Polish Cinema on DVD

[colinr0380]

DVD Times review

[dadaistnun]

Michael Atkinson writes about the film here. He doesn't get into the dvd quality, but it's an interesting follow up to his Film Comment article from several years ago.

[joka]

Haven't seen any reviews of the Facets/PolArt DVD of Silver Globe, but the English subtitles on my copy are definitely problematic (some sort of glitch renders much of the typeface unreadable, even when paused).

Has anyone else noticed this?

I have the subtitle problem on my Oppo player but not on the Pioneer I also have here. I've run across the same situation on another disc - can't remember which one. May be an artifact of the Oppo's up-res to 1080i. (Though I don't want to diss the Oppo; in general it's a superb player for the price.)

[bergelson]

It has been mentioned before in one of the threads but it seems that Wojciech Has' films are starting to be released in poland. The couple that are currently available are "Noose" and "One Room Tenants". Has anyone bought them or can comment about the picture quality?

[MichaelB]

I'm happy to gamble, so I've just ordered them.

I'll report back when they arrive - probably about ten days' time or so, if Merlin delivers at the usual speed.

[Person]

I'm happy to gamble, so I've just ordered them.

I'll report back when they arrive - probably about ten days' time or so, if Merlin delivers at the usual speed.

Wow! Thanks for passing this info on, guys. I'd love to see Noose. I don't know too much about One Room Tenants. Great news.

[alfons416]

wow, great. i would have gambled if MichaelB didn't but now i wait and here his judegement, i doubt they wouldn't be worth purchasing.

[MichaelB]

Well, the order went through yesterday, and allowing for Christmas post I reckon they'll turn up during the first week of December.

Incidentally, BFI Southbank is reviving the full version of The Saragossa Manuscript in a new print on 14 December, screening every day except Christmas Eve/Day/Boxing Day until the 30th. More details here.

[pro-bassoonist]

Just a quick note that I did review The Devil and indeed the Facet's disc offers the Polart print with some serious PAL-NTSC issues. On a positive side the print is actually quite clean and does the film justice as far as I am concerned. As I don't foresee Zulawski's films getting any special treatment any time soon this might be the only opportunity we get to own his films.

On a side note quite a few Polish directors are set to be released in France between December and early February (notably Munk and Zulawski). I am certain that the prints will once again be borrowed from PolArt.

Pro-B

[patrick]

I purchased a copy of The Devil for the store and immediately regretted it, I love Zulawski but this looks as crappy and cheap as the worst bootleg I've ever bought. Even the cover looks like it was printed on an inkjet printer. I'm very confused as to the legality of PolArt's releases, as seen in this thread there are a lot of people calling them straight-up bootlegs but I'm kind of surprised that Facets would distribute them if that was the case.

[pro-bassoonist]

One thing that I know about these PolArt prints is that they are indeed representative of what Zulawski's films currently look like. The Polish authorities have not been particularly impressive with their restoration efforts (somewhat expected as a similar practice was observed via Mosfilm).

To sum it all up I have pretty much given up the idea that Zulawski's work, especially his 70-80s film, would see any serious restoration any time soon. The Facets discs might well be what we will have to live with for a long, long time.

ps: By the way, I have seen plenty if incorrect statements about My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days...this is indeed an anamorphic disc, though a dreadful PAL-port.

Pro-B

[alfons416]

Well, the order went through yesterday, and allowing for Christmas post I reckon they'll turn up during the first week of December.

Got the discs yet? i'm really curious how they look...

[MichaelB]

Rest assured I'll post initial findings within minutes of them arriving - but they haven't yet!

Edit: OK, they're here. I've only got time right now for a quick glance on my laptop, but these are my initial findings:

Packaging: Surprisingly distinctive, consisting of slimline foldout Digipaks in an equally slim sleeve - about half the width of a standard Amaray case. The colour scheme is predominantly matte-finish silver, with the title, director and a silhouetted image in embossed glossy silver.

Menus: Black text on white, with a central animated silhouette that's consistent with the cover design. English and French subtitles can be accessed via the 'Ustawienia' option.

