103 / BD 58 Dragon's Return

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

Re: Dragon's Return

#26 Post by Bikey » Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:55 am

"Just an absolutely staggering film... It's been a long while since i've seen something that makes as much of an immediate case for being on my all-time favourites list as this. I think that if you are a fan of cinema like Herzog or Tarkovsky you really NEED this DVD fractionally more than you need oxygen"
Graham raves over DRAGON'S RETURN at the latest Cinema Eclectica podcast (at c.25'45 - c32')

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Bikey
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Re: Dragon's Return

#27 Post by Bikey » Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:11 am

"An evocative and often stunning medieval gem from the height of Slovak cinema, Dragon's Return is a haunting experience worthy of more familiarity among English-speaking viewers... an excellent package boasting a transfer as sterling as anything they've ever released. It's hard to see any way this could look better"
Nathaniel Thompson at Mondo Digital

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

Re: Dragon's Return

#28 Post by Bikey » Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:01 pm

"Grečner's gorgeously executed 1967 drama... for those who thrill at discovering films from years past that leave much of what we tend to be served up today looking flat and unadventurous, this is another must-have from this most dedicated of UK distributors. "
Slarek raves at CineOutsider

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Bikey
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Re: Dragon's Return

#29 Post by Bikey » Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:46 am

"Immaculate restoration of 1967 Slovak film, complete with remarkable score... DRAGON'S RETURN is a revelation, and this new high-definition restoration more than does it justice."
Tom Birchenough at The Arts Desk

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Bikey
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Re: Dragon's Return

#30 Post by Bikey » Mon Oct 05, 2015 7:29 am

"A remarkable example of the stark, sparse, monochrome beauty mastered by Eastrn European filmmakers (from František Vláčil to Béla Tarr)... has potent, primitive resonance born of the rich, poetic intricacies of its visual and sonic design. The unforgettable power of its vision is all there in the quietly devastating ending"
Virgine Sélavy reviews in the lateset Sight & Sound

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Bikey
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Re: Dragon's Return

#31 Post by Bikey » Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:23 am

As well as being DVD Beaver's 'DVD of the Month' in October, DRAGON'S RETURN picks up another rave review and gets STARBURST magazine's 10/10 rating.

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DDillaman
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Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#32 Post by DDillaman » Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:10 pm

Haven't been to the forum for ages but after watching this yesterday felt compelled to read up and utterly stunned nobody's commented on this since it's released! I know Second Run's output is a bit overwhelming but this is a no-holds-barred masterwork. The extraordinary combination of nonlinear editing with primal narrative, stunning b&w photography, sinuous long takes that are never unnecessarily ostentatious, several ludicrously dangerous wilderness passages - and those pots! And those faces! I'm an evangelist for this film now. Don't miss it.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#33 Post by zedz » Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:21 pm

DDillaman wrote:Haven't been to the forum for ages but after watching this yesterday felt compelled to read up and utterly stunned nobody's commented on this since it's released! I know Second Run's output is a bit overwhelming but this is a no-holds-barred masterwork. The extraordinary combination of nonlinear editing with primal narrative, stunning b&w photography, sinuous long takes that are never unnecessarily ostentatious, several ludicrously dangerous wilderness passages - and those pots! And those faces! I'm an evangelist for this film now. Don't miss it.
I did a big rave about it somewhere long before Second Run picked it up (based on the Slovakian disc), and there were nods of agreement from those few who had seen it. I'll try to track it down and link it.

EDIT:

Here it is / was:

Dragon's Return - This is what cinephilia - and this forum - is all about. Here's a major masterpiece I'd never heard of, by a director I'd never heard of, that has vaulted to the top reaches of my hotly contested 1960s list already. It's just sheer mastery from the first seconds. As the film opens, I thought to myself that Zdenek Liska really outdid himself this time, with an incredible score of orchestral dissonances and chanting, whispering voices that expand and contract into a complete detailed, semi-abstract soundscape as if the soundtrack were breathing and stretching like an organic thing. And then I check the box and find that it's not Liska at all, but Ilja Zeljenka (who also did fine work on The Sun in a Net). Seriously, this is one of the all-time great film scores, and the wonder of it all is that the film's up to it.

It's a simple medieval tale of village politics, vindictiveness and revenge, told in the glancing, impressionistic style of many a New Wave classic, but strengthened by a wonderfully tactile sense of its world, very much in line with Vlacil and Tarkovsky (though the timeframe doesn't seem right for either Andrey Rublyov or Marketa Lazarova to be a direct influence, since Dragon's Return was made in '67). When two of the characters take off on a dangerous mission in the middle of the film, it actually anticipates the 'ecstatic truth' of Herzog's filmmaking expeditions. A first-rank masterpiece, anyway, that on its own justifies picking up all these discs. Anything else now is a bonus.

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DDillaman
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Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#34 Post by DDillaman » Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:24 pm

It's posted at the top of this thread, actually - there's a few nods of agreement there - which is why I had the "since it's been released" proviso.

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zedz
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Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#35 Post by zedz » Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:25 pm

Ah, I see Michael beat me to it.

Anyway: everybody buy this film. it's insanely magnificent.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#36 Post by Adam X » Thu Nov 23, 2017 10:09 pm

Ok, you got me, zedz. I was curious to see Dragon's Return already, but referencing both Tarkovsky & Herzog won me over entirely.

nitin
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Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#37 Post by nitin » Sun Feb 02, 2020 10:01 am

This was pretty terrific, not quite a masterpiece for me but the score is definitely an all time great. And the mid-movie cattle herding sequence reminded me of Letter Never Sent in its audacity and beauty. I found some of the swirling camerawork a little distracting at times but there are so many haunting images here that mesh really well with the fable like atmosphere.

