Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
- backstreetsbackalright
- Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:49 pm
- Location: 313
I'm also very excited about this release. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if that Bridegroom wish comes true - both were released in 1968 and, because of the Fassbinder angle (he acts in it), the short would likely draw a bigger audience than the feature itself.
This is something unfamiliar Criterionforum members should definitely add to their rental lists. Let's keep fingers crossed for more of the Straub-Huillet catalog! (New Yorkers, by the way, can check out a number of their films in the Public Library's 16mm collection.)
This is something unfamiliar Criterionforum members should definitely add to their rental lists. Let's keep fingers crossed for more of the Straub-Huillet catalog! (New Yorkers, by the way, can check out a number of their films in the Public Library's 16mm collection.)
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
- The Fanciful Norwegian
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Teegeeack
- backstreetsbackalright
- Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:49 pm
- Location: 313
- DDillaman
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 5:56 pm
- Contact:
- backstreetsbackalright
- Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:49 pm
- Location: 313
Speaking of, it just came to my attention that this short is available on Raro's Fassbinder 3-DVD set.solent wrote:It would be good if the short COMEDIAN & THE PIMP will be added as an extra.
http://www.rarovideo.com/schede/cof_fassbinder.htm
And with English subs!
- Jean-Luc Garbo
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:55 am
- Contact:
"Above all, THE CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH is a celebration of Bach's music, which is played throughout the film live and on original instruments..." John Sandford, THE NEW GERMAN CINEMA (1980).
Straub wanted to film this as his first feature in 1954 but had to wait. This reminds me of Fassbinder's delay in filming his EFFI BRIEST which he too wanted to be his first project.
Straub wanted to film this as his first feature in 1954 but had to wait. This reminds me of Fassbinder's delay in filming his EFFI BRIEST which he too wanted to be his first project.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Well, it's out, and according to the NYTimes it's good!
NYTimes wrote:The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet revolutionized the musical biography with their solemn, rigorous "Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach," released in 1968 and featuring the Dutch harpsichordist and organist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach, cast for his performance technique rather than his acting skills. Dramatic action is held to a minimum in the 94-minute film, which consists largely of pieces performed in a single shot, with occasional slight camera movements, as the voice of Bach's second wife (played by another musician, Christiane Lang) recounts his daily domestic and professional struggles.
Recording with direct sound and period instruments at a time when musical films were routinely post-synched, Mr. Straub and Ms. Huillet grounded the music in specific physical and historical contexts, treating a subject usually treated as grandly transcendent - the miracle of artistic creation - as a material process anchored in a cramped real world. Freed from romantic clichés (which Bach himself would certainly not have recognized), the music moves closer to the pure mathematical expression that Bach, at least in Mr. Straub's view, seemed to regard as the most pious approach to his austere Lutheran God. The excellent presentation from New Yorker Films features a "window box" format to preserve the original 1.66 aspect ratio and includes a fascinating documentary on the filmmaking, produced for Dutch television in 1968. $29.95; not rated.
[. . .]
After a shaky start that yielded some botched, hasty transfers (can we please have a do-over on Robert Bresson's essential film "A Man Escaped"?), New Yorker has lately found its footing, as "Chronicle" and another recent release, Mai Zetterling's overlooked 1964 Swedish film, "Loving Couples," spectacularly attest.
Mine shipped from CD Universe 2 days ago. I'm glad of the extra doco but the short film from 1968 by Straub calledTHE BRIDEGROOM, THE COMMEDIENNE & THE PIMP would have been a logical inclusion as well. If Criterion put this out it certainly would have been there.
I noticed another New Yorker release recently issued on DVD of Mai Zetterlin's LOVING COUPLES (1964), a rare Swedish film of the 60s. Has anyone mentioned this film on this forum before?
I noticed another New Yorker release recently issued on DVD of Mai Zetterlin's LOVING COUPLES (1964), a rare Swedish film of the 60s. Has anyone mentioned this film on this forum before?
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
I haven't seen the film, but it's well-regarded, and Zetterling is an important, overlooked director. Her provocative The Girls from a few years later is excellent, and well worth tracking down for any Bergman enthusiasts as an alternative take on his stock company. According to the NYTimes, the transfer of Loving Couples is excellent as well.solent wrote:I noticed another New Yorker release recently issued on DVD of Mai Zetterlin's LOVING COUPLES (1964), a rare Swedish film of the 60s. Has anyone mentioned this film on this forum before?
Edit: Here's the Times piece:
After a shaky start that yielded some botched, hasty transfers (can we please have a do-over on Robert Bresson's essential film "A Man Escaped"?), New Yorker has lately found its footing, as "Chronicle" and another recent release, Mai Zetterling's overlooked 1964 Swedish film, "Loving Couples," spectacularly attest.