Transfer: PÄ™tla (i.e. Noose) looks excellent - the source print is in beautiful condition, and the image is impressively sharp with a wide dynamic range and plenty of shadow detail - it really does look superb. Wspólny pokój (One Room Tenants) isn't quite as impressive, as the image is a tad softer and there's more evidence of print damage, but it's still towards the upper end of the quality scale and certainly superior to most other DVD transfers of Eastern European films of its vintage. The encoding appears to be progressive and native PAL: I'm assuming the 4:3 framing is correct (no reason for it not to be). Subtitles seem idiomatic and properly synced. If any other issues arise from a proper viewing, I'll post them here.

Extras: These seem substantial, comprising a long interview with PÄ™tla's star Gustaw Holoubek and promotional materials, along with rare short films by Has (Uliza Brzozowa and Moje miasto accompany PÄ™tla, while Harmonia accompanies Wspólny pokój). The bad news, though, is that there are no English subtitles.

But aside from that disappointment, these look pretty good, and presumably the remaining four Has releases will be to a similar standard. I'll try to knock up full reviews on my blog before The Saragossa Manuscript opens in London on Friday.

[Person]

Thanks, Michael - very much appreciated! As for the 4:3 transfers, I have never been too sure about the ratios of Polish films of the 60s. I tend to think that they were like Russia and stuck with 4:3 until the early 70s. Anway, I'm glad to hear that The Noose is in great shape. Good man! =D>

[MichaelB]

Thanks, Michael - very much appreciated! As for the 4:3 transfers, I have never been too sure about the ratios of Polish films of the 60s. I tend to think that they were like Russia and stuck with 4:3 until the early 70s.

I think this was more or less standard across Eastern Europe - certainly, the overwhelming majority of 1960s Czech titles are definitely 4:3 (bar the occasional Scope effort like Marketa Lazarová and the even rarer standard widescreen film like The Cremator), so there's no reason to assume Polish films didn't follow the same pattern.

But now that I've watched it properly, I'm absolutely certain that The Noose should definitely be 4:3 - for starters, it was made in 1957, and secondly there's some pretty overwhelming visual evidence: Has's compositions are very precise - clearly framed with a squarer picture in mind (he often has the protagonist in medium close-up at the left or right of the frame, against a perfectly-composed backdrop featuring the scene's other characters), and there's not the slightest evidence of cropping.

The source print is indeed virtually pristine (really startlingly good condition for its age), and while the transfer isn't absolutely state-of-the-art (there's some minor artefacting and mosquito noise at times), it's still way ahead of what I was expecting. No issues with the subtitles, either - they seem to translate everything, and are perfectly timed.

[Person]

But now that I've watched it properly, I'm absolutely certain that The Noose should definitely be 4:3 - for starters, it was made in 1957

D'oh, that's right! I had it in my head that it was from 1966, for some reason. The blocking you mention seals the certainty. Has had extraordinary spatial sense - The Hourglass Sanitorium has some astounding set-ups and camera moves.

[colinr0380]

There are actually a few other links between this and gothic horror literature, particularly in the spaces the characters inhabit throughout the film (which are also doubled) and the use of divine presence. Some of those ideas show up in De Palma's 'Carrie' too, which might be one of the reasons why it feels so similar to his style.

Anyone who is familiar with Julia Kristeva's writings about abjection will have a field day with this movie. 'Blood for Dracula' is another one that fits the bill pretty well, but I think 'Possession' makes a particularly interesting alteration to the basic premise of abjection. Adjani's character is almost ecstatic in a few scenes that deal with this, which doesn't necessarily contradict the more common representations of that idea, but it does explore the sort of ego-mania of abjection that is normally left out of the equation. The weird Lovecraftian sex-beast she makes works along those lines as well.

There's also a really interesting use of film melodrama conventions in this, especially in the first half. The emotional hysteria of Adjani is an extreme exaggeration of the way character behaved in those films, and the problems that the couple experience could be pretty normal relationship issues in a different context, especially the way the child affects their relationship. I think the doubles for each character also represent their own desires from one another, which for one reason or another they are unable to communicate to each other.