Any chance of a blu upgrade for this one? The HD master that the DVD was sourced from looked pretty decent.

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What A Disgrace
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Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#38 Post by What A Disgrace » Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:14 am

Blu-ray upgrade in October.

• Dragon's Return (Drak sa vracia, 1967) presented from an HD transfer of the new 2K restoration supervised by the Slovak Film Institute.
• On ‘Dragon’s Return’ (2022): a new and exclusive documentary on the film, with the special participation of director Eduard Grečner.
• A newly filmed introduction by Rastislav Steranka of the Slovak Film Institute.
• An exclusive, archival filmed appreciation of the film by Czech and Slovak cinema expert Peter Hames (2015).
• 20-page booklet featuring an essay on the film and an interview with Eduard Grečner by author Jonathan Owen.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• World premiere on Blu-ray.
• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: 103 Dragon's Return

#39 Post by Calvin » Wed Sep 07, 2022 12:59 pm

This was one of my most hoped for Second Run upgrades so this is fantastic news. The new documentary sounds like an excellent addition and it would be great if Second Run could release more of Grecner's works; I know that his debut Every Week Seven Days has been recently restored and I'd be interested in seeing the two films that he made in the 90s

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ryannichols7
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#40 Post by ryannichols7 » Wed Sep 07, 2022 2:06 pm

in the last Arrow sale I finally gave in and got some DVDs of titles I didn't think would get upgraded soon. I have no idea why I thought this was one..luckily its coming just in time for our 60s project. love the additions to the supplements too

cover art:
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What A Disgrace
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#41 Post by What A Disgrace » Thu Oct 20, 2022 1:00 pm

DiabolikDVD is shipping my copy of the Blu-ray as we speak.

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Bikey
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#42 Post by Bikey » Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:05 am

After some "hiccup in the system" DRAGON'S RETURN Blu-ray is now back and available at Amazon UK - and a price drop to £16.62!

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Bikey
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#43 Post by Bikey » Fri Nov 04, 2022 12:53 pm


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Bikey
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#44 Post by Bikey » Sun Nov 06, 2022 11:30 am

"It’s a compellingly told tale, gorgeously directed by Eduard Grečner... The HD transfer on Second Run’s Blu-ray is a definite step up from the 2015 DVD, and the special features have been pleasingly expanded. If you have the DVD, it’s definitely worth the upgrade, but if you’ve never seen the film and have even a passing interest in Eastern European cinema, this is a must. Highly recommended."

CineOustider

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Bikey
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#45 Post by Bikey » Wed Nov 16, 2022 6:36 am

"An evocative and often stunning medieval gem from the height of Slovak cinema, Dragon's Return (Drak sa vracia) is a haunting experience worthy of more familiarity among English-speaking viewers....
[The Blu-ray] is even more immersive here with a fine presentation featuring deep black levels and fine textures with natural film grain."

Mondo Digital

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What A Disgrace
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Re: 103 / BD 57 Dragon's Return

#46 Post by What A Disgrace » Thu Dec 22, 2022 10:43 am

I would point out that this is, in fact, spine number 58.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 103 / BD 58 Dragon's Return

#47 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu May 11, 2023 1:14 am

I was really taken with this film on a second watch. I love how it's basically an artistic projection of the effects of resentment and forgiveness, and made me think of the (currently relevant, but timelessly configured) cultural symptom of antisocial myopia pitched at dehumanization, where Dragon's worth is summarized by gossip and iceberg-tip assumptions on a collective narrative - but without settling for a 'right v wrong' examination, sympathizing with the source of all this pain at odds with each other.

The film uses a unique combination of evocative corporeal imagery and a spiritually-elastic aesthetic, depending on whose or what perspective we're looking through. A woman's dreamy memories generously enlighten us to Dragon's insulated benevolence with its expansive potency, breaking from the hardened, cruel world to venture across temporal and perceptive barriers through a glistening celebration of one subjective memory's power to grant value to a life. This is directly divorced from the reductive mob mentality, and yet the psychological defenses, emotional investments, and practical beliefs contributing to his devaluation as a scapegoat for known traumas and unknown uncontrollable devastations reminded me a bit of the differences in focus between O Crime de Aldeia Velha and Il demonio, only fused together in an harmony of disharmony... strange as that sounds. Like holding two opposing parts together, which is often how life goes, but something we refuse to engage in out of a necessity to simplify our complicated worldview and apply direction.

The film can't help but invite us into all these different perspectives, which inherently reveals humanist complexity that ascends such containing diagnoses, in the process refuting the false confidences of some even if empathetic to their ingrained reasons for existing. For if Dragon is suffering from, yet resiliently contending with loneliness, so is everyone else in their own way; they're isolated with their personal tragedies of yearning, anger, belief and disbelief, all keeping them disconnected. We don't truly get to 'know' Dragon, but we experience the emotions of him and all these others observing, judging, loving, hating, promoting, abusing, engaging and disengaging with him. I feel sad for Dragon, of course, but I feel just as sad for the man who will never allow himself to forgive him, the risks of which we sense even without them being spelled out for us. We've been there. Most of us have felt the way each person in this film feels (the girl at the beginning idolizing Dragon; Dragon helplessly yet humbly attempting to prove his worth and hope for forgiveness in friction with forces he's powerless to sway; the man who cannot bring himself to forgive or see his enemy as anything greater than the rot they trigger in his heart; the unspoken anxieties between the two men on the cattle herding mission), and that supreme validation of all, often expressed through elliptical and lyrical narrative propulsion, is what makes this so peripherally rich. It's like a deep examination of our entire social experience condensed into a medieval mini-epic, composed almost entirely of style signifying truth.

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