistinguishable results?

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