That is a great reading of the film. I've finally managed to see and was completely blown away by the film - my following thoughts on it might be a bit muddled though!

I like the 'abjection' interpretation, of everything being in flux as it goes through the process of extreme change - the couple's split, the divided country, the madonna/whore of the woman, the work/life imbalance of the man. Also the two children which made me think the film might have been influenced by:

SpoilerShow

Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the creature growing into an exact replica of someone already existing rather than a new person

Along with Adjani I thought Sam Neill gave an excellent insane performance! It is a very difficult film to interpret but my wondering about the craziness was that Anna in the time before the film and while Mark was away on his 'job' was tormented by his absence and the way she felt towards her child and became easy prey for first her friend's counsel and then her affair with Heinrich. Then in the midst of that everyday affair she visits the church and has an ecstatic event which plants the seed (so to speak) of the solution to her problem. She then gives birth almost immediately after that encounter in the transitory space of the train station tunnel.

She has set up her new child in one area with her old child in the couple's flat and is dividing her time between them by the time Mark gets back. Both flats are the closest a building could get to the Berlin Wall. It seems as if her new child (the second coming?, alien?, a physical manifestation of her hurt instead of anger as was the case in The Brood?) is sending strong psychic energies out that is driving everyone in contact with it insane - so powerful that they even seem to be affecting people who just come into secondhand contact through Anna.

I like the way Mark is distraught through the first section of the film and then becomes almost saintly in his quiet assurance once he finds Helen, Anna's doppleganger, as if finding the woman he once knew in her. I love the way this turnaround also involves Anna's friend and lover. One of the things I really liked about the film was the way these two characters Margit and Heinrich act as if they are the ones in charge of the couple's relationship - there is an unspoken feeling that they have more of a connection to Anna than Mark could or would be able to have and yet they turn out to be mistaken - Mark might have been an absent husband and things had to change for Anna from the pre-split state but that didn't exactly mean Anna wanted to escape him. They need each other even if it drives them insane to be together.

Strangely I ended up feeling that made the film much more affirming of marriage and relationships than it at first seems, though it also shows the dangers a closely intertwined couple are in when they split. It is not the same as Margit and Heinrich who can be relatively easily disposed of, Mark and Anna are imprinted on one another so deeply they can never really be separated without severe damage.

Mark may be calmed by being near Helen but he as the 'original' does not belong with her - he inevitably has to return to Anna who is struggling to feed and protect her new child just as he has been struggling with their abandoned first son.

SpoilerShow

The shocking ending as Helen is confronted with Mark's doppleganger and seems to share an understanding with him as Mark and Anna's son desperately runs upstairs and drowns himself while what sounds to be the apocalypse begins outside the flat shows that a new order has begun.

Fate or chance that Mark handed his son over to Helen?

That is only a brief interpretation - there is a lot more to talk about including the way Mark takes his son's jam covered shirt off early in the film is mirrored by the way Anna takes his blood covered shirt off near the end; or the way Mark is then filmed holding his son is paralleled by the way a couple of scenes later he holds Anna after she has removed her top.

I was also wondering if someone could give an interpretation on the way that Mark is debriefed after his job at the beginning of the film by four men, one of whom asks whether the "subject still wears pink socks?" and then at the end the man (who was one of the four in the earlier meeting) who shoots Mark and Anna (another way fate and chance coincide?) stops to pull his pink socks up? Is he a spy inside Mark's organisation or another doppleganger?

It was interesting while watching the film to think of later films that seem similar - perhaps the best description of Possession would be to think of the 'disappearing to have an affair with a non-human' sections of Max, Mon Amour; the sequences of luring people home to kill to recreate your lover of Hellraiser; and the scene in Shozin Fukui's 964 Pinocchio in which the female lead runs screaming through a rush hour Tokyo subway station until falling to her knees in a dead end tunnel, vomiting for five minutes and then falling and rolling around in the pile she has produced! I wouldn't be surprised if the creators of these works had previously seen Possession - though in all cases I feel Possession handled such scenes better!