Ms. Zetterling began as an actress, starring in two early films by Ingmar Bergman ("Torment" and "Night Is My Future") before moving on to London and Hollywood, where she supported the likes of Danny Kaye ("Knock on Wood") and Tyrone Power ("Abandon Ship!"). But in 1962 Ms. Zetterling directed "The War Game" (which won for best short film in Venice and is included as a bonus on the New Yorker DVD), and subsequently returned to Sweden to make her first feature, adapted from "The Misses von Pahlen," an early feminist novel by Agnes von Krusenstjerna.
Ms. Zetterling raided Mr. Bergman's stock company for her cast, borrowing Harriet Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, Eva Dahlbeck and Gunnar Bjornstrand as well as Mr. Bergman's brilliant cinematographer, Sven Nykvist. But the style of this tonally complex piece, in which three women in a maternity hospital await the moment of childbirth with very different feelings, has nothing to do with Mr. Bergman's often static theatricality: the film is a fluid, continually surprising blend of subjective flashbacks and shared experience, culminating in a Midsummer's Night celebration that rivals Mr. Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" in its lyrical presentation of the social and sexual dynamics of a country estate. A very welcome rediscovery. $29.95, not rated.
-
- Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:01 am
This short is included in an Italian Fassbinder box set (for details, go to http://www.rarovideo.com/eng/index.asp and scroll down). Has anyone seen this release?solent wrote:the short film from 1968 by Straub called THE BRIDEGROOM, THE COMMEDIENNE & THE PIMP would have been a logical inclusion as well
There's a thread on Raro, the company behind the box set, over at viewtopic.php?t=1489&highlight=raro
- Gordon
- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am
D'oh! I keep forgetting that few e-tailers stock New Yorker titles now. It's surprising that even DVD Pacific have stopped, asthey stock just every in-print title - and at low prices, too. CD Universe are an excellent company, though.zedz wrote:It's out now, apparently, but a lot of online stores don't seem to be carrying it - a New Yorker issue, I believe. It's available now from Amazon, though.Gordon McMurphy wrote:So when the heck is this being released?
-
- Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:01 am
That's not the DVDBeaver view: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... review.htmzedz wrote:Well, it's out, and according to the NYTimes it's good!
- ando
- Bringing Out El Duende
- Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:53 pm
- Location: New York City
Re: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Ah, so who here has watched it? Completely? A friend let me borrow his copy and I do confess that I nodded off at the second or third long-held close up on a piece of sheet music (it was 3 am). The scene brought to mind a scene from Into Great Silence, a film of seeming rigor and spiritual meditation, where a monk, alone in a cell, blithely flips through pages of scripture, at which point I felt the film to be going through the motions of a "meditation". Chronicle, on the other hand, has the rigor I admire in a film and the participants are actually involved in their activities, but it doesn't seen terribly dynamic. But it may be a premature assessment; I'm completing my viewing tonight and just wondered if anyone was able to get through it.
Last edited by ando on Sat May 15, 2010 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Peacock
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:47 pm
- Location: Scotland
Re: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
I enjoyed it, it neither excited nor bored me. A strange experience, especially with the sudden dialogue scenes later in the film. I'll need to try and work our how it related to the Vietnam War though...
And for the record, I thought the transfer on the New Wave Films DVD looked good! Not sure what all the complaining was about..
Here's a comparison with the New Yorker I saw on The Auteurs
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/1699?from_theauteurs=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And for the record, I thought the transfer on the New Wave Films DVD looked good! Not sure what all the complaining was about..
Here's a comparison with the New Yorker I saw on The Auteurs
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/1699?from_theauteurs=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- ando
- Bringing Out El Duende
- Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:53 pm
- Location: New York City
Re: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Great. Thanks for that - had no idea there was another version.
- Lemmy Caution
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
- Location: East of Shanghai
Re: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Any thoughts on Sicilia! (1999) or A Visit to the Louvre (2004)?
Those two films along with Chronicle of AM Bach are soon to touch down in China (apparently all on one disc).
Those two films along with Chronicle of AM Bach are soon to touch down in China (apparently all on one disc).
- Peacock
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:47 pm
- Location: Scotland
Re: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
I haven't watched A Visit to the Louvre yet, but Sicilia is good. Completely different from Anna Magdalena however!
The structure takes the form of a man traveling back to his old home to see his mother, on the way he meets various people from different classes and asks them how they feel about their job and position in society. It's really difficult to analyze the film other than agree that it's a very anti-fascist; I've never seen films like these before so feel somewhat lost as to go about it. Anyone else have any thoughts on the film?
The structure takes the form of a man traveling back to his old home to see his mother, on the way he meets various people from different classes and asks them how they feel about their job and position in society. It's really difficult to analyze the film other than agree that it's a very anti-fascist; I've never seen films like these before so feel somewhat lost as to go about it. Anyone else have any thoughts on the film?