Finally seeing Possession helped put these later scenes into some kind of order, as if I was getting a sense of where they might have developed from.

[alfons416]

finaly bought the two Wojciech Has disks myself and i love the package design. have only watched Petla so far but it was a great movie, looking forward to se One Room Tenants.

anyone know if there are any moore planned Has-dvd in poland, since they started with his debut and third feature maybee they will keep 'em coming chronologicly? atleast i know i would like that

[Stefan Andersson]

Can anybody comment on the DVD version of NIGHTS AND DAYS / Noce i dnie (Jerzy Antczak, 1975), a Polish 245-min. epic that´s supposedly quite good? I think Facets has it with English subtitles. In Poland you can get both the movie version and the very long TV version on DVD. Apparently there was a movie version, blown up to 70 mm, and a TV version, shot simultaneously. So, is the TV and/or DVD versions P & S prints of a Panavision 35mm movie?

[paczemoj]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. Thought I'd introduce myself by way of one of my favourite films:

Cheekily translated into English as The Axiliad, it's adapted from a novel by Edward Stachura, a Polish writer, and stars Daniel Olbrychski (one of Poland's signature actors, and frequent Wajda collaborator) in one of the two main roles. The story is about a city man who goes off into the woods Thoreau-style to cut trees and contemplate. It's the mood that's so extraordinary, though: never too serious, yet profound even in its lighter moments. And although it's not a fantasy film, there's an uncanny sense that something is always off in its world, that things aren't quite normal. The hazy visual atmosphere of the setting adds to this feeling, which I can't quite describe in words.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a DVD release of the film yet (though it certainly deserves one!), but there used to be a VHS copy. It's also played on Polish TV.

About Leszczynski himself: I think his most famous, though still not very well-known, film is Konopielka, from 1982. I haven't seen this one, but it is available on DVD. I'm unsure about subtitles.

If anyone knows of any other Lesczysnki DVDs or has seen any of his films, please chime in. On the basis of Siekierezada, I'd be eager to see or read more about his work. Siekierezada is a Polish gem.

PS: If you ever run across a copy of Siekierezada and are worried about subtitles, I translated about a third of the film into English last year (not professionally, just for fun) and would be glad to finish the rest if it gave the film another viewer.

Cheers,
Nice forum.

[Telstar]

finaly bought the two Has disks myself and i love the package design. have only watched Petla so far but it was a great movie, looking forward to see One Room Tenants.

Just wondering if someone who's seen One Room Tenants could comment on the film.

[alfons416]

Just wondering if someone who's seen One Room Tenants could comment on the film.

I saw it last week, my least favorite from Has. i would give it 3 star out of 5

[Galen Young]

I recently found a cool old book titled Contemporary Polish Cinematography, (Polonia Publishing House, Warsaw, 1962, hard bound, profusely illustrated with photos) -- in it is a picture from a film called Ostatni etap /The Last Stage, made in 1948 by Wanda Jakubowska, shot or partially shot in Auschwitz and based on her own experiences as a prisoner in the camp. Have never heard of this film or director before, but it really sounds like something to see, especially for something made so close to the end of the war -- and by a woman no less! I found a copy available here on VHS, but can't find a DVD from any of the usual Polish online retailers. Has anyone here seen the film and care to comment? MichaelB perhaps? (though I don't see an entry for Jakubowska on your terrific website!)

[MichaelB]

Has anyone here seen the film and care to comment? MichaelB perhaps? (though I don't see an entry for Jakubowska on your terrific website!)

I haven't seen the film, but I'm well aware of its reputation. But I'm not aware of any DVD release - it doesn't seem to be out on any Polish label (even without subtitles).

[rollotomassi]

I have the film, but only on that distinctly mediocre VHS transferred to DVDR. Sadly, there is no DVD anywhere, which is surprising considering the usual clammering for all films based around the Holocaust.

It's an excellent film, comparable to Somewhere in Europe and Radok's The Long Journey, and possibly the best and most harrowing of the three. Certainly influential on Munk's Passenger.